| Engelmann Cellars 
Description: The Engelman family has been growing grapes in the Central Valley for over 100 years. Bret wanting to do something different attended CSU Fresno and received a BS degree in Business Management in 1996. He quickly returned to CSU Fresno and began work on his second BS in Enology where he was fortunate to be one of the few to make the first vintage of Fresno State wine to be bottled and sold. Directly out of college in 1999 he landed a job as Assistant Winemaker for one of California's larger wineries where he was put in charge of making 12 million gallons of wine a year. Longing for more control of the finished wines he started Engelmann Cellars in 2000 in his grandfather’s old raisin shed where he made 1500 cases of wine that first year. Elainea a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Graphic Communications met Bret wine tasting one day. Now she runs most of the day to day work and does the majority of the graphic design for the winery. Since starting Engelmann Cellars the winery has won 147 medals in state, national and international competitions all from grapes grown locally in the Fresno, CA area.
Over 24% of all California wine grapes are grown in Fresno County, we felt that it was up to us to show that the Central Valley can and does grow exceptional wine grapes that can compete on any level and can please the most discerning pallets. By processing all wine in small batches, many less than 100 cases per varietal year, we can oversee all details large and small during harvest, fermentation, barrel aging and final blending before bottling.
Today Engelmann Cellars produces about 2600 cases a year with no employee's. 85% of sales are direct to consumer in the tasting room, online and wine club. Bret and his wife Elainea do all winemaking as well as run the winery which hosts over 30 weddings a year, several large fundraisers, and Friday Night Wine Tasting in the summer months attracting over 400 guest every Friday night.
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