catalina island

California's Catalina Island Gets Its First Winery

Filed under: Wine

Catalina island off the coast of Southern California has long been a popular tourist destination but a member of the Wrigley family is looking to add a new reason to visit, a winery. The LA Times profiles Alison Wrigley Rusack and her husband Geoffrey who have planted the island's first vineyard. Her great-grandfather, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., bought Santa Catalina Island Co., which owns all the developable land on the island, way back in 1919.

The couple plan to add a wine-tasting room with panoramic views and offering horse-drawn buggy rides to picnic areas in the Catalina backcountry, 17 miles from Avalon, the island's main town and a destination for daytrippers and weekend visitors. The pair have invested millions on the winery which so far has produced 3,600 cases of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. The 2009 and 2010 vintages are nearly ready, although the label remains a work in progress.

This isn't their first time as wine entrepreneurs, in 1995 they opened Rusack Vineyards Winery, a still thriving winery business in the Santa Ynez valley. The Rusack Vineyards website has images of the Catalina vineyards and details of the first harvest. Harvested grapes were airlifted from Catalina to the Rusack winery in Santa Ynez for processing, fermentation and bottling overseen by winemaker John Falcone. First vintages should be available as soon as the label is finalized and the price will be under $100 a bottle.

Tags: california elections, catalina island, wine

Catalina Island does the Island Makeover Thing, Keeps the Roaming Buffalo

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

William Wrigley, Jr. bought Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California, in 1919. Since then the attention paid to the island has waxed and waned, but it looks as if 2010 will be a year of exceptional waxing. The former haven for wealthy cosmopolites is nearing completion of an $11 million refurbish that will put more, and more exciting, offerings on the menu for visitors.

Eleven million doesn't sound like much, but on a small island of just 4,000 people it can go a long way. New exploring options will come via air, land and sea: a GPS ranger-guided walking tour that can take you up the 2,097-foot Mt. Orizaba; a Zip Line Eco Tour with five lines that drop almost 600 feet from top to toe; and a Sea Trek Undersea Adventure during which you actually walk the seafloor using special helmets. It'll be like The Abyss, without having to breathe like a fish. For lighter fare there are still the flying fish, sunbathing seals, foxes, bald eagles, and buffalo safaris.

When respite from the wilds of an idyllic Pacific island is needed, your eye might run to the renovated Pavilion Hotel and its private lanais that is a 17-second walk to the beach, or the redone Descanso Beach Club with its private cabanas and chaise lounges. Meals can be had at the new Avalon Grille restaurant on the water, and post-prandial ports and dessert wines can be enjoyed during a stroll of the green rooms once occupied by Errol Flynn and Cary Grant. Not bad for a lush lump of rock visible from the distinctly buffalo-free Venice Boardwalk.

The renovations will be complete toward the end of Spring. The seals and flying fish are ready for you now.

Tags: california, catalina island, descanso beach hotel, pavilion hotel, resort, santa catalina island, vacation