Wine lovers know about Napa. They know Sonoma, Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, even Temecula.<\/p>\n
David Stone Jr., 49, hopes one day they\u2019ll add Big Bear Lake to the list. No kidding.<\/p>\n
Stone has planted what he says is the highest-altitude commercial vineyard in the northern hemisphere, surpassing the Terror Creek Winery in Colorado, east of Grand Junction, which sits at 6,417 feet. The Stone Summit Winery in Big Bear Lake is at 6,750 feet.<\/p>\n
Behind the cottages of Wolf Creek Resort on Big Bear Boulevard, not far from the Snow Summit ski resort, Stone last year planted two acres of vineyards with about a half-dozen varietals ranging from Riesling to cabernet sauvignon.<\/p>\n
Last fall, \u201cwe actually had some grapes,\u201d Stone said. \u201cNot enough to harvest, but enough to show the viability of the vines. We won\u2019t use this year\u2019s growth, either. We\u2019ll probably start with year four.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hopes to have a mountain-grown Riesling and chardonnay ready by 2016, or before. But he\u2019s not waiting until then to activate his winery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the interim, we have a vintner\u2019s license,\u201d he said. With grapes from other regions, the winery has produced a moscato and a chardonnay. He plans to uncork the first bottle of moscato July 4 in the resort\u2019s wine room. The chardonnay should be ready by Labor Day, he said.<\/p>\n
Even if Stone plants the entire 15 acres of land he has available, he doesn\u2019t expect to ever be a big producer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re never going to be Sutter Home,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a project of passion, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The passion comes from Stone\u2019s own love of wine, his lifelong connection with Big Bear Lake \u2014 four generations of his family have owned property there, he said \u2014 and a desire to amplify the profile of the resort town.<\/p>\n
Stone has been a commercial contractor for most of his life, and his other local projects seem logical extensions. He owns two other resorts in the Big Bear Lake. He recently converted the downtown movie theater into a live concert venue. And he plans to open a brewery in a few months.<\/p>\n
The wine-making operation is the only project that seems likely to raise eyebrows. So far, he said, he\u2019s heard of no one else planning to follow his lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody else is crazy enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
High-altitude wine growing is not unheard of. There is little in the United States, outside of Colorado\u2019s Terror Creek, but winemakers in the Mendoza region of Argentina have been planting vineyards at elevations of 5,000 feet and higher. Recently, Donald Hess, of Napa Valley\u2019s Hess Collection, planted vines there at nearly 10,000 feet.<\/p>\n
George Walker, 54, of Rancho Cucamonga, is Stone\u2019s winemaker. He has been making wine for families in the Rancho Cucamonga region for years, he said. He sees no reason why grapes can\u2019t thrive at Big Bear Lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge obviously is how cold it gets,\u201d Walker said. \u201cThe hope is that it doesn\u2019t get below zero, or not for very long anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such temperatures are rare in the resort town.<\/p>\n
Walker said that with the exception of two rows of vines that weren\u2019t irrigated properly, all of the grapes planted last year are thriving. Clusters of tiny fruit already are appearing on the vines.<\/p>\n
He expects the Riesling and gew\u00fcrztraminer varietals he has planted to do the best in the cold weather, and he\u2019s hoping the altitude will impart a unique character to the grapes\u2019 flavor, though he doesn\u2019t know what it will be.<\/p>\n
His wine-making colleagues are intrigued, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few have kind of snickered or smirked or laughed,\u201d Walker said. \u201cMost people think it\u2019s really, really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reach Mark Muckenfuss at 951-368-9595 or mmuckenfuss@pe.com<\/p>\n
Mark Muckenfuss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wine lovers know about Napa. They know Sonoma, Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, even Temecula. David Stone Jr., 49, hopes one day they\u2019ll add Big Bear Lake to the list. No kidding. Stone has planted what he says is the highest-altitude commercial vineyard in the northern hemisphere, surpassing the Terror Creek Winery in Colorado, east of Grand Junction, which sits at 6,417 feet. The Stone Summit Winery in Big Bear Lake is at 6,750 feet. Behind the cottages of Wolf Creek Resort on Big Bear Boulevard, not far from the Snow Summit ski resort, Stone last year planted two acres of vineyards with about a half-dozen varietals ranging from Riesling to cabernet sauvignon. Last fall, \u201cwe actually had some grapes,\u201d Stone said. \u201cNot enough to harvest, but enough to show the viability of the vines. We won\u2019t use this year\u2019s growth, either. We\u2019ll probably start with year four.\u201d He hopes to have a mountain-grown Riesling and chardonnay ready by 2016, or before. But he\u2019s not waiting until then to activate his winery. \u201cIn the interim, we have a vintner\u2019s license,\u201d he said. With grapes from other regions, the winery has produced a moscato and a chardonnay. He plans to uncork the first bottle of moscato July 4 in the resort\u2019s wine room. The chardonnay should be ready by Labor Day, he said. Even if Stone plants the entire 15 acres of land he has available, he doesn\u2019t expect to ever be a big producer. \u201cWe\u2019re never going to be Sutter Home,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a project of passion, absolutely.\u201d The passion comes from Stone\u2019s own love of wine, his lifelong connection with Big Bear Lake \u2014 four generations of his family have owned property there, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3917,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3898\/revisions\/3917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firesidelodge.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}