Frog's Leap Winery is a

California wine California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. I ...

producer that operates from Rutherford. It was founded in 1981 on a spot along Mills Creek known as Frog Farm. Frog's Leap Winery was established by John Williams and Larry Turley. In addition to their accolades for their wines, Frog's Leap is also noted for its humorous approach to

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

, down to their "Ribbit" corks. The winery got its name by combining "Frog Farm" (where its first wines were made) with " Stag's Leap" (where John Williams had his first winemaking job).

History

John Williams and Larry Turley formed Frog's Leap in 1981 at the site of the historic Adamson Winery, producing 700 cases of sauvignon blanc. When they started, Turley was a doctor and Williams was a winemaker at

Spring Mountain Vineyard Spring Mountain Vineyard is a vineyard consisting of 135 different vineyard blocks scattered over the estate in California's Napa Valley. Spring Mountain Vineyard was in fourth place among French and American wines at the historic Judgment of ...

. They took the winery into organic farming, and made it the first Napa winery with certified organically grown grapes. They built up the winery in

Saint Helena, California St. Helena ( ; Wappo: ''Anakotanoma'') is a city in Napa County, in the Wine Country of California. Located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the population was 5,814 at the 2010 census. St. Helena is a popular tourist d ...

together until 1994, when John Williams took Frog's Leap to the Red Barn Ranch in

Rutherford, California Rutherford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Napa County, California, United States. The population was 164 at the 2010 census. Rutherford is located in the Rutherford AVA (American Viticultural Area) which is located in the larger Napa Valle ...

and Larry Turley established what is now

Turley Wine Cellars Turley Wine Cellars is a popular California wine producer with wineries in both Templeton, California, Templeton (Southern Cal-Paso Robles wine region) and St. Helena, California, St. Helena (Northern Cal-Napa Valley wine region). Turley wines are ...

. In 2004, Sunlight Electric met with Frog's Leap discussing how the winery was spending around $50,000 annually on electricity. On February 9, 2005, the photovolatic system went live over Frog's Leap's leeching fields. With the system's annual output of , it produces about 85% of the site's energy usage.

Winemaking

Frog's Leap features

organically grown Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

grapes and dry-farmed vineyards. Owner John Williams believes dry-farming results in stronger, healthier vines. Frog's Leap engages in other

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

practices as well. They were one of the first wineries to use

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

to run their entire operation. * * The winery also includes the use of compost and cover crops to organically enrich the soil, as well as dry farming to conserve water and reduce soil erosion.

Wines

Frog's Leap used to make a wine known as "Leapfrögmilch" (a pun on

Liebfraumilch ''Liebfraumilch'' or ''Liebfrauenmilch'' (, in reference to the Virgin Mary) is a style of semi-sweet white German wine which may be produced, mostly for export, in the regions Rheinhessen, Palatinate, Rheingau, and Nahe. The original German s ...

), but after an incidence of

noble rot Noble rot (french: pourriture noble; german: Edelfäule; it, Muffa nobile; hu, Aszúsodás) is the beneficial form of a grey fungus, ''Botrytis cinerea'', affecting wine grapes. Infestation by ''Botrytis'' requires moist conditions. If the we ...

in 2006, they replaced it with "Frögbeerenauslese" (a pun on

Trockenbeerenauslese ''Trockenbeerenauslese'' (literal meaning: 'dried berry selection') is a German language wine term for a medium to full body dessert wine. ''Trockenbeerenauslese'' is the highest in sugar content in the ''Prädikatswein'' category of the Austrian ...

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Frog's Leap Winery
1981 establishments in California Wineries in Napa Valley Companies based in Napa County, California Food and drink companies established in 1981