Vino Lamorinda

A boutique wine-making scene takes root in the East Bay.

In the foyer of his Moraga home, Dave Parker shares a laugh with two friends who juggle cases of Parkmon Vineyards wine as they head out the door. Out back, an eight-piece band rocks Motown tunes, and Parker’s wife, Shari Simon, dances with the crowd on the flagstone patio. “We get 200 or more people at our release parties, many from Lamorinda, but we draw from all over the Bay Area,” says Parker. “And we usually sell 40 to 50 cases of wine.” A few minutes later, Parker joins the band on harmonica, and more of the wine-sipping partygoers get up on their feet.

Parker and Simon are forerunners of the boutique wine industry that has sprouted just east of the Caldecott. It’s a movement that people have definitely noticed.

“I think there is an increased interest in wines with a sense of place,” says Jack Moore, owner of Metro Lafayette, one of several restaurants in the area that carry locally made wines. “A lot of people who live here are involved in the wine industry in one way or another, and [the local producers] are starting to make good wine.”

Parker and Simon did not intend to go commercial when they planted a one-acre hill behind their home after retiring from careers in the software world. “It was not exactly a profit-maximizing setup,” says Parker, “but I wanted to have fun and try making some blends.” He began to notice more vines growing in the area, and people started to ask him for help setting up new vineyards. In 2005, Parker and Simon launched Parkmon Vineyards, the area’s first commercial winery, and the business quickly saw success: Parkmon Vineyards’ 2008 Sangiovese won a gold medal in this year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
 

All told, about 100 vineyards, with anywhere from 50 to a few thousand grapevines, traverse the hills across the bedroom communities of Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda. The Lamorinda Winegrowers Association, a collection of local growers and winemakers, has expanded from 15 to 76 members since it was founded six years ago.

“Now that residents see that wine growing has a good chance for success in this area, more vines are going in, and larger vineyards are being planted,” says Parker.

As the grapes have multiplied, more local growers are turning their backyard vineyards into commercial ventures. In addition to Parkmon Vineyards, there are three more wineries in Lamorinda licensed to make and sell wine, and several others licensed just to sell.

David Rey, who owns Reliez Valley Vineyards in Lafayette, hopes to become the area’s newest winegrower. Rey, who is never far from his iPad, built a two-story wine-making facility and installed a solar-powered system that enables him to monitor his 500 vines remotely.

If history repeats itself, the new winemaker’s venture should thrive. “The Rossi family that farmed much of the Reliez Valley had a vineyard in the same spot on my property back in the 1920s,” says Rey. “They would take the grapes by ferry to San Francisco and sell them to winemakers in North Beach.”

And now, Susan Captain, who with her husband, Sal, owns and operates Captain Vineyards, is spearheading the effort for Lamorinda to be designated as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). Captain Vineyards, a commercial winery since 2009, represents the largest vineyard acreage in Lamorinda.

The AVA designation, which requires collecting soil and climate data, and can take years, would lend credibility to the wine and open up marketing opportunities for the vintners. “With the AVA, we’ll be putting Lamorinda on the map as a distinct wine-growing region,” says Captain, who works nearly full-time with her husband managing their 3,500 grapevines and wine-making operation.

As the region attracts awards and admirers, its stature continues to grow. Both Captain and Parkmon Vineyards regularly host wine tastings, and Lamorinda’s winegrowers often pour at local events and festivals. In addition to Metro Lafayette, several other area restaurants, including Amoroma, Chow, and Postino, serve Lamorinda wines. There’s even talk about opening a cooperative tasting room, with a small-scale wine-production facility that the growers could share.

“What makes us unique is that we are all small suburban winegrowers,” says Captain. “We have a community of growers and winemakers with a shared passion, working together to make Lamorinda a destination for high-quality, hand-crafted local wines.”