Our story

Two people, a hill and a lot of Pinot

Tallow Creek Cellars started with a rented tractor and a hillside nobody wanted.

An aerial view of a small farmhouse surrounded by trees and green vineyard rows divided by dirt tracks

Since 2008

We planted before we had a winery

Ellis and June Corbett bought a run-down sheep pasture on Tallow Ridge in 2008. Ellis had spent fifteen years in other people’s cellars and June had been a school librarian, and neither of them was sure it would work.

They planted the first four acres of Pinot Noir in 2009 and sold their fruit to other winemakers for three years. In 2012 they kept a few barrels for themselves. The tasting room opened in a converted equipment barn in 2013, and Tomás Reyes joined as winemaker in 2017.

We farm 22 acres now: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and a little Chardonnay. Everything we sell comes from those rows, and the cellar is fifty yards from the oldest vines.

2009first vines planted
2012our first wine
22acres we farm
2017Tomás becomes winemaker

Who you will meet

It is a small crew, so you will usually meet the same people at the bar and in the cellar.

EC
Ellis Corbett
Owner and grower
Planted the first vines in 2009 and still walks the rows every morning in season. Spent fifteen years working in other people’s cellars before starting this one.
JC
June Corbett
Owner
A former school librarian who runs the books, the club and the Saturday lawn. She wrote most of the tasting cards.
TR
Tomás Reyes
Winemaker
Joined in 2017 after eleven harvests in Oregon and Chile. He makes every wine on the list and will talk about any of them.
DW
Dana Whitfield
Tasting room lead
Runs the tasting room and the private events. Knows who your table neighbors are and probably what you are about to order.

A hand reaching into autumn-colored vine leaves to pick a cluster of dark grapes

In the vineyard and the cellar

How we make it

We pick by hand into small crates and sort the fruit before it goes into the tank. Most of the Pinot ferments with its own yeast and is aged in French oak for ten to sixteen months. The whites stay in stainless steel, apart from the Chardonnay.

We make about 4,000 cases a year, which is as much as the crew can look after.