Our Back Labels

The month was October and the year was 1991. Bob Lamborn, who commuted between his home in Oakland, California and the vineyard/winery in Angwin (Napa Valley), had just completed harvest and crush of the 1991 vintage. Every growing season and vintage has it's own idiosyncrasies, but generally speaking, '91 had been rather average. Bob, who worked as an intelligence agent in the San Francisco Bay Area, used his annual vacation to "bring in the crop." It was Sunday the 21st, the grapes were crushed, the must actively fermenting and Bob was out of clean pants and shirts, not to mention, underwear. It was time to go back home and back to the day job. As he was completing the last fifteen miles of the seventy-five mile commute, he viewed the beginnings of what would be known as the Oakland Hills Firestorm.

The fire, which burned out of control for three days, ultimately destroyed Bob's home of twenty years and mementos of a lifetime. As is often the case in life, Bob used this tragedy as an opportunity and rebuilt his home at the vineyard. As in Greek mythology, it was his personal Phoenix, and from the ashes he built his new life. The story became the theme for the 1991 vintage, "The Phoenix Vintage." Since then, every vintage has had its own identity and related story. Many of these labels are connected to our family's personal journeys and others recount vineyard and wine related events which we feel have significance.

To read all of our past back labels, please click here. We hope you enjoy them!