Natural Wine in Camino & El Dorado County

Wild yeast, minimal sulfites, nothing engineered — how we make natural wine in Apple Hill, and what that actually means in the glass.

Estate grape clusters ripening on the vine at Biama Vineyard in Apple Hill, El Dorado County

“Natural wine” gets used loosely these days, so here's exactly what it means at Morton Family Cellars. Every wine we make ferments on wild, native yeast — the cultures that live on the grape skins — never a commercial strain picked from a catalog. We add only minimal sulfites, just enough for stability. We don't take fining or filtering shortcuts to rush a wine into the bottle. And the farming behind the fruit matters as much as the cellar: no synthetic chemicals, no Roundup, ever.

Wild-yeast (native) fermentation only
Minimal sulfites — stability, not masking
No fining or filtering shortcuts
Organic farming, no synthetic chemicals
Small lots, made by hand

If you want the family story behind all this — the Andersonia legacy and how Greg and Kyle Morton came to make wine this way — that lives on Our Story. This page is about the practice itself.

What It Means in the Glass

Low intervention isn't a style trend for us — it's the reason the wine tastes like somewhere.

Fermentation You Can Taste

Commercial yeast makes wine predictable; wild yeast makes it honest. Each fermentation unfolds at its own pace, and the result is depth and texture you can't replicate with a packet. Two barrels of the same grape can show two personalities — that's the point.

A True Sense of Place

Most of our reds — Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Barbera — come from El Dorado County fruit, much of it grown at Biama Vineyard, our 3,200-foot estate vineyard with volcanic soils, farmed organically and harvested entirely by hand. Minimal sulfites and no heavy filtering mean those mountain vineyards come through undisguised.

An Honest Word About Our Fruit

We'd rather under-claim than overstate. The core of our lineup is estate fruit from Biama Vineyard, steps from the tasting room. But some of our wines — the Chenin Blanc, the unoaked Chardonnay, the Cabernet Sauvignon — are made from fruit we source from Lodi and other California growers we trust. Those wines go through the same cellar, the same wild ferments, the same minimal-sulfite philosophy. They're low-intervention wines too; they're just not estate-grown, and we'll always tell you which is which when you visit.

One rule never bends: we don't buy fruit from vineyards that use Roundup or harmful pesticides. If the farming doesn't meet the standard, the grapes don't come in the door. You can browse the whole lineup — whites, reds, and dessert wines — on our wine list.

Where Each Wine’s Fruit Comes From

Every wine below is made in our Camino cellar on wild yeast with minimal sulfites. Here is where the grapes are grown, exactly as each label states it.

El Dorado County

The mountain reds, much of the fruit from our own Biama Vineyard at 3,200 feet: the 2023 Merlot, 2023 Barbera, 2023 Zinfandel, and 2023 Cabernet Franc, plus the 2023 Zinfandel Port Style for dessert.

Lodi, California & the Sierra Foothills

From growers we trust, held to our no-Roundup rule: the 2024 Chenin Blanc, the unoaked 2024 Chardonnay (fermented in stainless steel), and the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon from Lodi; the lightly sweet 2024 Symphony and easy-drinking 2023 Wannabe Cab (California); and the 2020 Muscat Blanc dessert wine (Sierra Foothills). Tasting notes and prices are on our wine list.

Natural Wine vs. Conventional Wine

Most wine on a grocery shelf is made to taste the same every year. To get there, conventional winemaking can use a commercial yeast strain chosen for a predictable flavor, adjust the wine with added acid, sugar, or tannin, clarify it with fining agents such as egg white or isinglass, and strip it with tight sterile filtration before bottling, with more sulfites added along the way.

Natural winemaking takes the other road: let the yeast that came in on the grapes do the work, add as little as possible, and let each vintage and each vineyard taste like itself. At Morton Family Cellars that means wild fermentation, minimal sulfites, no fining or filtering shortcuts, and fruit farmed without synthetic chemicals. The trade-off is that no two vintages are identical, and we think that is the best part.

El Dorado County suits this approach. High-elevation vineyards like Biama, with cool nights, volcanic soils, and hand harvesting, give fruit with the acidity and character to stand on its own without correction in the cellar.

Taste Natural Wine in Apple Hill

The easiest way to understand natural wine is to taste it next to the vineyard it came from. Our tasting room is a restored 1960s speakeasy at 2875 Larsen Drive in Camino, about 15 minutes from Placerville and an hour from Sacramento, just off Highway 50.

Tastings

$10 per person, walk-ins welcome, and free for a wine club member plus up to three guests. Groups of 7 or more, please call ahead. Open Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and until 9 p.m. on Fridays.

Take It Home

Every wine is sold by the bottle, with 10% off cases and 20% off everything regularly priced for wine club members, whose quarterly shipments bring three bottles at a time. Planning the trip? See our plan-your-visit guide.

Natural Wine Questions

What makes a wine “natural”?

For us it means four things: fermentation with wild, native yeast only (no commercial yeast strains), minimal sulfites, no fining or filtering shortcuts, and fruit farmed without synthetic chemicals or Roundup. Nothing added to engineer a flavor, nothing stripped out for convenience.

Do your wines contain sulfites?

A minimal amount — just enough for stability, never enough to mask the wine. We don't make zero-sulfite wine; we make low-intervention wine that still travels and ages honestly.

Is every Morton Family Cellars bottle estate-grown?

No, and we won't pretend otherwise. The heart of our lineup comes from Biama Vineyard, our organically farmed estate vineyard at 3,200 feet in Apple Hill. We also source some fruit from Lodi and other California growers for wines like our Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon — all made in our cellar with the same wild-ferment, minimal-intervention approach.

Does natural wine taste funky or cloudy?

Not ours. Wild fermentation and minimal sulfites give the wine more character and a true sense of place, but our small-lot approach is about honesty, not funk for funk's sake. Expect clean, expressive wine that tastes like the vineyard it came from.

Where can I taste natural wine in El Dorado County?

At our tasting room in Apple Hill, a restored 1960s speakeasy at 2875 Larsen Drive, Camino, CA. Tastings are $10 per person, free for a wine club member plus up to three guests. Open Thursday through Monday.

Is natural wine the same as organic wine?

Not quite. Organic describes how the grapes are farmed; natural wine also describes what happens in the cellar. Our fruit is farmed without synthetic chemicals or Roundup, and in the cellar we use wild yeast, minimal sulfites, and no fining or filtering shortcuts.

Which Morton Family Cellars wines come from El Dorado County?

The 2023 Merlot, Barbera, Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, and Zinfandel Port Style, much of the fruit from our Biama Vineyard at 3,200 feet in Apple Hill. The Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon come from Lodi; the Symphony and Wannabe Cab from California; the Muscat Blanc from the Sierra Foothills.

Can I buy your natural wine to take home?

Yes. Every wine is sold by the bottle at the tasting room, with 10% off cases. Wine club members get 20% off regularly priced items and a quarterly shipment of three bottles.

Taste It for Yourself

The best way to understand natural wine is in a glass, in the speakeasy tasting room where it was made. We're an hour east of Sacramento in Apple Hill — here's how to plan your visit, or browse everything else there is to do on our visit page.

See Our Wines