Vineyards

Rabbit Ridge Vineyards of Healdsburg, Calif., has agreed to pay $810,000 to resolve federal charges that it misled consumers with its wine bottle labels. The settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was the largest ever for a California winery, ATF spokeswoman Marti McKee said. . It came after a six-month investigation in which ATF agents found "significant violations" at the winery from 1994 to 2000, McKee said.

Entered by a gated driveway that leads to a cobblestone motor court, this Cape Cod-inspired compound has a resort atmosphere with amenities such as a putting green, a 70-foot-long batting cage and a vineyard. Among the structures are a main residence with a library/music room and gym, a pool house with a kitchen, a detached theater with a projection system and bar, and a separate office suite. Location: 4385 Commonwealth Ave., La Canada Flintridge 91001 Asking price: $8.9 million Architect: Dave De Angelis Year built: 2006 Living space: Five bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 10,644 square feet Lot size: About 1.5 acres Features: Wine cellar for more than 3,000 bottles, tasting room, heated floors, basement billiard room, roof deck, solar power, saltwater pool with spa, misting system, outdoor kitchen, lighted sports court, citrus grove, equestrian zoning About the area: Last year, 244 single-family homes sold in 91011 ZIP Code at a median price of $1,060,000, according to DataQuick.

April was a cruel month for California winemakers, bringing a series of unusually late frosts to vineyards sprouting the tender green shoots of spring. The damage still is being assessed -- it could be June before growers know the full extent -- but most expect smaller-than-average harvests this year. "It was cold in lots of places," said Karen Ross, president of the California Assn. of Winegrape Growers. "There's lots of misery to be shared." The cold snap's immediate effects can be seen in some vineyards, where leaves that normally would be fluttering pale green in spring breezes are curled up brittle as December leaves.

It's almost a rule of screwball comedy: The person you can't stand at first inevitably grows into a confidant or even a mate. Though they didn't become quite that friendly, playwright Molly Smith Metzler and one Martha's Vineyard trophy wife got close enough for comfort — and so simpatico that the woman became a major character in Smith Metzler's play, "Elemeno Pea," which opens Feb. 3 at South Coast Repertory. Smith Metzler, a middle-class native of sleepy Kingston, N.Y., had traveled to the Vineyard on a post-collegiate lark in the early aughts with the vague notion of gathering material for a newly hatched playwriting career.

Two vineyard workers in Santa Barbara County apparently drowned in an irrigation pond, officials said Thursday. The men, employees of Clos Pepe Vineyards outside Lompoc, were identified as Ramon Cisneros Acosta, 42, and Rogelio Ruiz Reyez, 29. Investigators said one of the men evidently had tried to rescue the other when he ran into trouble repairing the pond's filtration system. The bodies were found by divers after the men were reported missing Wednesday night.

After devastating the Temecula wine region, the dreaded vineyard scourge of Pierce's disease appears to be spreading across the southern half of the state's second-largest grape growing area, Kern County. In one corner east of Bakersfield alone, the vine-shriveling disease has been confirmed in a dozen vineyards, and farmers and government officials are pulling out more than 600 infected vines, according to UC farm advisor Jennifer Hashim.

About 170 years ago, a mountain man named George Yount settled in central Napa Valley on a large tract of land granted by the Mexican government. Between hunting grizzly bears and fighting the native Wappo and La Jota tribes, he established a farm that included a small vineyard -- Napa Valley's first grapevines. Today three Yountville-area landowners claim that Yount's vineyard site is on their land. Alas, the vines are long gone.

"Tours and Cruises," Oct. 6, was accompanied by a photo of a chateau and vineyards captioned, "Bordeaux vineyards and chateaux will be the focus of a trip to France." But the photo is of the Chateau du Clos-de-Vougeot and vineyards in the Cote d'Or of Burgundy. THOMAS BURKE Los Angeles Editor's note: The French Government Tourist Office provided incorrect caption information for the photograph. The letter writer is correct.

Down the road from an auto wrecker, next to a garage that rebuilds engines, Jim Ahern makes expensive wines that are praised by prominent critics. The story of the Ahern Winery in the Roydon Industrial Complex in San Fernando is filled with anomalies. Ahern, 49, a former industrial pipe fitter who retains his Bronx patois, is a hefty chili-and-beer type. He says the judges who taste his wines are "just a little bit snooty."

In his previous life, Don Watson crunched numbers on the 40th floor of a San Francisco high rise, another suit sipping cappuccino in the city's financial district. These days, dressed in Levi's and work boots, Watson trails sheep through the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma counties. He raises fancy lambs to accompany the area's pinot noir. "It's the freedom," said Watson, 37, as he looked over the green hills of the Carneros, a windblown, grape-growing region on the southern edges of Sonoma and Napa counties.

