Jerry Seps’ father and grandfather both sold wine, so it was perhaps written in the stars that he become a vintner. Having worked his way through college at the University of California, Berkeley as a sommelier at the distinguished Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, Jerry taught at Stanford University for four years while earning his PhD in European History at Berkeley. (Not coincidentally, wine plays a pivotal role in European history.) He subsequently became a tenured professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
In 1976, Jerry and his German-born wife, Sigrid, discovered an abandoned vineyard and ghost winery, with century-old caves, in the Mayacamas Mountains northwest of Calistoga in far northern Napa Valley. Captivated by this wild, high-elevation site, which dated to the 1880s when it was known as Grimm Brothers Vineyards & Wine Vaults, the couple purchased the property, set about replanting the historic vineyard, and constructed a new winery. While Jerry focused on the vineyard and winemaking, Sigrid supervised retail sales, marketing and the winery’s wine club.