Tag: family-owned

Suzy and Jim Gullett, the owners of Vino Noceto, purchased their first parcel of land in 1984. At the time Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley was primarily known for Zinfandel, but the Gulletts wanted to do something different. After a year of trying various wines with dinner and a two-week trip to Tuscany, they decided to focus on Sangiovese. The Gulletts planted their first vineyard measuring less than one acre in 1987.

Hailed as "one of the country’s most sought-after names in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir" by Food & Wine and honored six times by Wine & Spirits as one of the "Top 100 Wineries in the World," Patz & Hall is most certainly a highly revered and innovative winery. Patz & Hall was one of the first wineries to recognize America’s emerging appreciation for great site-specific wines and played a pivotal role in bringing acclaimed vineyard-designate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs to a wider audience of enthusiasts.

With each passing vintage, the wines of family-owned Cliff Creek Cellars attract national accolades that further confirm Vern Garvin’s excellent decision to build one more business at the age of 70.

In the early 1990s, Vern took ownership of a 100-year-old Rogue Valley farm dedicated to growing grasses and grazing cattle. He selected 15 acres for his first grapevine planting and broke ground in 1999, founding Sam’s Valley Vineyard, nestled in the foothills of the region’s majestic Table Rocks.

When Tony and Herta (H.B.) purchased their 30-acre Rutherford, California, property in 1982, the vineyard grounds were wild and overgrown. Through passion and hard work, the Peju family has transformed their Rutherford Estate into Peju—a wine, architecture, and art lover’s paradise.

Today, 30 years later, Peju remains a family-owned and family-run estate winery with the next generation of the family, daughters Lisa and Ariana, taking over the day-to-day operations and leading the winery into the future.

Thirty years have passed since visionary winemaker Jess Jackson produced his first bottle of Kendall-Jackson wine. It wasn't just any wine: the iconic 1982 Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay was crafted from a handful of distinct vineyards in several cool coastal regions of California. The wine sold out within a matter of weeks, and the following year, it won the first Double Platinum award ever at the esteemed American Wine Competition. This instant success set a standard for Kendall-Jackson wines that has never been compromised. Today, the winery consistently produces extraordinary wines from its own 14,000 acres of estate vineyards in prime coastal regions across the state.