The opposition to the Tiered Winery Ordinance continues. An appeal brief has been filed with the Superior Court in the case of San Diego Citizenry Group vs. County of San Diego, as a challenge to the court’s ruling upholding the ordinance. The county had until Dec. 14 to file an opposing brief, according to James O’Day, Senior Deputy Counsel for San Diego County. The citizenry group then has 20 days to file a reply brief. Once all briefs are in, possibly by mid-January, O’ Day said the appellate court will then set a date for oral arguments. Patch contacted Coast Law Group, which represents …

It’s been a busy fall for Mike and Aurora Kopp, co-owners of Kohill Winery. The name combines their family name with the winery’s hillside location. When Mike Kopp spoke to me on the evening of Nov. 9, he said they’d just wrapped up this year’s harvest. “We just finished pressing the last of our whites this morning,” he said. “Our biggest crop this year was our cab, which came in at 3,000 pounds.” Simultaneous with the harvest season was running his winery’s tasting room, which is now open Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Kohill, like many other valley wineries, was able to sell its …

The milestones keep coming for the Ramona Valley wine community. Now they have their own online magazine. Ramona Valley Wine Region launched Oct. 1. In his introduction to the first edition, Publisher David Billick stated his intenton:  “to educate anyone with an interest in tasting, buying or making wine.” He also pledged to “offer a place for growers and vintners to exchange knowledge and learn from each other to keep the general quality of the region constantly improving.” “We see it as geared toward both the community and the trade,” said Teri Kerns, the magazine’s executive editor. “I’m …

Ramona Valley wines were a big hit at the RB Tastings Festival held Oct. 2 at the Bernardo Winery. “I thought the event exceeded everyone’s expectations,” said Carolyn Harris, co-owner of Chuparosa Vineyards. “It was a wonderful experience for us, and all the [Rancho Bernardo Historical Society] staff were really great.” Harris, who’s also Legal Counsel for the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association (RVVA), poured wines from her vineyard and several others at the festival. The event, co-sponsored by Bernardo Winery, Belmont Village Senior Living and a number of other local businesses, benefitted …

Pumpkin fudge, huge jack-o-lantern pumpkins, tiny red-white-and-"boos" and decorative gourds. It's quite a sight to behold at roadside stands around Ramona. Autumn has arrived. Driving along the western end of Main Street on Sunday, it was hard to miss an inflated jack-o'-lantern and a frontage of pumpkins. It's one family's way of helping Ramona High School raise funds for the girls' volleyball team. "In this economy, this is something we can do," Ken Buggeln told Ramona Patch. "We grow them on 3/4 of an acre on our 2-acre property. They seem to do well." This is the second year that Ken and…

“Killer Tomato Stand” is not the name for a sequel to that 1980s mock-horror film “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.” It’s the nickname chosen by Tom and Mary Page, owners of Page’s Organics, for their farmstand on Pamo Road in Ramona. The farmstand is part of their four-acre certified organic farm. To them, “Killer Tomatoes” means superlative freshness and taste. “Currently we are growing 20 different varieties of heritage and hybrid tomatoes,” said Tom Page. “We sell tomatoes both as seedlings in the spring and as ripe tomatoes in the summer and fall.” While tomatoes are a specialty, Page’s …

It’s a busy time for  Ramona Valley vintners because it’s crush season. While they’re working on harvesting the latest crop, they have to work simultaneously on selling the wine made from previous crops. On top of that is marketing. As I’ve learned more about this community of small, family  businesses, with many of the proprietors also working “day jobs,” I’ve found myself flashing back  to memories of the small family business I grew up in—my parents’ flower shop. Some still-vivid memories: helping trim the thorns off 600 or so rose stems in preparation for Valentines Day; aunts, uncles, …

With a burgeoning wine region in Ramona Valley, it’s time to devote some of this column to wine appreciation. Some of you may have seen a video on Ramona Patch on Aug. 25 showing Jennifer Jenkin pouring wine at her Pamo Valley Winery tasting room. She was pouring a glass of wine using an aerator, something I’ve seen some vintners do, others not. “When wine is opened, it needs time to breathe,” said Jenkin, in a subsequent interview. This brings us to our first lesson in wine appreciation: What is meant by wine “breathing?” Letting wine breathe means letting the wine sit for a while after you’…

About a month ago, Edwards Vineyard & Cellars began adding a new visual to its ads in local papers: a deep-red, one might say  wine-colored burst bearing within it the yellow sunbeam-tinged phrase San Diego Grown 365. Pamo Valley Winery owner Jennifer Jenkin has been displaying the same logo on the homepage of her winery’s website for three or four months, she said. San Diego Grown 365 is a campaign initiated by the San Diego County Farm Bureau to alert consumers to products produced within San Diego county. “By using that label you’re supporting local farms,” said Casey Anderson, farm bureau…

