About Us

I was born in Berkeley, Calif. and moved to Geneva, Switzerland when I was 9.  My father worked for the next 10 years with the World Health Organization. During this time we did a great deal of traveling to all corners of the world.   One of the joys of my youth was to bicycle down to the local wine cooperative near our home and to drink the fresh sweet grape juice.  It was also in Europe that I became fascinated with nature, raising birds, insects and collecting butterflies - this was the beginning of my love for ecology. 

I completed my high school education at the International School of Geneva, and then attended College at UC Davis finishing my BS in Biochemistry.   I then went on to finish my PhD in Plant Pathology at Washington State University in 1985.   After spending two years in Nigeria, Africa, I came to Hood River, Oregon to work with the Mid-Columbia Research Station on post harvest fruit diseases.   Shortly thereafter, I began my present work as a botanist/ecologist with the US Forest Service establishing and managing the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

In 1987, my interests in agriculture, my experiences from Europe and its wine culture, combined with my ecological interests soon crystallized into a desire to establish a vineyard in the Gorge.  The idea was to incorporate the local native ecology into the vineyard - now recognized as bio-dynamic vineyards.  This beginning interest grew over the years and by 1993 had established a fledgling winery near Lyle, Washington.

While most of the grapes are purchased from local vineyards, our vineyard is beginning to produce more each year.  This small family winery soon encompassed other members of my family, including:  my brothers, Richard and Christopher, and my mother Julie.   My two sons, Kiva, 14, and Tico 9, along with my new partner, Kathleen all help with the various activities related to growing the grapes and creating the wines.