Looking down from the top of Jackass Hill, a 60-degree, sheer slope above Martinelli Road in Forestville, it’s hard to imagine that someone planted every one of the 300-some grapevines by hand.

The double black diamond ski run at Tahoe’s Squaw Valley known as McConkey’s is just a tiny bit steeper than Jackass Hill, which slants to a 68.5-degree pitch in some spots. Tending a vineyard growing at even remotely that angle is dangerous. It needs to be pruned, mowed and harvested, work originally done on Jackass Hill with horse and plow and now with a tractor, which isn’t any safer. A tumble down the hill is just a misstep away.

Gnarled and photogenic, these tiny-yielding, dry-farmed vines contribute to one of the most revered Zinfandels anywhere, Martinelli Winery & Vineyards Jackass Hill, so designated by the Martinelli family since the 1980s, when, in addition to growing grapes, its members started making wine.

Lee Martinelli Sr. is the vines’ caretaker, a 75-year-old farmer so devoted to this vineyard — planted in the 1880s by his Tuscan grandparents, Giuseppe and Luisa — that he only recently and reluctantly started letting his grown sons, Lee Jr. and George, share in the upkeep.

“We really acknowledge our family, what they’ve done before us,” Lee Sr. said. “They gave us our start and most of all, they settled in Sonoma County.”

He, his wife, Carolyn, and their four children (Julianna, Lee Jr., Regina and George) represent the family’s fourth generation, and each of them is involved in the business.

“Our family is fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time,” Julianna Martinelli said. “In Sonoma County, we can grow everything and the wine culture’s gone crazy. We’re fortunate we have a crop, wine grapes, that allows us to make a living.”

In the 1990s, Julianna took on the family’s marketing and sales duties as a young mother with three children. She recalls selling apples as a teenager and then needing to evolve the family business as it became more about wine, something she said remains a struggle.

“There are so many great wines, you have to reintroduce yourself again and again,” she said.

Comprising only 3 precipitous acres, with a couple of mysterious rows of Muscat Alexandria, Jackass Hill Vineyard in a good year ekes out about 60 cases of $120-a-bottle Zinfandel for the Martinellis. Each of the six primary family members is allotted just two bottles. Jackass Vineyard Zin from lower down on the property sells for $95.

Lee Martinelli Sr.’s father, Leno, farmed this land well into his 80s before finally letting a few duties go to his son, in around 1968. It was Leno’s second wife, Helen, who coined the term Jackass Hill to describe the incredibly steep slope, saying only a jackass would be foolish enough to farm it.

In those days, the grapes were sold to various wineries, helping to provide a decent living for the family that has deep and tentacled roots throughout Sonoma County.

In addition to grapes, the Martinellis are dogged apple growers, a crop they’ve stuck to even while becoming famous for wine grapes. They sell some of their apples to the Martinelli’s juice company, although there is no other connection between the two.

It helped that Leno Martinelli married a Bondi, Alma (his first wife and Lee Sr.’s mother), also from an Italian immigrant family with its own roots in Sonoma. Having started out with potatoes, Alma’s family realized apples were the region’s future, and by 1970, her brother, Tony, was one of the major apple growers in the county.

It was Tony’s premature death in 1971 that prompted Lee Martinelli Sr. to become a full-time farmer. He had been a high school teacher in Santa Rosa but needed to take over the Bondi apple operation in order for it to survive.

As apple prices fell, grape prices soared, and Martinelli began replanting some of the land to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah grapes, starting with the Zio Tony Ranch. Today, it’s a coveted grape source for many wineries, including Sonoma’s Patz & Hall.

Like his father before him, Martinelli wed a farmer’s daughter, Carolyn Charles, who was raised above Fort Ross on a 2,000-acre sheep ranch that has been in her family for generations. By the 1970s, the ranch was struggling and so it, too, began a transition to grapevines. Carolyn’s father, George, first planted 17 acres of Chardonnay on the site in the early 1980s.

The Martinellis now have several vineyards within the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation of the Sonoma Coast, including Blue Slide Ridge, Three Sisters and Wild Thyme, all ideal yet extreme sites for growing cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, just 1 mile from the ocean. But it was Charles Ranch that provided the serendipity that would forever change the course of the Martinelli family’s fortunes. Right next door was a winemaker, Helen Turley, who was planting a vineyard she’d call Marcassin.

