Cakebread Cellars

Since its founding in 1973 by Jack and Dolores, Cakebread Cellars has been famous for its warm, gracious hospitality and unmatched wines. With an enduring commitment to quality, the belief that life’s occasions are elevated by good people, good food, and good wine flows through everything we do. Sharing these tenets and this journey with you not only brings us great joy, but also gives us the motivation to always look to improve. We take great pride in sharing our family with your family.

With 40 harvests under our belts, and the second generation of winemaking Cakebreads now running the winery, our little family winery has become one of the most successful and respected wineries in America, renowned for its world-class vineyards, wines, and hospitality. It is our commitment to quality, and our history, that we feel truly blessed to share with you.

Cakebread Cellars has vineyard properties located throughout Napa Valley and a location in the Anderson Valley. The winery ranches surrounding the production facility in Rutherford are where it all began. The first 22 acre parcel was purchased in 1972. Over the years, the family has continued to acquire additional vineyard parcels throughout Napa Valley and the North Coast. Today, the winery owns 13 sites totaling 1100 acres, 560 of which are currently planted. This judicious acquisition and development of vineyard land enables us to more completely control the quality of the fruit we grow and the wines we make.

Continuity and stability are bedrock values for Cakebread Cellars and our wines. Bruce Cakebread, formerly winemaker and now president of Cakebread Cellars, is the guardian of the commitment to quality his parents made at the dawn of Cakebread Cellars. This ethos is also evident in the long-term tenures of winemaker Julianne Laks, who has been with Cakebread Cellars 26 years, and cellarmaster Brian Lee, a 25-year veteran of the winery.

Julianne and Brian, along with Director of Viticulture, Toby Halkovich, have played key roles in enhancing wine quality at Cakebread Cellars through the adoption and implementation of innovative winegrowing strategies and technologies. Over the years, these have included night-harvesting to ensure the grapes arrive at the winery in pristine condition; whole-cluster pressing of white grapes to enhance juice and wine freshness and varietal intensity; and aging Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay in barrel on its spent yeast lees – a traditional French practice known as sur lie which produces a very rich, creamy style of Chardonnay. Julianne and Brian have become experts at matching the right barrels with particular lots of wine to ensure a seamless blend of oak and fruit character.

Additionally, choosing just the right equipment is also important. In recent years, Cakebread Cellars has acquired a new, state-of-the-art destemmer, berry sorter and juice chemistry analyzer, and is investigating new techniques for generating and conserving energy. (Cakebread Cellars is a green-certified winery, and its vineyards are green-certified and either farmed organically or sustainably.)

Cakebread Cellars is a "Napa Green Certified Winery" since 2008 and was only the second winery to ever receive the distinction. The Napa Green Winery program promotes reducing energy, total waste and water use and encourages recycling in all aspects of winery operations. In 2010 Cakebread Cellars’ team reduced total waste by 12% and recycled 81% of its total waste. The winery has been awarded several PGE grants to reduce energy use by installing energy efficient refrigeration pumps, controllers and lighting.

In the vineyards Cakebread Cellars is active in certifying all its vineyards in the Napa Green Land program, which promotes sustainable farming practices, restores fish and wildlife habitat and improves water quality in the local streams. As of 2011, 191 acres of a total 460 acres is Napa Green Land certified, and Cakebread Cellars plans to have all properties certified by 2014. In 2010, Cakebread Cellars’ Suscol Springs Vineyard was the first vineyard presented with a sustainability award by the Napa County Resource Conservation District and received recognition as a model hillside vineyard development.