Spann Vineyards

Betsy Spann – Winemaker

Peter Spann – Cellar Master

Betsy's love of wine was fostered by a move to Bordeaux with her family in 1975 where she explored the wines and cheeses of southwestern France.  After returning to California to attend college she went to work in a small wine shop where her interest grew and she opened her own boutique wine store. She then sold the shop and moved to Dry Creek Valley where she helped with the startup of Lake Sonoma Winery, working both in the vineyards and in wine production. 

Betsy's continued interest in European wines led her to Dallas, Texas to join the fine wine team of a large importing company.  This is where she met Peter, who charmed her with a keen sense of wine and an amazing wine cellar.  They fell in love, and married on one condition: that they would ultimately move back to her beloved California.  When they moved they decided to buy a vineyard and sell the grapes but when it came time to do so they decided to take the plunge and make their own wines instead.

Their experience with the wines of great producers around the world over the past 40 years has been invaluable. Peter and Betsy take the best ideas and techniques they've learned from European and California winemakers and apply them to their own wines.

They strive to create food-friendly, unique wines that are memorable and blend seamlessly into the occasion. Memorable in their purity, authenticity, distinctiveness, and enjoyment, seamless in how they integrate into the setting, whether it be with friends on the patio or accompanying a formal dinner. Whatever the time or place, Spann Vineyards will linger pleasurably on your palate and in your memory.

The cool climate at 1,700 feet of elevation in the Mayacamas Mountains is ideal for creating a Bordeaux-like Cabernet Sauvignon. To pursue this style the team used four different grape varieties; cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot give structure while cabernet franc and merlot add richness and smoothness on the palate, hiding the rougher tannins of the other grapes. Cabernet sauvignon has a black currant aroma and flavor, petit verdot and cabernet franc have floral aromas with blackberry and raspberry tastes and merlot adds red cherry notes to create a wonderfully complex wine.

All grapes were farmed using either sustainable or organic practices.

Each varietal was picked at optimum ripeness over the course of two weeks in October. The grapes were de-stemmed and then crushed by foot in open top half-ton bins, an old world technique used to get dark color without bitterness or astringency.

2015 was an excellent vintage in the Mayacamas Mountains and throughout Sonoma County with a long, mild-to-warm growing season allowing the grapes to fully ripen and build rich flavors with good structure for medium to long-term aging.

Fermented in open top bins, hand punched down and foot-trodden. Full malolactic fermentation for all varietals was completed in 59 gallon oak barrels.

Barrel Aging: 32 months in new and 2nd use 59 gallon French oak.