Avanguardia Wines

Hours: Year Round

History:

Avanguardia Wines is a family business developed by Rob and Marilyn Chrisman. Both Rob and Marilyn have family roots in farming. Rob's father's family came to California in the 1850's and started a large produce ranch near present day Ventura. His father was a mechanical engineer by profession, but was involved in farming up into the 1970's. Growing up in Los Angeles, Rob looked forward to his visits at his maternal grandfather's orange orchards in Camarillo, California.  Marilyn spent the best days of her youth roaming the wild country behind a small farm in Michigan where her father retired from the State Department. She'll never forget the time when she was 6 years old as her father scooped up a handful of black, black soil and told her to take a deep breath and smell the beauty of the earth.

When Rob and Marilyn met in college in Los Angeles and married, they did not intend to farm. But they both rediscovered the joy of country living when Rob decided he wanted to grow grapes and make wine. In his 20's Rob worked as a computer programmer/analyst and spent his lunch hours trolling stores for dusty treasures of old wines. He learned to appreciate traditional blends of famous European wine regions. He also discovered that delicious grapes came not only from France, but also Italy, Spain, and parts of eastern Europe.

As he tasted and experimented, he set himself a goal - to make fine wines from grapes around the world, selected for their blending potential to create unique flavor profiles. He knew they must be delicious to sip and equally suited to complement fine food.  He wanted to build upon the traditional European approach of blending grapes for flavor ,acid balance, and tannins for stability. Moving to the high foothills of Tulare County in 1977, he developed a small experimental vineyard. With degrees in Slavic Studies, he was self-taught in viticulture and oenology, but relied upon expertise in the field. He contacted University of California at Davis Foundation Plant Services and worked with them to import new varieties to the United States. UCD says Rob was one of the first US vintners to import grape varieties from Italy previously unknown in the US.

In 1990, he moved the growing family to Nevada County to capture the warm days and cool nights of the northern Californian foothills and start a commercial vineyard and winery. Today, you can find him in the vineyard tending grapes, in the winery fine-tuning his unique blends or happily chatting with visitors who also enjoy fine wines.