My wife Susan and I founded Sabina Vineyards in 2002, thoughtfully choosing a property among the foothills of the Mayacamas Range in the western part of St. Helena, famous for the cultivation of Cabernet Sauvignon. We uprooted our lives and the property, leaving Chicago for California and replanted the hillside vineyard with a cabernet clone used by other world famous wineries in the region. Designing the house from the ground up, we made the winery the foundation, created to allow for hands-on, artisanal wine production. Our vineyards surround the house and winery along with the original Spanish Mission olive trees planted in the 1800s to line the road to the historic Bale Grist Mill.

Sabina Vineyards is named after my mother, Sabina Sabin, the matriarch of our family. The artist pad with the S logo seen on all our labels and foils was the back stamp created by my father, Sam Sabin, who founded the Sabin China Company in Western Pennsylvania almost 100 years ago. Like that business, Sabina Vineyards continues to be a family-run company. We see ourselves as caretakers of this land and are committed to our practice of organic farming. For my wife, kids, grandkids, and everyone else, Sabina Vineyards is a home, a business, and a little slice of heaven that’s a gathering place for connection and great wine.