The Mountanos family has been in the coffee business in California since 1898, when two brothers, Richard and Stratis Mountanos, emigrated from Greece. They began roasting and selling coffee in San Francisco and Oakland. Their success was built on outstanding service and excellent products such as fancy, high quality arabica coffees.

Our family is still prominent in the coffee industry and has expanded with the growth of the specialty coffee phenonmenon (visit The Coffee Critic & Mountanous Brother Coffee).

Over time, members of our family fell in love with the beauty and tranquility of the little town of Ukiah, in northern California. Because Mendocino County is prime vineyard country, it was natural for us to become interested in the business of growing grapes for wine.

With the creation of the Mountanos Vineyards, we brought the same business and family work ethic to the wine business that we were known for in the coffee trade. Our company emphasizes the simple concepts of honesty, purity of product, and respect for the customer.

Mendocino County is the leading source of organic grapes and wine, and as we studied the environmental and health benefits of organic farming, we began the transition to certification as all organic vineyards.

Today, we have three wonderful vineyards nestled in a beautiful valley and carefully tended by us.

Gielow, our home ranch, was originally a prune and pear orchard and is where our first grape crop was planted in 1983. It was farmed conventionally for fourteen years and became certified organic in 1998. Located at the bottom of the foothills of the Ukiah Valley on Gielow Lane, this vineyard has top quality sandy soils. Three agricultural wells run all overhead sprinkler irrigation and either well can be used for drip irrigation.

Gobbi is the ranch most people see, on the southeast corner of Highway 101 and Gobbi Street in the flatland of Ukiah. It had been fallow for over thirty years when we planted it in 1998. It was certified organic in 2001. The south side of the field has well drained clay soils. The north field has a more sandy soil which allows for good drainage. Three agricultrual wells provide drip irrigation for the entire ranch and fill a ten acre foot pond that supplies water for overhead sprinkler irrigation and frost protection.

Sanford, our newest ranch, is in the foothills off Sanford Ranch Road. The first twenty acres were planted in 1999, with an additional ten acres in 2000, seven more in 2001, and the remainder in 2002. The ranch has good clay/gravelly soils which drain well. A forty-nine acre foot pond supplies water for overhead and drip irrigation, as welf as frost protection, The pond is recharged by two wells and rain runoff. This ranch is still in the process of being certified as organic.