Already famous for making the Colgin Cellars and Bryant Family wines in Napa Valley, Turley had a casual conversation with Lee Sr. over a fence line and that soon led to the Martinellis hiring her as their winemaker in 1992.

Turley pushed the family to farm for ever-higher quality, overseeing higher-density plantings at many of their sites. It was unorthodox and risky at the time but paid off, both in terms of the Martinellis’ reputation as growers, and as a marquee producer of remarkable wines.

Today, the wines are made by Bryan Kvamme, who worked alongside Turley for many years, and Erin Green, another Turley protégé. Turley consulted on the Martinelli wines through the 2010 vintage.

“Farming the same land for 100 years now is a great story,” Julianna said. “But flavor has to be in the bottle and we have to show consistency. We work hard to keep that consistency.”

In all, the Martinelli family farms 450 acres across the county, the majority of them in the Russian River Valley. Regina’s official title is executive vice president, although her business card also reads, “The Great Granddaughter of the Original Jackass.” Lee Jr. and George want simply to be known as farmers.

For fun, family members enjoy hunting and camping at Charles Ranch, cooking what they shoot. Those are some of their happiest times, when they can leave the business part behind. For Lee Sr., that is the crowning achievement, that they remain together, united in their land.

“In a family business, there’s something for everyone to do,” Julianna added. “My parents are happy and proud that we’ve taken up the reins.”

Craig Ponsford has a theory about why artisan bakers often have an edge to their personalities, much like the knives they use to score their breads. After all, they work long, physically demanding hours to deliver a healthy product, only to watch folks line up at the donut shop down the block.

“Artisan bakers tend to be a little more bitter,” said Ponsford, a baker himself. “People have no clue how hard the work is, and often when my customers see me, I’ve just finished 10 or 12 hours. I think we’re really sensitive. We’re artists. ”

Despite the challenges, a rising number of bakers in Sonoma and Marin are trying to return bread to its rightful place at the center of the table, bringing back its flavor by sourcing whole milled grains and baking them into sturdy, highly nutritious loaves. Most started their careers in the bland world of modern bread but have turned their backs on white flour and machines, rewinding the clock to where baking was 100 and even 200 years ago.

By keeping a low overhead and selling direct to consumers, these artisans are able to work the flour, water and salt in small batches, with their hands. Along the way, they are creating a new generation of chewy, dense artisanal breads.

Committed, fiercely independent and unfazed by the long hours, Mike Zakowski of The Bejkr (The Baker) in Sonoma and Eli Colvin of rEVOLUTION Bread in Santa Rosa create distinctive breads by using ancient grains such as emmer and einkorn, sourced when possible from local growers.

The Bejkr

“The whole-grain movement has taken off in the last five years,” Zakowski, 46, said. “The new way is back to the old, the way it should be. Keeping the grain fresh and using it fresh. Freshness equals flavor.”

His breads are multidimensional in texture and flavor, ranging from hearty and dense to light and moist, nutty and sweet to sweet with a hint of sour. They are often topped with a sprinkling of cracked wheat, seeds or sea salt for added crunch. His loaves are on the shopping lists of top local chefs who have become fans of such quirky and rustic creations as farro spezzato, which has a nice, nutty wheat flavor balanced by the sweetness of cracked spelt.

“He’s making some of the most beautiful breads in the Bay Area,” said Ponsford, champion of the 1996 World Cup of Baking while at his family’s Artisan Bakers in Sonoma. He now bakes with whole grains at Ponsford’s Place in San Rafael. “Not only is he going it with the old methods, he’s using more ancient grains than anyone else in the Bay Area.”

Sonoma filmmaker Colin Blackshear followed Zakowski to France to videotape him competing, first as part of the three-man Team USA at the 2012 World Cup of Baking (the U.S. finished second, behind Japan), then as one of eight individuals in the world invited to compete in the Bakery Masters 2014. The footage will appear in a yet-to-be-released film. Spoiler alert:

Winning the Master Baker in the Bread category was Japan’s Yuki Nagata.

“I really appreciate that (Zakowski) is reviving the old traditions and keeping it very small,” Blackshear said. “It’s microbakeries instead of microbreweries.”

Preparing to bake competitively pushed Zakowski to learn new ways to extract maximum flavor from whole-milled and ancient grains. “I’m good at tweaking the formula, reducing hydration or increasing salt,” he said. “I studied numbers, and baking is formulas and numbers, plus craft and love and passion.”

