About Us

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Jeremiah Wine Company LLC was originated by two wine lovers who wanted to transform their many years of wine expertise on the tasting side to expertise on the winemaking side. The switch has been very successful and many other wine lovers around the country are very happy. The two owners, Joel Gilbertson and Gene Griffin, are no rookies. Joel has 30 years of Napa and Sonoma essentially being a second home. His experience includes time as a winery consultant for an investor before Napa became a magical brand as well as being a wine columnist and critic. He then started and owned a wine distributorship, building an incredible list of ultra-premium wineries in his portfolio. His relationships with winemakers and winery owners in Napa and Sonoma transformed into a list of absolute top quality wines, including Duckhorn, Silver Oak, Far Niente, Rombauer, Groth, Markham, Geyser Peak, Conn Valley Vineyards, and Iron Horse, to name a few. His portfolio also included a premium collection from Washington, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He ultimately decided to go from distributing great wines to making great wines. He hooked up with Gene Griffin, who had many years of traveling throughout Napa and Sonoma tasting wines, talking to folks, getting a familiarity for the best vineyard properties and developing his talent for identifying the best wines and the best methods of making the best wines.

Gene and Joel recognized early on that terroir might a term that engenders debate in the U.S., but there is no shortcut to simply making a wine with the best grapes available. How does one make great red wine? Joel and Gene say "start with incredible grapes and then try not to screw it up."

When the two partners decided to embark on this winemaking venture and to further engage their love of great red wine, they immediately focused on creating the highest quality wine and then on Napa Valley. The style they sought to produce was to show off the trademark great fruit of Napa for starters. To move up a notch even more, they wanted to make wines that had an extra dimension. That extra dimension would include a complexity that would set these wines apart from the rest. The artistry of blending small amounts of other varieties of other grapes gave them that extra dimension and that is the special magic of Jeremiah wines. And magical, they are. Their wines have a special magical moment of that first taste that produces a smile and recognition that there really is a difference.

We think you will enjoy that "magical moment" and we invite you to try a Jeremiah wine. We think you will say that these are "mighty fine wines." No shortcuts here. No corners are clipped. A small production for sure, but we believe control of what goes into virtually each bottle is an absolute necessity. We also believe that the excursion you have taken to find these "mighty fine wines" will be well worth the trip!