Metzger Farms and Winery

The Metzger Family moved to Calaveras County in 1951. Randy's father, Grant was the manager of the Calaveras Cement Plant. The farm was puchased in 1974 by Grant and Betsey Metzger to build their retirement home. Randy and Susan soon joined them on the property in 1978 and started to develp orchards and vineyards and garden areas in the young decomposing granitic soil.

Their first wine was femented in 1979 from grapes grown in the Mokelumne Hill area. "We used an old hand crank crusher with a piece of chicken wire for a stemmer and made wine from our own grapes every year from 1978 to 2001. We won many awards for our effort in home wine-making through the years, but not being able to sell our product was frustrating," explains Randy. "After several years of non-production, we decided to make wine that we could sell on a small scale, which entailed becoming a bonded winery. In 2011 we contacted Chuck Hovey to make our wines at Gianelli Winery in Jamestown. We provide the grapes, barrels, racks, bottles, corks, etc. and he makes the wine for us under our bond. Our 2011 vintage was the first sold and our 2012 Barbera and Merlot are now available. Our vintage 2013 is in French Oak Barrels and will be ready to make its debut in the near future."

Randy and Susan Metzger have been farming their beautiful San Andreas estate for 35 years. With over 400 fruit and nut trees and up to two acres in vegetables, the variety harvested annually is truly amazing. Tomatoes, garlic, peppers, herbs, onions, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, lettuce, peaches, pears, apples, figs, persimmons, pomegranates and grapes are just part of the yield. Randy's special tomatoes are famous in Calaveras County and can be found at the Tasting Tuesdays Market and in local stores and restaurants. Join us on Tuesdays at the Farm . . . we look forward to seeing you!

You can sign up for email updates at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/metzger_farms