The Winemaker
"I was standing on tables in LA's most posh restaurants selling wine when I was five years old. My step-father worked for Sourthern California's top distributor in those days. I grew up with wine. I wanted to be a painter. I made one mistake. I flunked my art class.

I was summoned home to meet with a very unhappy mother.  I was the victim of a reverse intervention. I was flown to Korbel Winery. The winemaker/owner informed me that I was now enrolling in winemaking school along with his son in Fresno. To get back at my mother who is a Lummis I decided to make Stratton Lummis an artist series. I chose myself as the first artist. The paintings you see are the same paintings that I flunked with.

I have had the good fortune to have known and to have worked with, all the great California Winemakers. I have learned from them all."  Richard de los Reyes Winemaker and Artist? (great-grandson of Charles Lummis)

"Richard and I both spent many years driving around Napa. We know every road, winery, and vineyard. He knows most of the winemakers. Some wineries have had 4 or 5 of them come and go. He’s worked with all of them. Some made wine exactly the same, others brought new techniques. After 40 combined years it is pretty easy to know what works and what doesn’t, what is a good vineyard and which one isn’t. Richard didn't want to make Cabernet or Chardonnay. Then I challenged him. Make it better than everyone else. Make it for half the price. You can always get Richard with a challenge. So he did. Plus, I told him he could put his art on the label."
- Brad Miller (great-grandson of Dewey Stratton co-founder Stratton Lummis).

"I mostly drink Row Eleven Russian River Pinot Noir. There is nothing better out there. But, wait till you taste Chardonnay made without oak. All Carneros fruit. This wine tastes how Chardonnays's use to taste. " -Tim Dietenhofer

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