CountEr Coast

Counter Coast is a small grapegrowing and winemaking project from California’s West Sonoma Coast. The first wines come from the 2026 growing season and a single vineyard in the Fort Ross–Seaview AVA. 

The vineyard sits on a steep coastal ridgeline, five miles from the Pacific and high above the fog. Most mornings, the surrounding hills emerge from the marine layer below. It’s only six acres of vines, planted to Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Syrah, and the same family has cared for it since breaking ground in the early 1980s. The vineyard is CCOF-certified organic and has been farmed without tillage for more than forty years. The property is entirely off-grid, powered by hydroelectric and solar energy. 

I help tend the vineyard across the season, from winter pruning through harvest, and then make the wine. Over that time, I see where the vines push harder and where the perennial grasses grow thick, where beneficial insects thrive, and where more attention is needed. I watch how the whole vineyard responds as the weather changes. By harvest, those observations have shaped my sense of what this year’s wines might become. 

I harvest the grapes while there’s still plenty of acidity in the fruit, aiming for wines that feel balanced, with moderate alcohol. Fermentations occur with native yeast, encouraged by a pied de cuve (a sourdough starter, in essence) from grapes picked a few days earlier. From there, I add very little unless there’s good reason to intervene, and age the wine on lees in neutral French oak barrels. 

Ultimately, I’m after thoughtful farming, doing the little things well, and making delicious wines. 

The 2026 vintage comes from less than five tons of fruit, or a few thousand bottles in total. 

I hope these wines find a place at your table. 

— Tim Lyons