Although whole grains are often difficult to handle, they offer extra benefits because they are easier to digest, provide healthy fiber and do not go stale as quickly as other breads, thanks to the high amount of antioxidants.

With true whole grains, the three parts of the grain — the germ, bran and endosperm — are milled together. But at most industrial roller mills, “whole-grain” wheat flour is separated into parts, milled and then put back together. Along the way, the grain loses flavor and nutrients.

Although Zakowski bakes just once or twice a week, producing a dozen different breads for two farmers markets often takes him 50 to 60 hours each week. Approximately 10 to 12 hours prior to baking, he mixes the flours and starters at his home.

From nurturing and feeding the starters to folding the dough and forming the loaves, Zakowski’s hands and body are constantly in motion.

He often works for 22 hours straight, yet he’s never too tired to staff his booths at the year-round farmers market in Sonoma on Friday mornings and the seasonal Tuesday evening market on the Sonoma Plaza, May to October.

“I don’t want my bread to be on a shelf, because that’s when things go south,” Zakowski said. “I love the farmers market because all these people come … and I talk to every one of my customers.”

As if his baking routine is not complicated enough, Zakowski recently purchased a 16-inch stone mill in order to mill his own grain.

“I will be milling 40 to 50 percent of my grain,” he said. “But I’d like to mill it all.”

Zakowski worked for bakeries in Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix before moving to Sonoma in 2005 to manage Artisan Bakers for Ponsford. On his day off, he baked his own breads.

By the time he left a year later, Zakowski had gained a reputation for a line of mostly whole-grain breads, often finished with a signature stencil.

His traditional baguette is $4, an 800-gram einkorn loaf $10.

“All you really need is a set of hands and an oven,” he said. “For me, it’s a never-ending pursuit.”

rEVOLUTION Bread

Colvin, 40, started rEVOLUTION Bread in 2012, when Proposition 37 (the GMO labeling proposition) was on the state ballot. In addition to showing his support for the proposition, which failed, he wanted to show people how good bread could be.

“Bread has been the bastard of the food world,” Colvin said. “It doesn’t get the respect it deserves, considering it was one of the first foods humanity ever came up with.”

He compares baking to farming, a humble profession that hasn’t changed much over the years when it’s done on a small scale.

“Flour is the same as working with the land. It’s never the same, and it’s never consistent,” he explained. “As a baker, you have to be technical-minded, but it’s artistic and something you can use for self-expression.”

Colvin got his start at the Downtown Bakery in Healdsburg in the early 1990s. “Kathleen Stewart had a huge impact,” he said of the bakery’s founding owner. “She came out of Chez Panisse, and I was surrounded by all this fresh produce.”

In the late 1990s, Colvin managed Artisan Breads, then worked for Bennett Valley Bakery. For the last six years, he has been head baker at Model Bakery in St. Helena, where he began working on his own breads two years ago.

“I started experimenting and had a lot of huge failures,” Colvin said. “You are trying to help guide this process. The bread is going to do what it wants to do. You have to approach it with the mindset that making mistakes is going to be your best teacher.”

This spring, he left Model Bakery to set up his own shop in a Santa Rosa catering kitchen. The breads are sold at Thistle Meats and Green String Farm in Petaluma, the Locavore Store in Sebastopol and the Santa Rosa farmers markets at the Veterans Memorial Building on Saturdays and the West End Market on Sundays.

Prices range from $4 to $5 for a khorasan baguette, which has a natural sweetness and nutty flavor, to $8 for breads made from emmer or einkorn. Although these whole-grain breads are not inexpensive, they are so nutritious and filling that you don’t need to eat them in large quantities. They’re easier to digest than commercial bread because of the long fermentation time, and the boosted flavor of the grains makes then more enjoyable. Plus, the antioxidants extend the bread’s shelf life.

“Sonoma is super-lucky to have these kinds of bread bakers,” Ponsford said. “Just eat Mike Zakowski’s breads and you will never go back. It takes care of so many other sins you may be committing.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GRAINS

“The Grain Divide,” a new documentary about the rise of the local grain movement in the U.S., features some of the top chefs, bakers and food leaders in the country, including Bob Klein of Community Grains in Oakland, Berkeley food writer Michael Pollan, and Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farm in New York.

