David Mounts grew up in Dry Creek Valley. Following in his father’s footsteps, he also felt the need to expand into becoming a winemaker and winery owner. And so, after lots of study and hard work, Mounts Family Winery was created.

I can image why David wanted to be making wine… I’ve now seen so many grape growers, who were only growing grapes for others, make that transition into a brand producer, too.  Growing grapes for others to haul away and craft into their own design leaves grape growers wondering what they could be doing with their own fruit. This seems to be a very common and natural curiosity.

Once the growers begin to also make wine, they learn practices that will benefit everyone in the process. Just doing what others are telling you to do with your fruit may not necessarily have you understand why they want you to drop fruit, for instance, when you’re selling your fruit by the ton. That one is really hard for most grape growers to understand or even justify. If someone buying your fruit makes those kinds of demands, it becomes the responsibility of that company to now pay a higher premium for the lesser tonnage that results in dropping fruit. With contracts in place, this may be an outrageous demand. Consequently, grape growers have to not only find their voice for demanding more for their grapes, but they also are needing to know why. Many of them are taking winemaking classes and more viticulture classes.

This is how it works on the back end of making wine, and David wanted in on the process and the passion.

I first met the Mounts family when they became members of PS I Love You. At every marketing turn, David and his wife Lana have been there. I’m watching this young family grow, and I take such joy in visiting with them. With my friends coming to visit us in Sonoma County (from Marin County), we wanted to bring them to this wine company, so they could see first hand what handcrafting really means. To that point in time, they had only visited Napa, and were astounded with the natural beauty of Sonoma County.

The day we arrived, David was racking his wine, the kids and dogs were scattering, and Lana was our host.

This one minute slide movie gives you a glimpse into what we enjoyed, and what’s there for you when you visit Dry Creek Valley and Mounts Family Winery.