Run a Marathon or Start a Winery?Some people travel to Europe or prepare for a marathon when they turn 40. John and Peggy Bigelow started a winery.
In 1997, John began studying winemaking. He took courses at UC Davis and read every technical manual he could find. By the fall of 1998, the Bigelows had converted the basement of their Seattle home into a winery where they fermented and aged 100 cases of wine for their own enjoyment. Building on the lessons learned over the previous vintage, JM Cellars officially debuted with 350 cases of 1999 Tre Fanciulli.
With the goal of slowly increasing production to 2,000 cases, John moved to Walla Walla for the 2000 harvest and the opportunity to work in the vineyards and along side such acclaimed winemakers as Charlie Hoppes and Mike Januik. That experience gave the Bigelows the confidence they needed to make their next move, a winery of their own on a beautiful Woodinville hillside known as “Bramble Bump,” and the rest, as they say, is “history.”
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