Acumen Wines. China born, and Paris college educated founder of Acumen Wines, Eric Yuan (not to be confused with the Eric Yuan who founded Zoom Video Communications) divides his time between the San Francisco Bay area and Wuhan, China where he owns a development company and employs about 500 people. He was introduced to French wines while studying and living … [Read more...]

Crane Assembly was founded in 2012 by three longtime friends in Napa Valley - winemakers Dave Phinney (of Orin Swift fame) and Kevin Fox and business partners Bryan Sandoli (married to Karen Williams the co-founder of ACME Wines in St. Helena) and Darryl Browman (Darryl is the co-owner of Cavus Vineyards in the Stags Leap District). The partners sold Crane … [Read more...]

GRO Wines was founded with the 2009 vintage by winemakers husband and wife, Lars Bjorkman and Molly Hill. Lars was born and raised in Fresno; within 6 weeks of his family moving from Sweden to California. They lived in a rural part of the southern central valley; he remembers their home surrounded by vineyards planted for quantity including raisin and table … [Read more...]

Shibumi Knoll Vineyards was founded by Don and Joann Ross (now Serafini) with the release of their 2005 vintage. Don was a former NASA engineer who worked on the Apollo Lunar Landing Project; later he was chairman of Louisville, Kentucky based Cardinal Shower Enclosures. He died in 2016 after a long battle with cancer. Joann worked in Television and Film, … [Read more...]

Mira Winery was co-founded by long time Napa winemaker Gustavo "Goose" Gonzalez and Jim "Bear" Dyke. Their story covers multiple parts of the country but is centered on the Napa Valley. Gustavo was in Washington DC in 2005 for some wine related events when he stopped by the upscale Off The Record Bar at the Hay Adams Hotel - a brilliant name for a bar … [Read more...]

Wheeler Farms. The Wheeler Farms estate property is located on 11.5 acres off of Zinfandel Lane just south of the city of St. Helena. For those curious about its history (and it is fascinating), the original stone winery was built in 1880 (along with a separate distillery for producing brandy) by Charles Wheeler and was conveniently located next to the train … [Read more...]

Michael Pozzan was founded by Michael and his wife Mary Ann with their first vintage from 1991. Their sons Matthew and Dante are also actively involved in the winery. Winemaking is part of their family heritage; Michael's great grandfather planted grapevines in Piedmont, Italy in the late 1800s. Growing up in the Berkeley Hills (San Francisco Bay Area) … [Read more...]

Aequitas Vineyards was founded by three partners, prominent lawyer David Boies (who also co-owns Hawk and Horse Vineyards in neighboring Lake County), Stephen Zack who served as President of the American Bar Association and Napa native, Amy Ash. Boies worked at Cravath, Swaine & Moore a law firm dating from 1819 before he left in 1997 and that same year … [Read more...]

Sodhani Vineyards is a 6 acre hillside vineyard located just north of the town of St. Helena; this property is owned by Arvind Sodhani and his wife Beverly. Arvind, built a successful career at Intel Corporation including as executive vice president of the company and also president of Intel Capital. He has enjoyed wine for many years - recalling he first … [Read more...]