Sonoma growers, millers, bakers and distillers are also hopping on the movement, with the recent formation of the North Coast Heritage Grain Alliance.

Spearheaded by Deborah Walton of Canvas Ranch in Petaluma, the nonprofit alliance is a long-term project that is trying to pick up where Doug Mosel of the Mendocino Grain Project will be leaving off.

“Doug has the equipment for harvesting and cleaning the grain,” Walton said. “He’s been the only game in town for the five North Bay counties of Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Lake and Mendocino, but he’s an older gentleman and only has so much capacity.”

With Mosel’s blessing, Walton gathered 42 farmers, millers, bakers, chefs and distillers for a workshop earlier this year that explored how to grow the local grain industry.

The alliance identified several areas requiring attention, including sharing of equipment, educating the public about whole grains, sharing knowledge about what kinds of grains grow best, and the individual needs of brewers, distillers and bakers.

“We might want to have a central milling place, and a central dehulling space,” Walton said. “But that would be down the road.”

Equipment such as the combines for harvesting will be purchased by individual farmers, who would get extra income by providing those services to others. A few growers, such as Open Field Farm in Petaluma, have already expressed interest, Walton said.

The alliance has also procured a grant worth $30,000 in services that would provide research on a strategic planning initiative, brand identity and a website that would pave the way for education grants.

“I really see this as an arm for educating people, including the bakers,” Walton said, citing an example. “Yes, you can make pastries with farro, which I learned from Chad Robertson (of Tartine bakery in San Francisco).”

One of the big challenges facing the alliance is pricing. Grain requires a lot of land, and that means the products made from local grain are not going to be cheap.

“It’s not for everyone,” Walton said. “But every bit of support to a local grain economy is critical, to all of our health and to the value of the land around here.”

In a few years, Walton hopes the alliance will have enough momentum to build a central granary, where the public can see how grain is milled and packaged.

“We’re climbing up the peak in the interest in all of this,” she said. “Somebody’s got to dream and somebody’s got to do. So far, the response has been phenomenal.”

BAKERIES

Sonoma offers an abundance of artisanal bakeries with retail locations, where one can pick up a loaf or two for a picnic in the redwoods, on the beach or at a winery. Here are some favorites.

Basque Boulangerie: 460 First St. E., Sonoma, 707-935-7687, basqueboulangerie.com.
This longtime cafe and bakery on the Sonoma Plaza offers a variety of breads, including sweet French, sourdough, epi, brioche, challah, multigrain and whole wheat. 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Costeaux French Bakery: 417 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-433-1913, costeaux.com.
This award-winning bakery carries a wide range of rustic baguettes and batards, including an extremely popular one with nine grains. 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

Della Fattoria Bakery: 141 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, 707-763-0161, dellafattoria.com.
Using a natural starter, this bakery offers large, rustic loaves baked in brick ovens heated with wood fires. Breads include polenta batard, pane integrale boule and the famous Meyer lemon-rosemary campagne boule. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Nightingale Breads: 665 Front St., Forestville, 707-887-8887, facebook.com/NightingaleBreads.
This bakery makes traditional European-style breads shaped by hand and baked in a wood-fire oven with organic flour, grains and seeds. Local cheeses and other picnic fare are also for sale. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Village Bakery: 1445 Town and Country Drive, Santa Rosa, 707-527-7654; 6760 McKinley St., Sebastopol, 707-829-8101; villagebakerywinecountry.com.
These two outlets offer award-winning hearth breads, plus a breakfast and lunch menu. Santa Rosa bakery open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Sebastopol bakery open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Wild Flour Bread, 140 Bohemian Highway, Freestone, 707-874-2938, wildflourbread.com.
Wild Flour features brick-oven-baked sourdough breads and specialties such as cheese fougasse and goat flatbread. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Monday.

As we skid headfirst into summer, it’s time to celebrate not only the lingering sunlight but also an array of holidays and the opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Whether it’s hiking, picnicking, gardening, grilling or heading to an alfresco music fest, there’s a local wine to match the fun.

ROSÈ FOR MOTHER’S DAY

If you like:

Des Amis 2014 Napa Valley Rosé ($20): Made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot, this rosé has a color reminiscent of fresh-cut watermelon. There is an almost weightiness to its core of juicy, bold and dry layers, with watermelon flavors accented by dried cranberry and currant. The flavors and mid-weight body will marry well with a range of rich dishes, from goat cheese quiche to eggs Benedict.

