"My childhood summers spent in Sweden had an enormous influence on me.  The sweet crayfish, woodsy mushrooms, and juicy blueberries that my family ate deeply impacted my knowledge of flavor development from site.  Drawing that flavor out from grapes grown in unique vineyard sites is a natural progression of this innate knowledge."  

Lars Bjorkman, winemaker and proprietor

Lars Bjorkman grew up in Fresno, CA, surrounded by table grape and raisin vineyards.  His family settled there from Sweden just before he was born, making him the first of his family to be born in the United States.  Using his offensive line football skills to get into University of California, Davis, where he initially planned to pursue medicine like his father, he instead pivoted to graduate with a degree in viticulture and enology from the world-renowned program.  Lars has worked at Gloria Ferrer, R.H. Phillips, BRL Hardy’s in Australia, Flora Springs, and Saddleback in Oakville, where he now makes the wine along with owner Nils Venge--the first Napa Valley winemaker to receive 100 points from Robert Parker.  He also consults for various projects.

Molly Hill, proprietor

Molly Hill grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, surrounded by beach culture and cheap chardonnay.  She was drawn to UC Davis because of a desire to pursue veterinary medicine and crew, but soon discovered that the viticulture and enology students were having the most fun on campus.  She received a degree in viticulture and enology and a minor in Spanish from UC Davis after studying abroad in New Zealand.   She worked at Beringer, Domaine Carneros, Seasmoke Cellars in Santa Barbara County, Vina Isidro in Chile, and was the winemaker for many years at Sequoia Grove in Rutherford.  

Lars and Molly met in Napa and were engaged over a bottle of Sequoia Grove Chardonnay.  Each summer, they travel with their family to Sweden to stay in the family home outside of Stockholm.  When not traveling, they live in Calistoga with their two children and three chickens, where they are slowly fixing up a mid-century home.