Our Journey to wine

We wouldn't even consider making wine until we knew how to grow grapes. Starting with our first vintage in 2002, our carefully raised Pinot Noir went to several good homes, and into some wonderful wines, many of them award winning.

We helped, watched and learned until our hands were purple. Then we licensed the barn as a winery, one of the smallest in the state by volume. We named it St. Rose for the place: Santa Rosa, and reserved a little Nunes Vineyard fruit for our own production.

St. Rose Pinot Noir expresses our unique spot on the earth: this soil, weather, culture, tradition, and... well, us. It is what it is, and it stands on its own.

The fruit is picked at night from the best spots in the vineyard for balance and complexity, and we cellar the wine for a full three years. The first vintage (2004) sold out before it hit the market, and when it went into bottles, the 2005 was even better.

It seems we've come full circle: Grandfather Muzio was responsible for turning the Fulton Winery into a chicken processing plant. As a vegetarian, Fred thinks it's fitting Muzio's pig barn is now a winery.

The latest purchase is a copper still. There may be a little brandy and port in the future.

Frederic Nunes & Wendy Fowler Nunes

Our History >>