Sinks Canyon

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ABOUT US

The Business Began, and is
Sustained by Family

God. Marriage. Family. Friends. Sinks Canyon Vineyards & Winery’s motto is “Like the beautiful journey from grapes to the glass, we have been crushed, transformed, and made new to celebrate life”. This motto has been forged in us through many ups and downs, strikes and gutters. Along this journey we have learned the true value of unconditional love, celebration with great friends, and of course the love of great wine.

Our Story

Jennifer and I have been married since 2007. We have 4 children from 15 to 6 years of age. The only way to describe the first ten years of our marriage would be to say we existed together, and we were functionally dysfunctional. We found that we were not perfect in any sense of the word. In those days I valued work, promotion, and anything but God, marriage, family, and friends. It was a collision course for implosion. Thankfully, God has a way to realign priorities.

On December 29, 2018, Jennifer and I were blessed to renew our vows in the presence of friends and family in Pismo Beach, California. You may ask, what does all this have to do with a wine business? The answer is that it is our values, our love for each other, and our love of celebration that has allowed us to pursue this endeavor.

We moved to Redlands California in the Spring of 2015. Over the past five years, Jennifer and I have found a love for California wines. Following our renewal, we spent time in Santa Barbara and Los Olivos visiting amazing wineries. Not only was the wine spectacular, but we also fell in love with the atmosphere, the ambiance, and the friendliness of the winemakers and patrons.

During a family vacation to Lander, Wyoming, the idea was born to try to grow wine grapes and make wine in Wyoming. With this, Sinks Canyon Vineyards & Winery was established. We are based out of Lander, Wyoming, but we also operate in Southern California.

In May of 2020 we planted 820 grape vines in Lander choosing hybrid varietals such as Marquette, Frontenac Blanc, Frontenac Gris, Traminette, and LaCrescent. It was an amazing but toilsome experience establishing the vineyard!

The whole family was involved!

Our vision is to grow wine grapes in Wyoming, make local Wyoming wines, and make wines from Rocky Mountain grapes in our Wyoming headquarters. At the same time, we plan on making wine in California from such places as Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, and Los Olivos. We will be fermenting our first California vintage in the fall of 2020 with 1 ½ tons of Syrah grown at Meadowlark Vineyards in Los Olivos, California. Our journey has just begun but we hope you join us along the way!

After 4 years of dedication and perseverance, we are poised to reap our first grape harvest. Our red grapes (Marquette, Frontenac, and Marchal Foch) have already started the ripening process, which is known as veraison. With the anticipation of harvest, the next defense against nature is needed, bird netting! In late August the bird netting will go up, and then we will just need to pray for a later snow fall than normal, another aspect of Northern grape growing challenges. We are so excited to harvest and of course, produce our first Wyoming estate wine.

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Sinks Canyon Vineyard Update

Our vineyards are in their fourth year and have endured multiple minus 30 degree Fahrenheit winters. Over the course of that time we have maintained 7.5 feet high deer fences, installed a drip system, implemented organic fertilizer schedules and monitored pests and disease.

West Vineyard

Our red wine grapes are flourishing. Fall fertilization, all organic, is complete. Our most fruit bearing vines are netted as we anticipate our first harvest at the end of September. This week we did some pruning, finished setting trellis wire to handle next year’s growth, weeded and mowed. In this vineyard we have Foch, Marquette, St. Croix, and Frontenac planted.

West Vineyard

Growth is looking good in this vineyard which has a rockier soil than the West. We had about 2 dozen vines loaded with fruit, unfortunately the birds were a day earlier than us this year. We have moved up our netting calendar accordingly and expect more fruit next year. In this vineyard we have hybrid white grapes planted; Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, La Crescent, Traminer, and Itaska.