It began as a landscaping idea.  Plant 10 vines alongside my home in Rancho Bernardo.  We bought the Zinfandel plants in Sonoma County, housed them in a hotel during a trade show in San Francisco, and planted in the spring of 2004.  A year later, folks were saying "what are you going to do with those grapes?"  An interest in enjoying wine turned into a passion for making it, and after procuring equipment, building refridgerated storage and eventually land for a vineyard, this "slippery slope" seemed a good name for our label.

Along the way, Ray took classes at a local community college and on-line from UC Davis, became active in the local winemaking society, and scored some nice accolades from county and state winemaking competitions.  Jeannine became the active assistant winemaker and has recently produced her own first vintage of Merlot.

Our special interest is big red wines with full body, a great finish but retaining nice fruit and nose.  We have sourced our grapes from here in San Diego (South Coast), Mexico, Paso Robles (Central Coast), Amador County (Sierra Foothills), and in particular, Dry Creek Valley (Sonoma County North Coast).

With the construction of our facilities at Highland Valley Vineyards, we soon plan to move the winemaking out of the Rancho Bernardo garage and up to the winery in Highland Valley.  Our goal is to become a bonded, commercial winery.

Here are the Slippery Slope vintages, bottled or currently in barrel storage: