The Edwards Family

(Left to right) Victor, Mitchell, Beth, Karl and Austin Edwards.  This is our Edwards Family Christmas photo (1999) at our first home in Ramona, with our original winemaking equipment and first vineyard.

(Left to right) Victor, Beth, Karl, Austin and Mitchell Edwards, and Doc.  This is our Edwards Family Christmas photo (2012) on our tasting patio, with a partial view of our 3-acre vineyard and the Cuyamaca mountains.

About Our Passion…


We opened our “doors” to Edwards Vineyard & Cellars on March 5, 2011. Since then, as new customers find their way to our outdoor tasting patio in the easternmost portion of Ramona Valley, their first question is usually, “How did we get into the wine business?” Their next question is “how did we learn to make wine.” So I’ll try to put into words the events that have led us to being “bonded, licensed and certifiable.™”


When Victor and I met in 1985, Victor had already received his degree in photography and I was still attending Cuyamaca College as a technical illustration major. Victor was employed by the West Coast’s largest professional photo lab, and I was working for a local newspaper as the creative services director — we were both working artists. Our idea of a great date usually involved a trip to Little Italy to purchase fresh pasta and handcrafted sausages, with a visit to a wine shop to pick out wine after a wine-bar tasting or two, and then a visit to Blockbuster for a movie rental to enjoy. Victor taught me to appreciate great California wines. Silver Oak cabernets, Duckhorn Three Palms merlots, Kenwood Artist Series cabernets and Ridge zinfandels were among some of our favorite weekend indulgences. We were foodies — before there was such a term — and wine just fits with good food.


That next summer, Victor and I took our first vacation together, opting to camp in Sequoia, Yosemite and then a private campground in Napa Valley. Not to diminish the grandeur of the first two parks, but upon arriving in Napa, we were immediately absorbed into the beauty of the spectacular vineyard expanses. We toured vineyards and wineries, tasting the best wines California produced, with each adding a bit of knowledge to Victor’s wine education. We ventured into Sonoma, then Santa Barbara and over into Paso Robles on our way back down the coast. The smaller non-corporate wineries of that time period were very intimate. We were officially hooked.


We married in the summer of 1988, purchased a home on three-quarters of an acre in Ramona and began planting our first vineyard. My mother-in-law and I decided to buy Victor the entire set of enology and viticulture course books from UC Davis as a gift. He couldn’t afford to quit his day job, but surely he could read about how to become a winemaker — which he did with a passion. Victor was growing vines by 1990 and making wine by 1994. Friends would help us pick and crush each year’s crop (and still do). Holiday-greeting photos documented our small wine-making equipment, our small test vineyard and the addition of our three young sons.


Our early family vacations involved juggling wine-making supply purchases, educational symposiums, and vineyard real estate shopping with camping. We would set our tent up on the coast at Bodega Bay, then venture into Sonoma to pick up a wine press, or kayak the Russian River, then pop over into Napa for a class at Barrel Builders on repairing leaky barrels. We’d swim in Clear Lake and then look at properties in the high valleys north of Napa for possible purchase.


Grandma would frequently camp with us and watch the boys so we could make a side trip into wine regions. On one such trip, Victor spotted Cathy Corison, alone, as she was pruning her infamous Kronos vineyard in St. Helena. Her Napa cabernets were, and still are, amazing. We walked out into her vineyard and introduced ourselves as owning a small — very small — vineyard, but having larger winemaking aspirations. She started showing Victor how she was pruning. She walked him through several vines, pruning while answering his questions, helping to develop his understanding of the annual process.


