Apr 2025 Newsletter - Lost Valley Ranch Wines

Check out the budding this Spring!

Spring finds the ranch alive with activity. Flowers are blooming, bees buzzing, turkeys nesting, lizards growing, buds breaking, and shoots pushing forth. It is my favorite time of year (being my birthday month helps). It is also one of the busiest times on the ranch, involving cover crop management with “mechanical weed control,” including mowing, weed whacking, shoveling. No chemicals used here!
This marks our fourth year as Certified Sustainable Vineyards from CSWA. Our ongoing sustainability efforts are now focused on creating and conservation of native habitats. We are transitioning to permanent cover crop in several vineyards rather than alternate row tilling. This no-till approach conserves soil, increases organic matter, and builds soil fertility. Surrounding our newest vineyard and barn, we have planted a Napa Wildflower mix. These insectary flowers reduce weeds, provide wildlife habitat, and make our pollinators and our people very happy.

Vines

As noted in our last newsletter, the decisions Architects make impact the building for a half a century or more. These decisions determine how well that building meets the needs of its occupants, its environment, and its future uses. Similarly as vintners, the decisions we make now on how to treat the soil affects vines for a quarter-century, impacting root health, water access, nutrient richness, and carbon sequestration.

Wines

In the cellar, our 2023 and 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon continues to barrel age. Our 2024 Sauvignon Blanc is finishing and will soon be blended from new French, one-year, and neutral barrels before bottling in the coming months.

Gratitude

Spring is also a time for giving thanks. We appreciate our dedicated vineyard team and our consulting winemaker, Ivan Burdinskyi. If you have not yet met him, you can learn more about his journey from Ukraine to Napa in this recent Napa Register article, “Walking on Thin Ice”. Please consider joining us at Stand with Ukraine, Sunday, April 27 to meet Ivan and others in the community. If you’re unable to join in person, donations can be made at https://napaukraine.org

Please share your comments or questions as we walk through the year together; your insights are invaluable to us. If you need to renew your table, now is a great time with our Spring Special – free shipping and 2 Olive Oils with 4-pack purchase of Wild Harvest!

More buzz!

We have been working behind the scenes with an expanded Lost Valley team and have some exciting updates coming your way soon! Look out for a fresh brand look and awesome new wine releases this Summer. Stay tuned!

With gratitude – Deb & Eric

Ivan comes to us from a country with over 2,500 years of wine production. He brings this history and his experience to bear as a consulting winemaker for Lost Valley Ranch Wines. He earned his enological degree from Crimean Agrotech University. He earned his chops working at all scales of vineyards and wineries across Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany, Moldova, Italy, and now Napa Valley.

Ivan guides the harvest, production, and bottling of all LVR Wines. Coupled with his love of wine and keen sensory abilities, his penchant for engineering and mechanics continually improve the process and quality of our wines.

The native Ukrainian found his way to Napa in the fall of 2022 thanks to the Napa Valley to Ukraine organization. When not found making, bottling, or consuming wine, he can be found geeking out on wine equipment and enjoying music.

Debra and her partner Eric live at the Lost Valley Ranch farm and vineyard, Cordero Vineyards. She is Owner of Lost Valley Ranch Wines, established in 2023. She earned her Winemaking Certificate from UC Davis and works as overall vintner and manager of LVR Wines.

She comes from a long career in sustainable architecture and has applied that experience and passion to agriculture and wine making. The ranch is certified sustainable through CSWA and a verified Micro-Winery through Save the Family Farms.

When she is not making or managing the wine, she can be found outside at the ranch in her element, picking wildflowers, petting fluffy friends or wrangling mowing equipment.