Our story
Tilted Shed is a true mom-and-pop, founded by the husband-and-wife team of Scott Heath and Ellen Cavalli in 2011. We live, work, raise our son, farm, and ferment in the Nature's chosen spot of Sonoma County. We love it here, and want to share that love with you through our ciders!
Tilted Shed is the second-oldest cidery in Sonoma County, launched with the mission of proving to the world—and to our community—that our mighty but threatened Sonoma County apples have a future here, despite the troubles of the past and present. We have never wavered in our commitment to buy organically grown heirloom and cider apples, lovingly farmed by our neighbors in the Sebastopol area, at the highest prices we can afford, because helping to preserve our orchards and our community are worth more to us than increasing profit margins. Plus their apples result in extraordinary cider! We also grow more than 120 cider apple and perry pear varieties plus hundreds of mystery seedling apples at our Sebastopol farm, which we refer to as a "pomological research station on the edge of the Pacific."
We believe that vintage ciders are the best way to express the beauty of Sonoma County apples, so we only press fresh-picked apples, in season, on-site at our cidery. "Low and slow" and "cool sh*t in small batches" are our mantras for our fermentation, as we make our ciders with wild yeasts and time. That's it—and that's enough!
The tilted shed is real, and it has tilted for its last time. The shed is dead, long live the shed!
Tilted Shed is the second-oldest cidery in Sonoma County, launched with the mission of proving to the world—and to our community—that our mighty but threatened Sonoma County apples have a future here, despite the troubles of the past and present. We have never wavered in our commitment to buy organically grown heirloom and cider apples, lovingly farmed by our neighbors in the Sebastopol area, at the highest prices we can afford, because helping to preserve our orchards and our community are worth more to us than increasing profit margins. Plus their apples result in extraordinary cider! We also grow more than 120 cider apple and perry pear varieties plus hundreds of mystery seedling apples at our Sebastopol farm, which we refer to as a "pomological research station on the edge of the Pacific."
We believe that vintage ciders are the best way to express the beauty of Sonoma County apples, so we only press fresh-picked apples, in season, on-site at our cidery. "Low and slow" and "cool sh*t in small batches" are our mantras for our fermentation, as we make our ciders with wild yeasts and time. That's it—and that's enough!
The tilted shed is real, and it has tilted for its last time. The shed is dead, long live the shed!
Our people
Dana, Scott, Ellen & David
SCOTT HEATH is co-owner, cidermaker, and orchardist at Tilted Shed. In other words, he does pretty much everything, from grafting and planting all of our trees in our home orchard, working directly with our local apple farmers, and handling all of the pressing, fermenting, bottling, and when he has some downtime, he does our accounting, too! Scott is a Master Printer of intaglio art (etchings), but traded in his etching press for the cider press in 2011, to craft art from apples!
ELLEN CAVALLI is co-owner and cider evangelist at Tilted Shed. She helps with the cidermaking work and managing the farm. A longtime book and magazine editor, Ellen is also the founder of the quarterly print cider zine, Malus. She has been named as "one of seven women moving American cider forward" by Wine Enthusiast magazine, and is an 2019 inductee into the Heritage Radio Hall of Fame for her work devoted to advancing cider in America. She is also the Membership & Marketing Manager for Sonoma County Farm Trails.
Bay Area natives, Scott and Ellen grew up in Alameda, CA (across the Bay from San Francisco), have known each other since the first grade, been together since 1996, and married since 2001. Nomads in search of a place to set down roots, they have lived in New York City and New Mexico. They found their forever home on a 5.4-acre Sebastopol farm, which they share with their son, dog, chickens, sheep, cats, and too many apple trees to count.
DAVID RIDENHOUR AKA PIRATE is our tasting room manager and cellar helper. A Sonoma County native, veteran Navy corpsman, and dad to the cutest service dog, Loki. He works the tasting room and helps with pressing, running the bin dumper and apple grinder, earning the nickname the "apple destroyer." He has been working with us since 2012 at our first tiny cidery in Forestville, where we scooped up apples by milk crates and pressed outside next to the landlord's sheep pasture, and has been integral to our success over the decade!
DANA GLEI is a cider club member turned cider club coordinator. A research analyst, she is also a home cidermaker and native plants enthusiast. Dana loves to talk about apples. Her family has been growing apples in Michigan for more than 100 years. She spent a lot of her childhood playing in the orchards and working at the farm. Her passion and attention to detail make her a valuable member to our team!
ELLEN CAVALLI is co-owner and cider evangelist at Tilted Shed. She helps with the cidermaking work and managing the farm. A longtime book and magazine editor, Ellen is also the founder of the quarterly print cider zine, Malus. She has been named as "one of seven women moving American cider forward" by Wine Enthusiast magazine, and is an 2019 inductee into the Heritage Radio Hall of Fame for her work devoted to advancing cider in America. She is also the Membership & Marketing Manager for Sonoma County Farm Trails.
Bay Area natives, Scott and Ellen grew up in Alameda, CA (across the Bay from San Francisco), have known each other since the first grade, been together since 1996, and married since 2001. Nomads in search of a place to set down roots, they have lived in New York City and New Mexico. They found their forever home on a 5.4-acre Sebastopol farm, which they share with their son, dog, chickens, sheep, cats, and too many apple trees to count.
DAVID RIDENHOUR AKA PIRATE is our tasting room manager and cellar helper. A Sonoma County native, veteran Navy corpsman, and dad to the cutest service dog, Loki. He works the tasting room and helps with pressing, running the bin dumper and apple grinder, earning the nickname the "apple destroyer." He has been working with us since 2012 at our first tiny cidery in Forestville, where we scooped up apples by milk crates and pressed outside next to the landlord's sheep pasture, and has been integral to our success over the decade!
DANA GLEI is a cider club member turned cider club coordinator. A research analyst, she is also a home cidermaker and native plants enthusiast. Dana loves to talk about apples. Her family has been growing apples in Michigan for more than 100 years. She spent a lot of her childhood playing in the orchards and working at the farm. Her passion and attention to detail make her a valuable member to our team!