Subsequent wine trips were highlighted by meeting other famous Napians like Margaret and Dan Duckhorn, when we picked up our merlot purchases from Margaret’s tiny office (back in the day), which was always a pleasure. We met Charlie and Chuck Caymus during an impromptu barrel tasting course — we had signed up for a vineyard management course, but it was pouring rain, so they brought us into their winery instead. They offered barrel tastings from several different American and French oak barrels and one that combined both. This chance tasting whet Victor’s interest in learning more about the nuances that oak imparts on wine. He attended oak symposiums put on by the American Society of Enology & Viticulture (ASEV), he tasted wine samples provided by barrel cooperages, and he experimented with different oaks in his own wines. Today, Victor is convinced that oak barrels add the magic to wine.


We camped from Washington down to Morro Bay. We looked for land in Oregon, in Sonoma, in Templeton and Atascadero near Paso Robles, and in Santa Barbara. We came home to Ramona and planted additional vines and tested several types of trellises for our petite sirah, zinfandel and carignan varietals. Victor grew vines and killed them. He learned to make wine with the assistance of friend Eric Willis. Victor made palatable wines and dumped some. By 1997, he was making wines solo. We called these amateur wines “Prelude,” with a logo Victor drew gracing their homemade labels. With a near-full backyard of vines and three sons later, we knew we needed more space for vines and a bigger tent.


We began looking at larger parcels of land within our own Ramona Valley in our “spare time.” Victor’s wine education was enhanced by joining the San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society, where we met Lum Eisenman, the local wine guru for helping home winemakers.


During Victor’s daily commute back “up the hill” into Ramona, he suddenly pulled his car over in front of a vineyard he routinely passed, after spotting a man walking through it holding a wine glass. He correctly assumed the man must be the owner. That’s how he met John Schwaesdall, which eventually led to us helping pour his wines during Schwaesdall’s grand opening as Ramona’s first winery, in approximately 1995. Victor and I later joined a Paso Robles vineyard association in order to attend a canopy management course, and Victor attended weekend enology courses at UC Davis as often as we could manage. But I believe we both became “certifiable” after enduring ASEV symposiums in Sacramento, Reno, and twice at the San Diego Convention Center. Their in-depth curriculums are just so intense.


Another Ramonan, Bill Jenkin, was also busy planting vines about this time. He decided to hold a meeting and spread the word around town that he wanted all the winegrowers to meet at his home. There were just over a dozen of us at that first meeting — residents who were currently growing or had an interest in doing so in the future. We decided to meet again on a regular basis, and did so at members’ homes. It was fantastic to meet fellow Ramonans who grew wine and/or were winemakers.


Meanwhile, we found a foreclosed 64-acre ranch and it became ours (and the bank’s) in May of 2002. We moved our boys, then aged 12, 9 and 7, into a downsized 1,000 square foot fixer-upper from hell. We planted our new vineyard with Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah varietals. We continued to attend the monthly vineyard group meetings, which attracted many key people. We were heavily involved in the creation of Ramona Valley as an American Viticultural Area (AVA), and in the passage of the San Diego County Boutique Winery Ordinance. The resurgence of wineries in San Diego County is directly due to the members of the Ramona Valley Winery Association, which formed a committee to work on a new ordinance, that was eventually presented to Supervisor Dianne Jacob. The committee was lead by Carolyn Harris (who’s pro bono legal work was monumental) as RVWA legal counsel, with the support of fellow members: Victor Edwards (RVWA president), Andy Harris (Chuparosa Vineyards), Mike Kopp (Kohill Winery), Don Kohorst (Pyramid Vineyard and Winery), and myself (Beth Edwards, Edwards Vineyard and Cellars).


Then in 2007, we lost our beloved 8,000+ sq. ft. wooden barn (and future winery) to the Witch Creek Fire. This topic could take up volumes of additional information, so watch my blog for more on the fire and our rebuild. My main point in this brief history of the Edwards family, is to answer the questions regarding Victor’s wine education. He is both formally taught and self-taught, but mostly he has learned by doing — with the help of many friends and family.


The opening of our outdoor tasting patio in 2011, with a six-and-a-half year journey through the San Diego County ordinance creation processes, is either a blessing or a curse. Mostly, it’s a passion that will drive you to drink... wine.


































Our family

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