Winery Cakebread Cellars

Adress: 8300 St Helena Hwy Rutherford, CA 94573
Country: United States
internet: http://www.cakebread.com
Wine district: California
wines

Over 39 years ago, Jack Cakebread came to photograph the Napa Valley for a book and while here, he casually mentioned his interest in one day owning a vineyard to some family friends who had a ranch in Rutherford. When he returned home that afternoon, the phone rang and it was the family friends offering to sell their property. He headed back up to the valley that same afternoon to make his best offer, and Cakebread Cellars was born.

As the Cakebread family reflects upon the many profound changes in the wine industry over the last 38 years, such as innovative farming techniques and new methods of reaching out to consumers, they note that their key values have remained the same. Dedication to making the highest quality wines and a commitment to family has followed a continuum as their first small vineyard has grown into a thriving internationally distributed wine company.

Their first vintage--157 cases of 1973 Chardonnay--was sold to Phil Faight of Groezinger's Wine Shop in Yountville. He in turn sold to a small audience of premium wine drinkers who primarily drove up from the Bay Area on weekends to visit the country. "Two or three cars an hour would be on the road and we would all stop and look to see who was coming," said Jack as he thought of his original neighbors who became some of the "legends of the wine industry - Mondavi, Martini, Heitz, BV's Tchelistcheff and Christian Brothers "Brother Tim." Today, traffic is about 30 cars-a-minute as the world comes to visit the Napa Valley wine country.