our story

Haarmeyer Wine Cellars is a family team - Craig, Alex, Kelly, and Marian Haarmeyer. Started in 2008 with fruit from a vineyard  near the town of Galt, CA,  we were interested primarily in making wines using Spanish and Portuguese varieties, mainly because of the dry climate and the proximity of this vineyard to our home and winery in Sacramento, CA. We felt the place seemed right for the numerous varieties of sun loving, hardy grapes planted there. This led us to consider other sites and noticed how the wines could define and express the terroir of the region. Soon we began using the phrase "Sacramento terroir" to describe our early efforts.

Our primary focus is on Chenin Blanc and how it expresses itself, the vineyard, and the cellar. As wine drinkers, we gravitate to Chenin Blanc wines irrespective of origin - Classic Loire Valley wines, Savennières in particular, and South African old vine wines are constant reference points. The way Chenin can manifest itself is myriad and compelling. It has naturally high acidity and handles oxidative aging in such a way that the wines are refreshing and sour in their youth and nutty and complex in their old age. Chenin also seems to always express its varietal characteristics and its terroir. Chenin’s “chenin-ness'' shows itself even when the influence of the cellar is present. This grape is fascinating and the journey starts and ends there. We are committed to exploring Northern California terroirs through the lens of Chenin Blanc.

We have six vineyard sources for Chenin: three in the Sacramento River Delta, one in eastern Lodi, and two in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. We work only with farmers who raise organic fruit and in the cellar do as little modern processing as possible. Every lot is foot trodden and basket pressed without any corrections to chemistry or sulfur additions. The juice is exposed to oxygen and racked to neutral large format barrels and casks for unaided, native yeast fermentations. The wine remains in its fermentation vessel until it is assembled for bottling. All wines are ML complete and bottled without fining or filtering.

In addition to Chenin Blanc, we work with one of the oldest and most fascinating Riesling vineyards in the country: Wirz Vineyard in San Benito County. Planted in 1962 by Almaden in decomposed granite overlaying limestone, the vines are own rooted little bush vines yielding about 1-1.5 tons per acre - this makes a unique and delicious Riesling.

When it comes to red wine, we truly make only the wines we like to drink and we like our reds light, lively, and low in alcohol. We make two Zinfandels from older plantings in Lodi, Nebbiolo from high elevation Clements Hills, and a third from Clarksburg. Recently we have been working with the folks at Mokelumne Glen to make Blaufrenkisch and a Gemischter Satz using all 52 of their unique German varieties.