Our History

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With no 2020 crop, 2022 was the first year in 29 years that we did not bottle wine. It was a bit heart-wrenching for all of us, but we are grateful that that is all we lost. So many lost a lot more. After many years of conversations and

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Sheldon started life in west Texas where his geologist father, Jim, searched for oil and gas. By the time Sheldon was 12, his father’s search took the family to Alberta. In his early 20s, when his parents moved back to Texas, Sheldon chose to stay in Canada to

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In August, we were all very excited to welcome a new member of the Richards family into the world: Fynn Carter Richards. Jace and Cait are the proud parents, and Sheldon is the proud grandfather, of a new baby boy!  2021 also brought with it the ongoing cleanup from

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In the fall of 2019, we removed another 450 aging Merlot vines and replaced them in the spring of 2020 with Cabernet Franc. We now have a total of approximately 1000 Cabernet Franc Vines that will hopefully produce a couple hundred cases for us each vintage. The rolling blackouts,

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Harvest of 2019 was subject to another set of fires. This time strictly North/North West of Napa in the Mendocino and Shasta regions. Fire, smoke, and power outages made it a challenging year. However, the smoke was mild, relatively speaking, and we suffered no permanent damage. As always,

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Even though we had lots of smoke from the Shasta and Mendocino fires, the temperatures were moderate, so the berries were plump and beautiful, which made for a bumper crop for the whole valley. It was one of the five biggest crops we've ever had! Since Barbara's passing in

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In the winter of 2016/2017, we removed about 550 aging Merlot vines and replaced them with Cabernet Franc vines, a favorite varietal of Sheldon's. The 2017 growing season was fantastic, but due to years of drought, the fall brought waves of fires. From Northern California to North Bay

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  This year was a tough one. In May, at the age of 83, Barbara passed away due to complications from a stroke. It left a hole in the family that will take time to fill. She was the green thumb always reminding us that great wine starts with

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2013 was another great growing season, but 2014 and 2015 would not fare as well. After our fifth consecutive year of drought, in 2014, the effects began to show. The stress caused the grapes to raisin before they were ripe enough to harvest. We did so anyway, being

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The founders of Paloma Vineyard, Barbara and Jim Richards, dreamt of building a vineyard focused on sustainable farming that would highlight the grapes and terroir of their favorite region. This dream was realized in 1983 when a friend, Dan Duckhorn, called and told them about the property now