Putah Creek Winery, and our vineyards, are located on the now dry “north fork” of Putah Creek, on the southern city limits of Davis, California. The present day, flowing creek is about one mile to the south. Putah, according to California Place Names (Gudde, 1949), means “grassy creek” in native Miwok. Putah Creek commonly overtopped its banks in the days of pre-agricultural development, contributing to the deep, world-class soils that the Davis area is known for. “Davisville”, as the town was then called, made efforts to divert the creek away from the city in the late 1800's, essentially drying up the “north fork”, which is now central to the UC Davis Arboretum, and is a beautiful backdrop to our winery, with abundant flora and fauna including rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, possums, fox, snakes, and a variety of birds. We, Gene & Cathy Glaeser, have owned and lived on our Davis ranch for over 20 years.
For many of those years, we farmed rice, alfalfa hay, wheat, and sugar beets in Sutter and Sacramento counties, with Gene commuting daily to manage the farming operation, while at the same time developing the vineyards locally. In 2006, we decided to concentrate exclusively on the vineyards and no longer farm other crops. The first vineyards were planted in 1997, and three years later our first crops were sold to Napa and San Francisco bay area wineries, and to home winemakers. We were all pleased with the quality of wines that were made. As time went on, some of these wineries and home winemakers went on to win gold medals at prestigious competitions with grapes grown in our Davis vineyards.
In 2004, we decided to make our first commercial lot of wine and were delighted to find that our climate, excellent soils, closely managed farming techniques and careful winemaking, allowed us to produce outstanding wine. Our first releases, in the fall of 2006, included our 2005 Chardonnay, and 2004 Syrah. In early 2007 we released our 2005 Barbera and we have since released Cabernet Sauvignon, Viogner, and Tannat, all estate grown.
