Taylor Family Vineyards
In 1980, Napa Valley residents Jerry and Pat Taylor, along with their children Scott, Sandy, and Mike, took on the ultimate do-it-yourself project: converting ten acres of the family’s 23-acre ranch in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley to vineyard.
As the vineyard grew and matured, so did the family tending it. The next generation, Sandy and her husband, Phil Carlson, were the driving force behind the creation of Taylor Family Vineyards as a wine brand. This next venture was a way to honor the family’s deep roots in the Napa farming community while keeping an eye to its future: creating a legacy by transforming the fruits of their labor into fine wine.
The inaugural vintage of Taylor Family Vineyards was the 2002. The winery now produces 1,000 cases of wine per year, which is available only through the winery.
Sandy’s wine career started with an “internship” in the family vineyard, planting, pruning and tying vines under the guidance of her father, Jerry. After graduation from college, she learned the business end of wine by working as a controller for several other Napa wineries. But ultimately, her love for the land drew her back to the family business, where she launched it into its next phase: producing wines under the Taylor Family Vineyards label. Today, every member of the sixth and seventh generations has helped in the vineyard or with the winemaking- “growing grapes and making wines as they try to live their lives: striving always for balance.”