What's in a name?

Nostra Vita Family Winery is the culmination of a lifelong dream of my husband, Robert. He’s been making wine all of his life, literally. He grew up in a winery, playing underneath his mother’s desk, following his uncles around as they checked the tanks, and his sitting on his father’s lap on the tractor as they built ditches in the field for irrigation. And we both grew up in and around vineyards, as our fathers grew grapes and took great pride in cultivating their individual pieces of fertile sandy soil.

There is a sense of responsibility and freedom that comes with farming the soil. You grow up understanding that you owe your livelihood to that land, and with that brings an obligation to nurture and care for it. You mark your life by the seasons, because changes in the weather mark the passage of time, and with each season there are tasks that must be performed in order to keep that vineyard healthy and productive. But there is that freedom to meander and wander about on that land, getting lost in the wonder of watching a litter of baby bunnies playing in the field, a flock of wild turkeys dining on insects, or even a pack of juvenile coyotes wrestling on our back lawn. It’s the freedom to just sit, watch and marvel at what nature creates.

Enter the next generation, our children. We wanted for our children what we’d both had—an opportunity to live on a piece of land in the country, so when they were very young, we stretched and scraped together the funds to purchase our own piece of land in the rolling Clements hills. Then we planted our vineyard and raised our children in the center of those vines. Yes, we actually built our home in the center of our vineyard, and the photo that you see on our Home page is a view from my kitchen window. Nice, huh.

So, what’s with the name? Because we’ve all grown up in and around vineyards and wine has been a natural outcome of producing all those beautiful grapes, when it came time to select a name for our family’s company, Nostra Vita was appropriate. Robert is of Italian descent, making our children part Italian, and since our lives have always been seasoned with Italian sayings, words and terms, it wasn’t a stretch for our son to select an Italian name. Nostra Vita means “our life” in Italian, and grapes, wine production, farming, eating, drinking wine, and family are all intertwined.How do you pronounce it? It’s actually easier than you think. First word, Nostra: Nō Straw. Second word, Vita: Vēē Tăh. Nostra Vita: Nō Straw Vēē Tăh.

Because we understand that each year is unique, producing characteristics in the grapes at harvest that will shape the essence of a handcrafted wine, we celebrate that exclusivity. Wine isn’t simply a beverage, it truly is a sensory experience meant to be shared with family and friends. We invite you to join us as we discover each vintage and make “our life” a part of yours!