Dorner Family Vineyard is nestled in the southeast corner of historic Cumming’s Valley in Tehachapi, California: The Ancient Land of the Kawaiisu Native Americans. The rolling hills are studded with Blue Oak, Valley Oak and Sagebrush. The rich soil, that has supported these magnificent trees for centuries, now gives way to vineyards. The soil and 4300’ elevation have proven to provide ideal growing conditions, overlooked for years, for award-winning wines. All the grapes grown at Dorner Family Vineyard are hand harvested and immediately sorted and processed at our on-site estate winery while the fruit is still cold and fresh.
The Story of our Wine Label
During Mike and Michele’s second trip to Italy in 2012, Michele was hoping to find a painting to hang in their living room that represented everything they loved about Tuscany: the rolling hills covered in lush green vineyards, the ancient honey-colored stone buildings, and the gorgeous magenta red poppies that dotted the Tuscan hillsides. After scouring the open-air artisan markets in Rome, they had all but given up. Every painting they found, although beautiful and unique, only contained two of the three elements Michele wanted. After giving up and ready to ‘settle’ for another painting, their son Adam, and Mike spotted the perfect painting: beautiful red poppies dotted the fields beneath the lush vineyards that lead the way to the old stone buildings. Topped off with fluffy white clouds against a vibrant blue sky, it was the exact painting that Michele had been hoping to find. Once home, before framing their beautiful new painting, Mike and Michele had it scanned at a blueprint shop. They were both in love with their new ‘find’ and knew that they would use the copies somehow, someplace: maybe they would have a print made for the tasting room. It didn’t matter, they loved the new addition to their living room. It wasn’t until Mike and Michele began to bottle their own wine in 2014 that they started searching for the ‘perfect’ label to represent their vineyard. They tossed many ideas around until finally remembering the scan they had made of the Tuscan painting. Michele excitedly printed a small copy of the painting and placed it on their Riesling wine bottle! It was perfect…the colors, the details, and how it represented Tuscany to both of them. They had found their wine label!
