Hello All!

You may have heard of two new businesses opening in Mariposa: The Local Grape and Little Shop of Ramen. That’s us! As Melissa and I make our way through the maze of starting these ventures, we thought it might be a good time to take a moment and share the bigger picture of our plans for Mariposa beyond the ramen restaurant, wine bar and bottle shop. The Kickstarter campaign you may have seen highlights the kickoff of the ramen restaurant, but it only gives you a small taste of our plans; its focus is solely on the project being funded.

We have much more to bring to the table and are excited to get rolling!

The Local Grape

The Local Grape is a wine bar and bottle shop that specializes in wines of the Sierra Foothills American Viticultural Area (AVA) and more importantly highlights the wines grown and/or produced right here in Mariposa County. We will provide a central tasting room for all local Mariposa wineries and push visitors out to visit the wineries themselves. In doing so, we hope to encourage visitors to stay a day or two longer in our community and experience what Mariposa has to offer.

“By concentrating on our AVA, we keep our theme ‘local’ while having the flexibility to offer an expanded variety of wines.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the Sierra Foothills AVA, this is the viticultural area that Mariposa belongs to. By concentrating on our AVA, we keep our theme “local” while having the flexibility to offer an expanded variety of wines. The Sierra Foothills AVA stretches from Yuba County in the North to Mariposa County in the South, along the western portion of the Sierra Nevada. This includes all wineries from Amador County, El Dorado County and Calaveras counties. Within the entire Sierra Foothills AVA, which totals about 2,600,000 acres, there are five other sub-AVAs: The California Shenandoah Valley, El Dorado, Fair Play, Fiddletown and North Yuba. Within this area there are approximately 200 individual wineries ranging from your family-run boutique winery to some pretty big players; these are the wineries I’m currently talking to and plan on bringing in by bottle and glass to Mariposa.

The Local Grape will have a wine club highlighting Sierra Foothill AVA wineries including Mariposa. The building of the wine club means we can reach a broader audience resulting in larger distribution.

The Winery

We also have a winery… or soon to be winery! I grin because this is the true reason for starting the wine bar and bottle shop. We needed a way to fund my true passion: wine making! No, we are not bonded, but that is a 2020 goal.

“…why don’t you work a little around our property to see just how much work is involved before planting anything.”

Three years ago, we met Mike and Lesli Rauch who took me under their wing and taught me a few things about both growing and managing grapes as well as the wine-making process. It started with me asking about planting a few vines on our property and they simply said, “Woah, why don’t you work a little around our property to see just how much work is involved before planting anything.” They were fantastic, patient and of course they were correct.

It was a lot of work between pruning, suckering, picking and making the wine, but I was hooked. I owe a great deal to both of them for providing me with a good foundation to start from. With three harvests under my belt, we are planning on bonding, and although we will start small, it will be a start. The first few years will be small batches and a lot of experimenting, but I’m excited to jump into this industry!

Mariposa Wine Alliance

One of the biggest undertakings of our plan is the growth of Mariposa County’s wine industry as a whole. This starts with the creation of the non-profit Mariposa Wine Alliance to promote our local region, attract new wineries and vineyards, and subsequently more visitors to Mariposa specifically. Mariposa’s grape production has lagged decades behind the rest of the Sierra Foothills AVA. Although an Alliance has been tried before, I think the time is right to approach this again.

Through the Mariposa Wine Alliance, a coordinated marketing campaign will be developed with the overall goals of planting more vines in the region and thus growing the regional economic impact.

On the most basic level we would:

• Enlist the help of Universities to develop a long term regional wine industry growth plan.
• Develop sales promotional material.
• Develop an online presence.
• Add signage to identify winery locations.
• Create a plan to attract new vineyard and winery businesses.
• Enhance our partnership with other Sierra Foothill AVA surrounding regions as well as Madera and Central Valley regions through joint education and marketing programs.

These items are identified in Mariposa’s Economic Vitality Strategy through increased Agri-Tourism and diversifying from Yosemite National Park. This is not an overnight task, but a decades long commitment to the region we all love. I think we have the foot traffic, and with many new exciting developments like the Mariposa Creek Walk, the potential to really make an impact.

How we make this happen:

While our original business plan involved separate entities for the Little Shop of Ramen and The Local Grape, we currently have an opportunity to house both operations in one downtown location. Although the Kickstarter project highlights the opening of Little Shop of Ramen, the success of the campaign means The Local Grape will be able to open in conjunction. Having both open at the same time will allow us to move more quickly on the other projects, but it all starts with getting the doors open. The Kickstarter deadline is January 20th.

We want to help make Mariposa the spot to be. You have an opportunity to take part too! Help spread the word about these new businesses, and make a pledge, in return you will get a sticker, ramen meal, or other cool benefits when we open. Use the link below for more information and to help bring Little Shop of Ramen and The Local Grape to life.