History
Kistler Vineyards is a small, family established and privately owned and operated winery dedicated to the vinification of world class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir using old world Burgundian techniques applied to our new world vineyards. We have consistently bottled some of the finest new world examples of these two varietals for over 30 years. We produce single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs, that are available exclusively to our mailing list members.
Kistler Vineyards was founded in 1978 by the Kistler family. The first vintage in 1979 produced 3,500 cases of wine and since then the winery has slowly grown to the planned production level of about 25,000 cases per year. Steve Kistler received a B.A. from Stanford University, studied at U.C. Davis and Fresno State University for two years, and was an assistant at Ridge Vineyards for two years before founding Kistler Vineyards. He serves as winemaker and oversees vineyard operations.
Mark Bixler received degrees from M.I.T. and U.C. Berkeley, taught Chemistry at Fresno State University for seven years, and worked at Fetzer Vineyards for two years prior to joining Kistler Vineyards. Mark oversees the lab work and is the business manager for Kistler Vineyards. Jason Kesner joined Kistler Vineyards in the summer of 2008. Jason managed Hudson vineyards from 2000-2008, the source of one of our finest wines. Jason serves as the assistant winemaker, and helps to oversee the vineyard operations.