Alyssa Morrisey
While many Sonomans crowd into big box stores this season, Vine Country Mercantile is a refreshing and unique alternative, and is a little closer to home. Located in Glen Ellen at the site of the old Garden Court Café, the shop opened its doors in October.
From the colorful moss-covered redwood birdhouses to hand-forged iron candlesnuffers and carved wood furniture, there is something very backyard-social about it. Plus, all of the items carefully laid out in the shop either tread lightly on the ecosystem or are hand-produced in the heart of the wine country.
Each collection of items is accompanied by a picture of its creators and their story. Some of whom are dentists and farmers, rather than professional artists.
“You would not believe how many incredibly talented people there are just working out of their garages,” said Kin Ryals, one of the shop’s owners. “[The shop] really walks the line between being a gallery and a gift shop.”
Ryals and co-owner Kristin Wrisley want their shop to encompass the Sonoma experience, a region that they think has some of the most delicious food and wine in the world.
Amid oil paintings and rustic kitchenware is a single culinary table, where nothing is run- of-the-mill. Ryals boasts that hers is the only shop in the U.S. selling naturally smoked maple-wood and pecan-wood olive oils made in Bennett Valley.
While Vine Country Mercantile is unique in its emphasis on local and sustainable items, it lacks the selection of other valley shops. Instead it hosts a choice few aesthetic and useful items at various price ranges. Most of its crafts are viticulture themed.
However, Ryals promises a high turnover with fresh and normally unseen items every few weeks. She says they are constantly offered new handicrafts by local hobbyists who want to show their work. Giving them a space to do so, Ryals says, is one of the pillars of the business.
“The people who make these crafts do it because they love it, not because they want to be salesmen,” Ryals says.
The shop prioritizes local, then farm-owned and eco-friendly products. Their line of sustainable products extends to manufacturers outside of the Valley, and some even outside the U.S.
Hand-painted and carved wooden signs from a company in Colorado are printed on 100 percent recycled wood. Other products include biodegradable, fair trade shopping baskets and wine totes weaved by a community in the Philippines.
Conveniently located at one of Sonoma’s wine epicenters, Vine Country Mercantile draws tourists as well as locals interested in sustainable, homegrown items.
Vine Country Mercantile coexists under the same roof as Ryal’s other bread and butter business, From Farm to Table. The company offers excursions to local artisan wineries as well as culinary tours.
Wrisley and Ryals’ shop is already making waves this holiday season, possibly pointing to a growing interest in sustainable products made inside the U.S.
Vine Country Mercantile
info@vinecountry.com
707.933.8129
13875 Sonoma Highway
Glen Ellen
From Farm to Table
Culinary field trips
707.738.5405
reserve@fromfarmtotable.com
