About the winery
Page Mill Winery is the Stark family's winery, founded in 1976 by Dick and Ome Stark1. Its 1996 page on Web Winery told how they dug a large cellar under their home on Page Mill Road, in the foothills behind Stanford University, and how their youngest son, Dane, joined them in 19923. They kept production under 3,000 cases and bought grapes from vineyards that set rows aside for them each year: Chardonnay from Stuhlmuller Vineyard in Alexander Valley and from neighbors' vineyards nearby, Zinfandel from old vines in Chiles Valley, and Pinot Noir, first made in 1985, from Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria3.
From 1997 to 1998 Dane Stark wrote a series of winemaker's notes for the site4,5,6. In October 1997 he described lifting 40 tons of grapes a box at a time, and friends leaving work early to stomp half a ton of Zinfandel barefoot4. In July 1998 he was tending the Garbett Vineyard, Chardonnay planted in 1980 a quarter mile from the winery, and trying to coax his retired father off the golf course to pull leaves5. That September the harvest was late, and he wished every winemaker in California an Indian summer6.
The winery moved from Los Altos Hills to the Livermore Valley in 2004, and Dane Stark now runs it as the second-generation winemaker1. The tasting room is on South Livermore Avenue2, and the wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, a Rhône-style blend called GPS and a dry rosé, Angela's Cuvée1.
Known for
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Sauvignon Blanc
- GPS Rhône-style blend
- Angela's Cuvée dry rosé
