Award Winning Wines. Family Run. Sustainably Grown.

Jenny and Marcus believe that great wine starts in the vineyard. At Great Bear, we are fortunate to be located close to University of California, Davis, with its world famous Viticulture and Enology department and resident experts, as well as fellow winemakers through Yolo County, Napa and Sonoma, who share their passion for wine and their knowledge freely. Our goal in the vineyard is to produce the highest quality grape we can in our terroir.

Our modus operandi is to work in harmony with our special soil and climate with minimal chemical inputs to produce premium grapes for our wines and for sale. Our growing region is situated on the northern edge of Davis in Yolo County with Napa to the west and Solano to the south. Great Bear Vineyard’s Rincon soil is a combination of silty loam and clay loam and is well drained, very similar to the soils of the valley floor in Napa. We practice deficit irrigation, encouraging our vines to search for water. The long growing season and warm days allow full ripening, while cool nights and the delta breeze deliver full flavor formation and enhanced complexity.

We carefully manage the light entering our canopy by our east-west planting orientation and our choice of trellis system, the bilateral cordon. We spur-prune in late February each year, and in May we shoot thin, leaf pull and cluster thin the vines, which are planted in a six-by-six foot spacing. We harvest by hand and personally sort before delivery, ensuring that clients receive the finest clusters. Our Cabernet Sauvignon is usually perfect by the last week in August or early September for winemakers targeting 24.5 Brix and ideal pH.

Premium, Hand-Harvested Grapes

Our vineyard is family-owned and managed. We take care and pride in every step of grape production. We love producing beautiful fruit, intense with flavors.

Our viticulture consultant, Mike Anderson, helps us produce the finest quality grapes by guiding deficit irrigation, pruning, and leaf and cluster thinning. We practice no-till in the vineyard with a permanent cover crop of grasses and flowers down the rows to help build a healthy microbiome of beneficial microbes and promote soil health. The vineyard is managed in harmony with nature, and so it has an abundance of wildflowers, birds and animal life.

We grow 7 reds: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Primitivo, & Tempranillo, and 4 whites: Albariño, Chardonnay, Roussanne, & Sauvignon Blanc.

Commercial Wineries

We specialize in providing premium Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to world-class commercial wineries in lot size from 1 to 40 tons. We have a great terroir with soils similar to the soils of valley floor in Napa, and we have evenings cooled by the delta breeze. Our vineyard is designed and managed for quality with east-west rows, no-till, bilateral cordons with spur pruning, and deficit irrigation. Our grape vines are pruned, shoot and cluster thinned, leaf pulled, picked and sorted all by hand, ensuring only the best are delivered to you. Our Cabernet Sauvignon are clones 6, 7 and 8 on root stocks 1616C and 3309C.

We pick according to your preference and winemaking style. We organize the delivery time based on your request. We have grapes that are “sustainable” and/or “in transition to organic”. Please email for prices and contracts.

Home Winemakers

We have a block of grapes dedicated to home winemakers and heartily welcome you, regardless of the volume you make. We put the same care, pride and quality of work into growing these grapes for you as the ones we supply to commercial wineries. We have several harvest dates on which you are welcome to join us to pick with family and friends, or we will harvest and you can just collect.  Harvest dates are based on grape ripeness and pH.

We also have open crush days when you can use our Mori R30 crusher/destemmer on site for a small additional charge. These are fun days when you will get the opportunity to meet other home winemakers.

Please email for more details.

Passion for the Environment

Our passion for the environment and sustainable farming practices mean we are a haven for all things natural. We start with the soil, practicing no-till, which means we have a healthy microbiome with beneficial microbes as well as a safe home for gophers, toads and jack rabbits. We plant lavender and have swaths of wildflowers for the bees and beneficial insects. Birds and animals live amongst the tree and, shrubs and make their home in our ancient barn and water towers. Many of these practices possibly don’t improve the quality of the wine, but we hope they improve your enjoyment knowing it was grown in such beautiful and harmonious surroundings.