There's a California Blue Oak tree atop the property at Twisted Oak Winery in Murphys, California. It’s not exactly twisted, beaten ruthlessly by winds or somehow malformed from earthquakes or lightening strikes, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. The name of the winery however, is more fitting for owners Jeff and Mary Stai (pronounced “stye”) and their renegade and irreverent brand of wines, than for a tree.
Launched in 2003, Twisted Oak Winery takes its philosophical cues more from Monty Python than UC Davis. "We wanted to be simultaneously fun, family friendly and have a great product," Jeff Stai says. That's exactly why rubber chickens adorn the tasting room and why they make a white wine called “Sierra Foothills %@#$!” (a blend of roussane and marsanne, also know as Potty Mouth White) and a red they named “Calaveras County *%#&@!” (a blend of mourvedre, syrah and granache also called, you guessed it, Potty Mouth Red). Twisted Oak also occasionally produces a port, affectionally called Pig Stai. Twisted Oak even started the official Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Week, where diehard wine fans get prizes for the photos they submit when the rubber chicken shows up in the workplace, probably to the dismay of bosses everywhere.
Jeff and Mary Stai, originally from the Los Angeles area, were looking for a vineyard property near Santa Barbara. But it was the allure of the Gold Country, the Sierra Foothills that drew them to eventually call the 1850s mining town home. "The wines up here thrilled us,” Stie told me. “It was always in the back of my mind to find a place here someday.” That someday arrived when they bought 120 aces as an investment property in 2001. "I always thought, this would be a cool place to live," Stai said.
Jeff, working as an electrical engineer wasn't planning on leaving L.A., not just yet, though there were long term plans to escape the big bad city. "Being in the engineering field, I knew a few engineers who were also in the wine business. One guy I knew had four acres of zinfandel in Morgan Hill, south of San Jose." Stai was invited one day to a winemaker dinner. "They were serving these wines that were fantastic. They had all these flavors going on, it blew my mind. That was a pivotal moment." He started going to any tastings and wineries he could find. He and Mary would visit wineries and comment that, "If we had a winery we would do this, or we wouldn't do that. But I never had the desire to ferment anything. However, I found the wine business to be really interesting." he said.
And then time stepped in and facilitated their dream. Stai quit his lucrative engineering job. "It's the story of working for the right company at the right time and being able to make the right decision,” he tells me. The financial aspects were in place. "I went on sabbatical and didn't go back. It was an easy decision." He shrugs his shoulders, a faint smirk on his face, telegraphing that it actually was an easy decision. Sometimes things work out that way. "Look, this is more work than I ever did as an engineer,” he adds, “but I love it.” So, at the end of 2001 he bought the property between Angels Camp and Murphys, a place he fondly calls, "a little Mayberry experience."
The property itself was used for "cattle grazing and dumping tires," Stai says, but he planted 11 acres of vines just off Highway 4. Stai also has a unique sense of place and responsibility for his new hometown and to that end, the majority of fruit he purchases comes from within the county. "Nearly all of Twisted Oak fruit is Calaveras and we've made an effort to bring it all in county. I think in 20 years people will be talking about this area having its own terrior, though no one knows just what that is yet." Currently, there is no official AVA designation for Calaveras County.
A visit to either their tasting room on Main Street in downtown Murphys, or their winery just down the road in Vallecito, will demonstrate not only the quality wines the Stai's are producing, but the element of sheer fun and lack of predictability. "Some people view wine as a serious thing, then we start throwing the rubber chicken around and people think, 'the wines can't be any good.' But we're actually serious about what we're making." His descriptions of his wines are witty, double entendres that might confuse some people.
Stai favors Spanish varietals like verdelho, grenache and graciano and Rhone style wines. But even those can prove daunting for some people. “I was pouring wine at a store in Southern California,” he recalls, “and the owner laughed in my face for having a California verdhelo. Didn’t even try it. That verdehlo went on to win the Best of Show at the Orange County Fair.” He pauses and looks bemused if not slightly frustrated. “The best white wine,” he reiterates for me in a modified tone.
Time is the great equalizer. It will either bear out Stai's conviction or, like the gold miners of old, the flash in the pan will dissipate unforgivingly. The truth of the matter however, is that Twisted Oak makes consistently good wines ranging from $16 up to their estate wine called The Spaniard, a blend of tempranillo, graciano and garnacha, for $45, which won big at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Syrah, viognier and petite sirah round out the offerings.
At about 10,000 cases they have grown substantially since their inception. Yes they feature the rubber chicken and a laid back vibe. Yes, Stai and winemaker Scott Klann, who’s been in the wine industry for 15 years, are ahead of the curve and produce terrific wines with dedication and focus. Yes some people think Twisted Oak is 'wine-lite' because of the goofy attitude. But people are buying and the awards are coming in.
Calaveras County has a thriving wine industry backed by eager and innovative winemakers, not to mention, grapes have been in the area since the late 1800s. There is currently a synthesis happening in the wine country of the Mother Lode and Twisted Oak is happy to play along and invite you for a ride. “Calaveras County has it going on,” Stai says. “It’s going to be the best wine region you’ve never heard of.”
