East Bay Pinot Noir
Meet the growers and makers
By Mary Orlin
Of all the world’s wine grapes, few inspire more passion than pinot noir. Called the heartbreak grape for its finicky, mercurial nature and susceptibility to disease, it makes true pinotphiles of those who persevere to grow and vinify it.
Pinot noir thrives in climates where cooler temperatures and breezes prevail and promote the grape’s natural freshness and high acidity, so one might expect that vineyards close to San Francisco Bay, with chilly breezes and fog, would be ideal. Winegrowers have found sites in Richmond, Lamorinda, Fremont, Sunol, and Livermore that offer these conditions, but with fewer than 52 acres of pinot noir grapevines in Alameda and Contra Costa counties (out of 46,000 acres statewide), it’s no surprise if East Bay pinot noir is not yet on your radar. Here are five producers who grow and make pinot noir in the East Bay.
Los Arabis, the name Jim Ward and family chose for their winery, evokes the horses that once grazed on these hills in Lafayette. Photo courtesy Los Arabis| Bottle shot by Mary Orlin
From Horses to Grapevines
Grapes have been cultivated in Lamorinda (Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda) since the 1880s. Now home to vineyards and a handful of boutique wineries, Lamorinda has been an official American Viticultural Area (AVA) since 2016, and Los Arabis Vineyards proprietors Jim and Leslie Ward helped make that happen.
Contractors who build schools by day, the Wards planted 1,500 pinot noir vines on three acres of their Lafayette hillside in 1999. The label’s name, Los Arabis, refers to the road along Ward’s property. Leslie says Arabian horses roamed there for years, though they were gone by the time she and Jim purchased the site.
Leslie Ward helps with vineyard maintenance, and the family joins in to help harvest. This year, the Los Arabis pinot grapes were crushed and vinified in the new Local Vines facility in Lafayette, a winery and tasting room cooperative.
The Los Arabis pinot evokes a lighter French Burgundy: translucent garnet color, light body, tart red fruit (Bing cherry, cranberry), and an earthy finish.
$25–$35 | losarabisvineyards.com
Brittni Hart oversees four and a half acres of pinot at Mission Peak Vineyards in Fremont. Photos courtesy of Mission Peak Vineyards
Reviving the Past
Vines flourish around Fremont’s Mission Peak as they did in the 19th century, when several wineries operated in the area, including the 1869 Leland Stanford Winery and 1881 Gallegos, once California’s second largest winery.
“I’m working to put Fremont back on the wine map,” says Brittni Hart, owner and founder of Mission Peak Vineyards.
When Hart met her husband, Jason, in 2014, he was growing mostly pinot noir—his favorite grape—plus some cabernet sauvignon and syrah that he had planted around 2009 on his 1,600-foot elevation ranch near Mission Peak. Jason’s vines had not been very fruitful, but Brittni became interested in what could be produced. So in 2017, she took over operations, and with the help of a harvesting crew and a Livermore-based winemaker, she got 300 bottlesl of wine, or 25 cases. By 2019 the vineyard produced 30 barrels. Hart now oversees six and a half acres, including four and a half acres of pinot, at Fremont’s only winery.
Hart calls on winemakers Dane Stark and Lisa Lee to make the wine at their Page Mill Winery in Livermore Valley. “I’m heavily involved,” says Hart, “picking our barrels, tasting what goes into the reserve pinot, trying every single wine.”
Mission Peak is a distinctly Californian wine with a nod to Burgundy. Over a range of wines—a vineyard block blend, single clone Swan, and reserve—there’s a progression in complexity, fruit and savory herbal notes, and silky texture and minerality.
$31–$51 | missionpeakwine.com
Vascular surgeon John Bry planted pinot noir and olive trees on his property in Richmond’s Wildcat Canyon. Photos courtesy of Perfusion Vineyards
A Perfusion of Pinot
Back in the 1980s, John Bry had no intention of becoming a winegrower. He enjoyed wine, joined a wine group, even harvested grapes for what he calls “terrible wine” that was “a hell of a lot of work.” But those early days of dabbling whetted his appetite. Could he make something better?
In 2002, Bry found property in Richmond’s Wildcat Canyon that seemed well-suited to growing pinot noir. Within a few years, he had planted nearly an acre of grapes, along with 75 olive trees. A vascular surgeon, Bry named his planting Perfusion Vineyard, using a word that refers to the passage of blood through vessels from the heart to the body. For his label, he drew an interpretation of the human circulatory system in the form of a grapevine.
Tom Leaf has been Perfusion’s winemaker since the beginning, making the wine at San Francisco’s Mansfield-Dunne Wines. Bry participates in tastings and various winemaking decisions, but he says, “I am the guy with dirt under his nails. There’s a parallel between patient care and taking care of the vines. There’s an intimacy in terms of recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of vines.”