Château de Beaucastel produces a stupendous Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc, and its Paso Robles property, Tablas Creek Vineyard, turns out a white in a similar spirit called "Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc. " It's no mistake that so many Central Coast winemakers have gravitated toward Rhone varietals. This blend of primarily Roussanne with Grenache Blanc and a little of the livelier Picpoul Blanc is a great tribute to the Rhone with its scent of white peaches and honey, bracing minerality and lush texture.

Belle Glos specializes in Pinot Noir, and this one from Las Alturas Vineyard in the Central Coast's Santa Lucia Highlands is a beauty. Rich and full-bodied, it tastes of Asian spices, dark juicy berries and ripe but not candied fruit. The texture is smooth and silky, a wine for slow-braised stews and daubes, a classic coq au vin or just a simple steak. irene.virbila@latimes.com Region: Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County Price: $35 to $40 Style: Subtle and elegant What it goes with: Braised dishes, coq au vin, steak Where to find it: K&L Wine Merchants in Hollywood, (323)

Francisco J. Ayala was looking for a weekend family retreat 30 years ago when a real estate agent showed him 400 acres of rolling vineyards near Lodi in the Central Valley. They had not produced much for the previous owners but Ayala, then a research biologist at UC Davis, saw promise. He used his scientific training, sought advice from experts and was soon producing well-regarded crops of Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir and other varietals. Ayala joined the faculty at UC Irvine in 1989 and his reputation as one of the world's top molecular biologists has grown — as have the earnings from his vineyards, which total more than 2,000 acres in northern San Joaquin and Sacramento counties.

On Friday morning, as President Obama juggled conference calls and drafted a statement on the approaching hurricane from his retreat at Blue Heron Farm, the hub of activity in this onetime sheepherding town was five miles west at the Chilmark General Store. Beginning at 7 a.m., casually dressed locals and vacationers in flip-flops made their way across the creaky pine floorboards of the store's porch and through the swinging doors for breakfast. Preparations for Hurricane Irene had added a few provisions to the morning's grocery list — ice, bottled water and batteries — but, as usual, hardly anyone was in a hurry.

As the president tried to concentrate on his golf swing Wednesday, fierce fighting continued in Libya, officials surveyed damage from a magnitude 5.8 earthquake and Hurricane Irene hurtled toward the East Coast. The vacationing leader of the free world just can't catch a break. After a tumultuous year with a whipsawing stock market and U.S. unemployment hovering above 9%, President Obama and his family had tried to slip away for a 10-day retreat to Martha's Vineyard, returning to Blue Heron Farm, their secluded hideaway in Chilmark.

Two plants have long been iconic to Northern California: the soaring redwood tree and the lush wine grapevine. But should one be sacrificed for the other? That question is being raised in Sonoma County a few miles from the Pacific and above the fog line, where two large wineries are petitioning the state to allow them to clear 2,000 acres of redwoods and Douglas firs to make room for new Pinot Noir vineyards. Sonoma County planners say it would be the largest woodland-to-vineyard conversion in California's history and, not surprisingly, it's touched off a debate between fans of the majestic trees and aficionados of the grapes.

STANDING on his family's Stone Corral field five years ago, Brian Talley could feel the midday sun on the southeast-facing hillside; the afternoon ocean breezes rushed up from Morro Bay. He knew these 27 acres of sandy loam would be perfect for growing grapes to make world-class Pinot Noir.

MARK JUNE 15 on your wine calendar, because that's when the 1987 Ferrari-Carano Alexander Valley Chardonnay will be released. The two previous editions sold out quickly, and it's likely this one will do the same. In the fall of 1987, the release of the 1985 Alexander Valley Chardonnay launched the Ferrari-Carano vineyards and winery with the brilliance of a rocket in the night sky. Rarely has a new winery produced such a sensational debut wine. The wine combined the subtle differences from multiple lots of separately vinified wines made from the harvest of more than five vineyards.

With the conflict in Libya at a breaking point, President Obama told reporters Sunday night that he was going to wait until the situation in Tripoli was clear before commenting. As Libyan rebels moved deeper into Tripoli and their leaders reported they had captured Moammar Kadafi's son, Seif Islam Kadafi, White House aides said the president was closely monitoring developments. "We're going to wait until we have full confirmation of what has happened,” Obama told reporters Sunday evening on his way into Nancy's, a seafood restaurant in Oak Bluffs.

President Obama made his first foray out of his vacation compound Friday with a trip to the legendary Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Vineyard Haven. Bystanders who had been browsing upstairs at the two-story bookstore rushed to the windows as crowds gathered on the street. Obama, in a blue polo shirt, jeans and sneakers, wandered in with his daughters. After telling some customers that Sasha was going to browse, he wandered the store with a staff member while discussing his choices with one of the employees.