When I graduated from Davis in 1981, with a B.S. in Fermentation Science, I had no idea that I would eventually establish a winery like Yayin Corp.. I was always extremely interested in producing the highest quality of wines, and thought that I would hone my skills working at Gallo, like others before me. However, after I left Davis in June of 1982 (after having taken an extra year to pursue graduate level coursework and the viticultural curriculum), I found the industry saturated, with few good positions available. I accepted my first winemaking position, in a small Yakima Valley winery, just a day before Gallo finally invited me for an interview. Having already committed to the other position, I felt I had to decline Gallo's invitation.
The Yakima Valley, I discovered, was a desert physically, socially and culturally. I was eager to return to civilization, and so for the crush of 1983 I returned to California for a winemaking position in a small, undercapitalized Geyserville winery. After having made wine there for over a year, the owners asked that I accept a lower salary, due to financial hardships. This provided me with a unique opportunity.
Over the past year, I had been rediscovering my Jewish roots, and had been semi-consciously developing a greater adherence to Jewish law. I decided to accept the decreased salary on the condition that I not be required to work on the major Jewish holidays, including the Sabbath (which begins Friday night and continues until Saturday night). While this arrangement was great for me, it was less satisfactory for my bosses (absentee owners who loved to tinker in the winery on weekends). Because they foresaw problems when the next crush rolled around, they decided to terminate me, giving me 3 months notice.
After being given several months to plan my future, I decided it was unlikely for another winery to give me my holidays off, and that only in my own winery could I have the flexibility I needed. Luckily, I was able to interest family members in investing.
The creation of this winery was a direct result of my desire to live a Jewish life, ratherthan a desire to target the kosher market. Once I had the idea to start a winery of my own, however, it was natural that the wines be produced kosher. After all, I discovered that Jewish law prohibits the consumption of nonkosher wines at all times, not only ritually. I certainly could not then produce a wine which I could not drink. It was also natural to operate the winery under the guidance of Jewish law, given that these laws encompass all facets of life, including business relationships.
Once I determined that the wines would be kosher, it did not take me long to decide that to certify them as such could be beneficial. The original concept of the winery was to produce high quality California wines, of a quality above that which I had produced previously, and to sell the wines to discerning consumers in the general market. I felt strongly, however, that the wines should be available to other Jews who, like me, appreciated fine wines.
During my days off, we tried to identify a piece of property on which to place a winery, and finally decided on a 20 acre parcel, the site of an apple orchard, and prior to that, a sawmill. It was not easy to establish the winery. Each day, after work, I would devote several hours to pushing our use permit application through the county. Our first attempt to get a use permit for the winery was foiled when the Sonoma County Board of Zoning Adjustments rejected our application, because we had no vineyards. Luckily, we won our appeal to the Board of Supervisors on May 22, 1985. For normal people, it would have been too late to establish a winery for crush of that year, but miraculously, we were able to build an outdoor tank and install seven tanks, a refrigeration system and a crush installation, but there were no facilities for wood cooperage.
For the 1985 vintage, we were able to produce three wines: a dry Chenin Blanc, a sweet Chenin Blanc and an off-dry Gewurztraminer. All were medal winners, and critically if not commercially successful. The next year, we built the rest of the winery and produced our first Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and late harvest Gewurztraminer ,which thankfully led to a long and distinguished series of successes with those varietals. Black Muscat was added to our lineup in '92, and has proven to be the most distinguishing feature of our product line.
Throughout the years, there have been many temptations to commercialize our product line. Each time, we successfully vanquish that idea. We will continue to provide distinctive, quality wines to the consumer.
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