Long Meadow Ranch: The all-terrain Pinzgauer.
Long Meadow Ranch is 650 acres.
Vineyards were first planted on the ranch in the 1870s.
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Napa Valley High
Long Meadow Ranch
February 24, 2009
10:30 sharp! Into the Pinzgauer! Buckle up! With Swiss precision, the open-sided troop carrier ponderously ground up winding mountain roads. Heading to fortifications in the Alps? No, high in the Mayacamas mountains, we unloaded in front of the rammed earth façade of Long Meadow Ranch. Commanding views of the Napa Valley unfolded before us.
Successful wine country tours are peppered with the uncommon. Visiting Long Meadow Ranch is just such an ingredient. We set out to sample their Prato Lungo extra virgin olive oil admired by Charlie Trotter among many other well-known chefs. The fact-filled tour of the Frantoio filled our olive oil goals, but we were pleasantly surprised by a host of other uncommon facets.
It revealed a state-of-the-art, sustainable, certified organic farming operation. Solar panels generate a net zero energy bill. California's largest fold of Highland cattle produce delicious grass-fed beef free of growth hormones. Its Rutherford Gardens facility groans with a bounty of fresh heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables, fresh eggs from its Black Australorp breed of chickens and delectable honey from its beehives.
Our tasting featured a limited production Sangiovese ($29), which is hard to grow in Napa Valley. The beef samples were so good we became Corral Club Graziers entitling us to four meat shipments a year and a fifth for olive oil. Never again need we yell, "where's the beef?"
Long Meadow Ranch
1796 So. St. Helena Highway (SR 29)
Rutherford, California 94573
Phone: 707 963-4555
www.LongMeadowRanch.com
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