“To live well, to laugh often, to love much, to never lack appreciation of the earth’s beauty or fail to express it and to look for the best in others and give them the best we have - this is our definition of success."
---borrowed from a poem by Bessie Anderson Stanley

Live – Laugh – Love

JM Cellars is our family’s labor of love. We strive to craft exceptional wine that honors the land, delights those who share it and celebrates the people who work it with us. We take our winemaking seriously, but we vow never to become so resolute that we forget why we came to Bramble Bump in the first place: to live well, laugh often and love much.

It is this underlying attitude that brought us to where we are today, though admittedly we didn’t know where it would lead when we crushed our first grapes in the basement of our Seattle home in 1998. At the time, we were focused on work and raising a family, but we couldn’t shake a nagging voice telling us there was something “more.” From our first vintage, we knew we had found our calling. Winemaking not only gave us that extra sense of purpose but also taught us that hard work could be fun. It satisfied our desire to grow and create something tangible and afforded us the opportunity to share our work not only with immediate family but also with the wide circle of friends the winery has brought us.

Always mindful of our desire to keep this endeavor from becoming more important than our desire for community and laughter, we have grown slowly. In 2000, we found an old house on Bramble Bump in Woodinville that felt like it had the makings of a home for JM Cellars. We began renovating the property, first refurbishing the basement for small lot, high quality winemaking; next tending the property’s beautiful landscape; and finally setting out to create a warm, welcoming tasting room where our employees would feel like family and our guests would feel welcome.

Along the way, we have been fortunate to earn critical acclaim for our wines, thanks in large measure to our partnership with some of the Columbia Valley’s best growers. But there was that nagging voice again. We knew our vision for JM Cellars would not be complete without our own estate vineyard. And then the phone rang.

In 2006, Gary Figgins from Leonetti Cellars called to ask if we would be interested in purchasing a spot of land in the Walla Walla Valley that he and a group of distinguished Walla Walla vintners were developing. Taking only the amount of time required to find our car keys, we traveled across the state to Walla Walla. From the moment we arrived on the property rising 1,300 feet above the Walla Walla valley with the Blue Mountains to the east and a gorgeous sunset to the west, we knew this was the place to silence that voice.

With a vineyard within reach, it was time to consider a partner, and in 2006 Jackie and Mike Bezos found us. They have provided a sense of trust, vision and focus that is a key part of what JM Cellars is today. Together, we began planting Margaret’s Vineyard in 2007; and going forward, grapes from this spectacular property will play an increasingly important role in the wines we style for balance, power, dimension, finesse and most of all, enjoyment.

To those who have been part of this amazing journey, thank you. To those who are just joining us, welcome to the family.

John and Peggy Bigelow