If you’re really lucky, you’ll discover your passion in life and find a way to make a living from it. John Aver is one of the lucky ones. As the owner of Aver Family Vineyards, his passion for growing grapes and turning them into great wine has become his full-time job.
He recalls being drawn to wine most of his life, even when he was a teenager and his parents and grandparents would drink wine with dinner. As he grew up, he continued to gravitate toward it, even starting a collection of bottles from the Rhône region in his early 20s.
In 2005, John and his wife, Carolyn, found the property that is now Aver Family Vineyards, nestled in the Uvas Valley. A large portion of the property was located on a hillside, ideal for grape growing. By 2006, they released their first vintage, with the land then made up of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon vines.
But, this wasn’t John’s first time in the garden. Starting at the ripe age of 5, John had his own section of the yard to tend to and the first thing he ever grew was gladiolus. In 1991, John tried his hand at growing and making wine, planting 1/4 acre of vines on the hillside of the northern Marin County property he owned at the time. It was a 15-year journey from his first grapes until starting Aver Family Vineyards.
“I made lots of mistakes, so I learned a lot, but we were just doing it for fun,” John said.
He now maintains a garden of more than eight acres and he’s replaced the Cabernet Sauvignon vines with four popular varietals from the Rhône region—Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. John is self-taught in the industry, honing his practice by attending industry seminars, taking extension classes at the University of California, Davis and reading everything he can.
Everything on the property is 100 percent organic and John has been farming organically since 2007.
“Farmers are stewards of the land and whenever you’re gone, the land is still going to be there,” John said. “Farming organically is more time consuming so there’s more cost—time is money, but I believe it gives me better fruit.”
John loves to create blends with his grapes, such as the velvety red wine called “Hope,” made up of 46 percent Grenache, 23 percent Petite Sirah, 23 percent Syrah, 6 percent Carignane and 2 percent Mourvèdre.
“The best wines are blends. You get to take the best of each varietal and make them shine,” John said. “You have to take what Mother Nature gives you. We blend and we figure out what flavor profile we’re going to get and that’s what’s so fun about this.”
Along with unique blends, the wine club at Aver Family Vineyards can also draw a crowd. Wine club members get free tastings, wine club-only events (once a month from April to October a chef comes to the winery to teach classes exclusively to wine club members), discounts on wine and even wines that are only sold to members.
“I’m all about taking good care of my wine club members,” John said.
Wine club members are even given a special name tag to wear when they arrive at the winery. The Aver wine club is currently made up of almost 400 members “and we consider them all extended family,” John said.
Aver Family Vineyards makes roughly 2,000 cases of wine annually, with wine sales doing so well that each year they’ve sold every case made. Ninety-six percent of sales are through wine club, online and purchases from the tasting room—but John does sell 4 percent of production to local restaurants.
John grew up in the Bay Area, once labeled the “Valley of the Hearts Delight” but now better known as “Silicon Valley.” As a winemaker in Santa Clara Valley, he sees firsthand how unaware many people are that this region even exists.
“People know about Livermore, Monterey, Napa and Sonoma, but they didn’t know we were here,” he said. “We’re the least known AVA (American Viticultural Area) in the state yet we’re one of the oldest wine regions. Everyone thinks of Silicon Valley. When I grew up in the Bay Area it was all farms—now you rarely see farms. People don’t connect the Bay Area with it.”
At this point, John is happy with the production size of Aver Family Vineyards.
“The bigger you get the more you become a manager,” he said. “I love what I do. I love farming and being out with the grapes. I do it all. If you get bigger, you just have a crew going out to the grapes and I want to be involved.”
Visit Aver Family Vineyards at 2900 Soma Way in Gilroy. For more information, call (408) 203-8575 or visit averfamilyvineyards.com.
Chrissy Bryant is a writer, social media manager and former Morgan Hill native who loves staying active, enjoys California sunshine and a great glass of wine. This article is part of a series to complete a master’s degree project at San Jose State University.