It’s crush time! This is the season for picking and crushing of this year’s crop of wine grapes in the Ramona Valley. In this emerging wine community, crush time sounds like something equivalent to eras past, when the whole farming community turned out to help families put up a barn or harvest crops. That tradition lives on in Ramona Valley vineyards. “Thanks to our friends, family and RVVA members, we had a great harvest last weekend,” wrote Kim and Michael Hargett, co-owners of Mahogany Mountain Vineyard and Winery on their blog Aug. 30. They’re not finished yet. “We woke up at 4 a.m. this …

Beth Edwards is co-owner of Edwards Vineyard & Cellars, along with being a graphic artist. Recently, she described her efforts to create the first official brochure for the Ramona Valley wine community. “It’s hard for a graphic artist, a marketing person and a lawyer to say the same thing,” she said. Sounds like a variation on a very old joke: A graphic artist, a marketing person and a lawyer walk into a bar…but no, this isn’t standup comedy. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Carolyn Harris, a winemaker and attorney who serves as legal counsel for the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association. …

A few columns back I reported that the annual Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition would be staged in November from now on, rather than in mid-summer as in previous years. One of the reasons cited to me by an event organizer was that competition judges are more available in November than in the summer, when there are more wine competitions. Lum Eisenman, who is himself a judge in the competition, reminded me of another reason: many judges, at least those who are vintners themselves, find their schedules tight this time of year. It’s crush time. Readers may remember my column back in …

Milagro Farm Vineyards & Winery is planning to open the next Ramona Valley tasting room in late September, according to winemaker Jim Hart. Hart told me in January that Milagro was planning to build a larger facility, including a tasting room. The building is now up and undergoing finishing touches to its interior while the winery goes through the final stages of the bonding and permitting process. Milagro applied to operate as a small winery under San Diego county’s Tiered Winery Ordinance. The ordinance provides for three regulatory tiers of wineries: wholesale limited, boutique and small. …

As soon as I arrived at Dennis and Julie Grimes' Ramona property, I understood why it was called Eagles Nest  At the top of a hill at around 1,700 feet, they command a stunning panorama of mountains and the valley floor, interspersed with lush green hillsides filled with vines. The name has personal connotations as well. “There were Golden Eagles living nearby when we first moved here,” said Dennis Grimes, who acquired the property in 2003. Earlier in his life, Grimes also worked as an aviator, flying for the U.S. Navy. “We’ve got the airport nearby,” he pointed out. Ramona Airport sits like …

Talking to John York, I quickly thought he had quite enough on his plate without being President of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association (RVVA), the post to which he was elected back in January. There’s the 50-acre Hellanback Ranch where he and his wife, Paula Payne, have been living and working since 1997, raising cattle, hogs, horses and, since 2006, grapes. Today they have three acres of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot and petit verdot grapes. Since 2010 they’ve been making wine from those grapes and other Ramona Valley grapes under their private Hellanback Ranch …

In last week’s column I talked about two Ramonans who won medals for their homemade wine at the San Diego County Fair and said I would talk about other winners this week. Two other vintners who took home medals from the fair are Don Bartick and Paul Griffin. Bartick, of Starry Night Vineyard, won a bronze medal for his 2009 Merlot. He said this was only his second year as a competitor at the fair. “Last year we won a gold and a silver,” he said. The gold was for his cabernet sauvignon and the silver for the merlot. He felt he was lucky to get anything this year. “It was a bad year for grapes…

In May, I reported on two local winemakers, Teri Kerns and Micole Moore, who’d recently won “Best of Show Red” honors at the Winemaker International Wine Competition for their 2009 Ramona Ranch Zinfandel. I pointed out that while Ramona Ranch is currently a private label shared with their family and friends, they were in the process of getting bonded to become a commercial operation. I ended that column by saying, “With their record of achievement so far, I’d say their prospects are good.” Well, it looks like my powers of observation have been validated even faster than I’d expected. The …

Which came first, the wine or the label? That’s the question that first came to mind when I learned about La Finquita Winery & Vineyard. That’s because winery owner Mario Bergeron also has a parallel business called Global Appellations, Inc.,which preceded his winemaking venture and which remains a fulltime “day job.” “We make custom labels for individuals, for various occasions, home winemakers, and corporate, including small wineries,” said Bergeron. “We also sand-carve artwork on wine bottles.” The company offers a variety of designs which clients can customize with their names or any …

The Connelly Farms motto is: “Not the Most, Simply the Best." The Ramona business offers seasonal produce and specialty items to individual buyers through a year-round farmstand on Telford Lane and to a number of restaurants in San Diego county. The emphasis is quality over quantity and they use natural methods. They also provide a unique “micro farm” option to individual consumers, restaurants and businesses seeking to grow their own produce. According to their website, Connelly Farms grows on every square foot they can "except for the animal yard." The farm covers two acres. “We are an all-…

Last December, in my column on Pamo Valley Winery, owner Jennifer Jenkin said she had her sights set on opening a tasting room in June 2011. She’s true to her word. Pamo Valley’s tasting room will have its grand opening on Friday, June 17 at 603 Main St. in downtown Ramona. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held June 9, organized by the Ramona Chamber of Commerce, of which Jenkin is a member. Helping to cut the ribbon was San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, a backer of the tiered winery ordinance and strong supporter of the county’s wine community. How strong a supporter, you ask? She …