Bry sells his wine and olive oil at local farmers’ markets, including Grand Lake. His style shows a good balance between Californian and French pinots: vibrant and zesty, with lovely floral aromas, bright red fruits, and earthy mushroom notes.
$40–$58 | perfusionvineyard.com
Right: Pinotphiles David and Darcie Kent (left and center) have been providing their winemaker, Julian Halasz (right), with an increasing array of Livermore Valley–grown pinot noir grapes as they find appropriate growing sites. Left: They have just released their first Livermore Valley sparkling wine, the 2022 Blanc de Noir with 100 percent pinot noir from Triska Vineyards. Photos courtesy of Darcie Kent Vineyards | Bottle shot by Mary Orlin
A Livermore Pinot for Every Palate
When Hungarian-born winemaker Julian Halasz first arrived in Livermore Valley in 1995, he noted a fair amount of pinot growing, especially in Pleasanton’s Ruby Hill area. But as demand and tastes changed, the pinot vines were grafted over to merlot.
Now he’s winemaker at Darcie Kent Estate Winery, which is owned by pinotphiles Darcie and David Kent. Most of their pinot grapes were coming from Monterey County, but in 2020, the Kents started focusing on Livermore Valley. “Darcie and David really wanted to make sure we could do pinot in our backyard,” says Halasz.
Currently, Darcie Kent leases, manages, and farms a three-acre pinot noir plot at Livermore’s Triska Vineyards. The winery’s Firepit Pinot Noir is made from this Livermore fruit (under its Almost Famous wine incubator brand), and they have just released their first Livermore Valley sparkling wine, a 100 percent pinot noir 2022 Blanc de Noir, also from this vineyard.
But that’s not all: For harvest 2024, Darcie Kent began sourcing pinot noir from the Shames Vineyard in Livermore’s historic Kalthoff Commons sub area of former Chateau Bellevue, which has a long history of pinot production. David says they plan on planting 25 more acres of pinot over the next few years as they find appropriate sites in Livermore.
There’s a pinot for every palate at Darcie Kent: the lively, tickle-your-nose, fruit-forward 2022 Blanc de Noir sparkling pinot; the elegant 2023 Darcie; the soulful 2022 and 2021 Triska Vineyard pinots; and a dark, intense 2022 Noir de Noir. The common thread among all Darcie Kent pinot noir wines is richness balanced by acidity, lush red fruit, with cherry singing the high notes and a velvety mouthfeel.
$30–$50 | darciekentvineyards.com
Into the Earth
“We’re a hidden gem,” says Griffin Beemiller, who grew up on the Nella Terra Cellars property in Sunol. His father, Gerry, planted vineyards in 2013 on this former cattle pasture, which sits on the outer limits of the Livermore Valley AVA. Pinot is Gerry’s favorite wine, and they love the challenge that growing this notoriously fickle variety presents. “You can’t really hide bad pinot noir fruit in a wine,” says Griffin, who directs the operations.
Today, the vineyards flourish in a picturesque setting—a geographical bowl lined in vines with a pond and palm trees. The name Nella Terra means “into the earth.” The upper pinot vineyard is at 1,100 feet, and a newer pinot vineyard was planted in 2019 at 700 feet for a total of 3.8 acres. Beemiller says each plot has its own microclimate and soils, resulting in slightly different flavors and aromas. For example, the upper vineyard has sedimentary sandstone with seashells, imparting a saline minerality to the wine.
Previous to the current vintage, winemaking had been in the hands of Collin Cranor at Livermore’s Nottingham Cellars. For the 2024 vintage, Beemiller has turned to winemaking legend Greg LaFollete in Sonoma County, but he wants to bring the winemaking home, utilizing a cave that will double as a working winery. “Our goal is to be making wine here in 2025,” Beemiller says. “Then we’ll be growing the fruit, making the wine, aging the wine, bottling the wine: everything on site.”
At Nella Terra, old world meets new in a wine glass. Floral violet aromas mingle with cherry, cranberry, and plum notes. Bright acidity and minerality balance savory dried herbs and baking spices. Over three vintages (2019 to 2022) the wines—always a 50-50 blend of Pommard 4 and Clone 73 clones—deliver this signature profile of the Sunol Highlands vineyard.
$46–$58 | nellaterra.com
Gerry Beemiller (right) and Griffin Beemiller (left) grow pinot noir on their picturesque Sunol property (above) and are working to bring their Nella Terra Cellars winemaking back to the East Bay as well. Photos courtesy of Nella Terra Cellars | Bottle shot by Mary Orlin
Mary Orlin is a James Beard Award– and Emmy Award–winning writer and TV producer and a WSET Advanced certified sommelier. For many years she was the Mercury News wine writer and was executive producer of NBC’s national wine show, In Wine Country. She now co-hosts a tasty podcast called Sip Sip Hooray, exploring winemakers, wine, and other spirited libations.
