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All About Us

Our Story

Sicilia Vineyards is located at the foot of the Sutter Buttes in Yuba City, California and is owned and operated by David Smith and Sandie Adams. David writes…

When Sandie and I first purchased this property in 2004, I immediately thought it would be perfect for a vineyard, however I could not imagine how we could make it happen. Ironically, this is the very property where many decades ago the Thompson Seedless grape was developed.

I took several courses at UC Davis including a very outstanding vineyard taxation course by Mr. Scott from Coopers in San Francisco; this opened new doors. I had visited countless vineyards and wineries throughout California and Oregon over the past ten years. We visited Italy once in 2005. That trip was life changing! It gave us the motivation for completing decorations on our home and also inspired the European garden that now adorns our backyard. We were particularly struck with the rugged beauty and history of Sicily, hence the name of our vineyard Sicilia (pronounced “Saychelia”).

We were also inspired by Mr. Reece Cordi, founder of Cordi Winery, in Live Oak who obtained the first permitted tasting room in Sutter County. He referred me to Diego Barison, our consultant. At the time, Diego was at a grape vine nursery in Knights Landing and met with us on several occasions to start planning. Diego has a vast amount of training in all aspects of the wine industry and comes to us via northern Italy.

We have been extremely fortunate to have a tremendous team. Jake from Bi-County Irrigation, Inc. has been a jewel and has assisted not just with drips and water lines, but with repairs and tutorials on how to repair things on our own. Diego referred us to Mr. Clemons, a farm equipment innovator in Woodland. He, along with his assistant, Heiko, have taught us all about tractors and the attachments we would need. Alan Olivera has provided the crews for setting up planting and grafting and has also been a dynamo in the nuts and bolts of the vineyard operation.

The first step was to rip the soil; we accomplished this in late summer of 2009. We encountered some a few unexpected problems. One day the ripping machine parked on the front acreage and the teeth happened to drop directly onto a large water line leading from the agricultural well. Needless to say, water was everywhere! There were three clones of rootstock planted; 5C, 3309, and 101-14. The rootstock was specially developed at a winery in Washington State and as Diego says, “this is the best and cleanest rootstock anywhere.” We had decided by this time to graft onto the rootstock, Warm Weather Italian Varietal Grapes. We determined there would be Greco, Fiano, Coda di Volpe, Primitivo, Barbera, Negro Amaro, and Teroldego. Our vision is to produce outstanding wine, which always starts with outstanding farming practices and grow what the terrior allows.

The first year we did not have the tractor as we were keeping expenses down. We dug weeds by hand for countless hours in the summer of 2010 and were happy to see the rootstock go to sleep in Autumn 2010. In 2011, we purchased a vineyard tractor with the appropriate attachments to keep the vineyard “clean” as Heiko likes to put it. We also did the grafting with the help of Alan’s crew. Then it was a battle with gophers, which at this time, we seem to have won.

Sandie was diagnosed with breast cancer, the month before our first harvest, in 2012. Currently she is cancer-free, but battles side effects of the prevention medication on a daily basis and has not had many pain free days or days with adequate energy to physically assist in our efforts; she continues to provide vital support. We now have several partners. Mark Henry of Montolivia Vineyard & Winery in Grass Valley loves our Negro Amaro. He purchases this variety and he made our Barbera from our 2013 harvest. Ruggero Mastroserio of Mastroserio Winery in Somerset has been a great friend and partner; he made our first release Primitivo and Barbera from 2012. Reece Cordi made our first white release from 2013; Due Bianchi is a unique blend of Fiano and Greco. Rockwall Winery in Alameda and Montagna Winery in Napa Valley also purchase our grapes for white blends of Greco Fiano and Coda Di Volpe.

We have just completed our fifth harvest and we are looking forward now to selling our wines. Our Sicilia label has been officially approved and we have Primitivo and Barbera from 2012 and 2013; Due Bianchi (white blend of Greco and Fiano) from 2013 and well as some interesting white Fiano based blends.

We will be exploring a tasting room here on site. We are both excited anxious and nervous as we move forward with this adventure, but overall we’re very excited to see this project evolve. The vineyard is indeed beautiful and we have improved the land.

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Our Mission

We employ the best farming techniques possible in order to produce high quality grapes of the Italian variety to produce high quality wine. We want to utilize the terrior (ie temperature rainfall soil type wind and rain), to develop varietals that may not be immediately recognized by current wine drinkers but wine enthusiasts will be amazed with these varietals once exposed to them. The Teroldego, Coda di Volpe, Fiano, Negroamaro, and Greco are rare in American markets.

Our Vision

As Yuba City’s first vineyard we want to become a viable member of the community and contribute to the growth of our area. We will explore areas where we can assist for example in fund raising for worthy causes. We hope to utilize the vineyard to bring positive attention to our area and expose it as a new potential wine-producing region. We will also educate with regard to the critical importance of safe drinking and the risk of overindulgence and that wine can be enjoyed but there are those who through no fault of their own cannot safely drink at all. I have rarely, if ever, seen strong educational information in tasting rooms on the risk of overindulgence.

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