Then try:

Carol Shelton Wild Thing 2014 Rendezvous Mendocino County Dry Rosé ($15): A blend of 80 percent Carignane and 10 percent Viognier, this dry sipper is dark cranberry in color and exuberant in wild strawberry flavors, befitting its name. It’s a good pairing for smoked salmon. Open this wine for Mom, who will enjoy the beautifully etched bottle as much as the wine inside.

SUMMER SIPPERS FOR MUSIC FESTIVALS

If you like:

Woodenhead 2011 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($42): Unfined and unfiltered, this wine from a consistent Russian River Valley producer offers a funky and earthy version of Pinot Noir, wavering between soft layers of classic cherry cola and black tea. It’s a straightforward, light-bodied quaff that won’t hit you over the head or overwhelm on the palate, making it a great choice for picnics and other outdoor lounge-arounds.

Then try:

Noble Tree 2013 Russian River Valley Grenache ($20): Here is a light-bodied, pure Grenache that is buoyant in earthy cherry and cassis character, spicy and medium-bodied, and with enough of a fruity bite on the finish to invite another sip. Made by the folks at Thomas George Estates, a Westside Road outpost that otherwise specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

BIG REDS FOR FATHER’S DAY

If you like:

Trig Point 2013 Diamond Dust Vineyard Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($21): This is a soft, dusty Cabernet Sauvignon made by Nick Goldschmidt, a man who knows a thing or two about Father’s Day: he’s dad to five kids. In this wine, blackberry and cassis combine to provide approachability and plenty of fruit-forwardness, as well as dry tannins and a bright finish. Enjoy it now with the important father figures in your life.

Then try:

Colby Red 2012 California ($13): A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel, Colby Red is the work of Healdsburg winemaker Daryl Groom and his son, Colby, who came up with the idea for the wine to help raise money for heart health research. Colby, 17, has had two heart-valve surgeries and is now the national spokesperson for the Children’s Heart Foundation. The wine named for him is an explosion of briary blackberry and clove. It is approachable and easy to love.

SAUVIGNON BLANC FOR SUMMER SOLSTICE

If you like:

Grgich Hills 2013 Estate Grown Napa Valley Dry Sauvignon Blanc Fumé Blanc ($30): From grapes grown in the cooler, southern reaches of Napa Valley, this dry white shows its time in oak casks and barrels, which resulted in notes of fig, lemon rind and vanilla. It’s long and mouth-filling, begging for service with fine food and finer company.

Then try:

Six Sigma Ranch 2014 Asbill Valley Lake County Sauvignon Blanc ($18): This wine from one of Lake County’s finer Sauvignon Blanc makers comes from a 12-acre plot called Michael’s Vineyard. It has the minerality and acidity so many people love in a summertime white, with the weight and texture necessary to keep it compatible with food. Tangerine, pear and guava flavors come together nicely, with a soft creaminess and slight hint of spice on the finish.

Jean-Charles Boisset is at it again.

The Frenchman who restored Sonoma’s historic Buena Vista Winery and added sizzle to Napa Valley’s formerly staid Raymond Vineyards has debuted a Wine Tool Museum on the third floor above Buena Vista’s Champagne Cellars.

There, basic winemaking implements get a high-tech spotlight thanks to moving chains that parade polished shovels and wine-barrel parts before the eye. A “breast drill’ used to make holes to decant wine from barrels hangs in front of the stone walls built in 1864, joined by plow blades, pruning hooks, a carpenter’s bench, soil injectors and grape picking baskets.

Everything comes alive with the slow, deliberate movement of the tools on the chains, and a carefully choreographed synchronicity of dramatic music and near-psychedelic colored lights.

The collection was curated and installed by Philippe Berard, a winemaker in Burgundy, France, who sold his tool collection to the Boisset family in 2001. Boisset just happens to be the largest wine producer in Burgundy.

Leaving no stone unturned, Boisset hired Kyle Haraszthy, triple great-grandson of Buena Vista founder Agoston Haraszthy, as a sales ambassador.

To see the Wine Tool Museum, take a tour with a sommelier-guided tasting of four to five wines for $25. Or go straight to the museum, without wine, for $10. There is no admission charge for children accompanied by a paying adult. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tours every hour.

*photos courtesy Boisset Collection