RustRidge Ranch

Hi! I'm Lucy and this is my son Cowboy. Welcome to our Web page.

If you come with us, we will show you what we have to offer on the ranch and perhaps we can entice you to plan a trip to visit us here at RustRidge. When you arrive at our B&B we will greet you and personally escort you around the premises. We will see you off each day as you leave to visit the Napa Valley. On your return to the ranch, all we ask is that you think of us and bring us back some treats!

RustRidge Ranch is part of a 10,000 acre Spanish land grant named Rancho Catacoula that was granted to Colonel Joseph B. Chiles in 1844. This narrow valley with rolling hills and panoramic vistas is predominately a viticultural region and is commonly known as Chiles Valley.

Cowboy and I are quite lucky to live in this idyllic spot. RustRidge Ranch comprises 200 acres. About 12 acres are planted in grapes. We love to go out in the vineyard because there are so many wonderful scents. We also enjoy hiking in the hills where you never know what animals you will see. Rustridge is home to deer, rabbit, squirrel, fox, raccoon and bobcats, as well as over eighty species of birds, duck and wild turkey.

We raise thoroughbred racehorses here also. Every year in the Spring some foals are born. Cowboy and I would love to make them our buddies but their mothers refuse to let us visit with them. When the foals grow up a bit, Jim starts to train them. They sure get feisty!!! My favorite horse is RustRidge Reserve. When she eats her grain, she spills it on the ground and I get to eat it!

Cowboy and I spend a lot of time at the winery during harvest and other times of the year. Jim and Susan do all kinds of stuff with the grapes and lots of people come to help. The grapes taste very sweet and even the horses like to eat them. After the grapes ferment, I'm not that crazy about them anymore. The tasting room is open every day and Cowboy and I greet each car as it arrives. We are extremely attentive when people bring a picnic lunch. Sometimes our cats join the picnic too.

The B&B is a fun place to hang out. It's an early 40's ranch house that Jim & Susan have decorated Southwest style. We meet really nice people there that play with us. In the mornings and afternoons we take our guests on walks to visit the horses, over to the winery, up the trail to our swimming ponds and out in the vineyard. Although we are not allowed in the B&B, Cowboy & I sit on the porch and see what everyone is doing. Susan always prepares a big breakfast which the guests really seem to enjoy. Sometimes the guests play tennis or relax in the jacuzzi. In the warm summer evenings they sit out on the deck and sip wine. When they come back from dinner we escort them down the driveway and sometimes we are rewarded with a "doggie bag."