About Us
Chuck and Bettyann Spenker with daughters, Kate and Sarah

History

The 60 acre property west of Lodi has been owned and farmed by the Spenker family for more than 100 years. At a home winemaking party Chuck and Bettyann met and fell in love. They started the winery in 1994 as an outgrowth of their interest in maintaining and demonstrating the high quality of their Zinfandel grapes. 


Daughters, Kate and Sarah, grew up helping Mom and Dad run the winery, doing everything from sloshing in the mud to explaining the finer points of wine-making to customers.


In 2000, Fan-leaf Virus (which causes the vines to stop producing fruit) eliminated the economic viability of the existing grapevines. After pulling out the vines, a disease-tolerant rootstock was selected and re-planting of the vineyard began in 2004. 


The 2007 Zinfandel and Petite Sirah vintages mark the winery's joyous return to production! These wines are currently available for tasting and purchase.

Environmental Vision


           The vision for this new vineyard includes the desire for an environmentally and economically sustainable business venture. The land will have healthy soil with good populations of soil microbes and an abundance of nutrients for all plants. The water cycle will be adequately beneficial to crops, land, nature, and people. Ground water is used in the farming process and also recharged by this process as well as by nature. There will be diverse biological communities. These communities will have healthy wildlife populations that are compatible and enhancing to the farming operations. We will farm such that our neighbors and community will value vineyards, sustainable agriculture, and farming.