Jayson Pahlmeyer crafted his first wine in 1986. His aim was to achieve a “California Mouton,” and straight-from-the-source clones were – in his mind – a necessary component. Working with viticulture professors at the University of Bordeaux over the course of three years, Jayson obtained vine cuttings of the most ideal Bordeaux varieties to produce the greatest intensity of flavor and complexity of character. The prize vine cuttings were smuggled into Napa Valley and planted in 1981. Several years later, Jayson wowed the wine world with his debut vintage of Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red. In 1993, Jayson recruited the great Helen Turley to make his consistently award-winning wines.

Vintage after vintage, Pahlmeyer continued to live up to Jayson’s audacious dream – producing phenomenal wines of power and finesse. Along the way, Jayson fell head-over-heels in love with Pinot Noir. “Every oenophile eventually gravitates to the wines of Burgundy,” he confesses. Read More>

Helen Turley discovered Wayfarer for sale in 1998, then an organic farm on the remote Sonoma Coast. When she brought Jayson to the secluded property, he instantly sensed it had all the essential elements to produce world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and claimed the land as his own.

Jayson recruited renowned vineyard developer David Abreu to plant Wayfarer, which he completed in 2002. For several years, Wayfarer Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were blended with fruit from Russian River vineyards and bottled under the Pahlmeyer moniker.

By 2012, the vineyard’s exceptional fruit presented an irrefutable case for an estate label. Jayson's daughter Cleo Pahlmeyer, who had been working by his side since 2008, made his vision for this remarkable vineyard a reality with the launch of the first Wayfarer wines in 2014. Jayson explains, “One of my proudest moments as a vintner and father was when my very talented daughter came to me and said, ‘When it comes to the future of Wayfarer, I am all in!’”