My name is Jacob S. Stephens III, but everyone calls me Jake. I represent the third generation in our family to embrace the life of a farmer, following in the footsteps of my grandfather Jacob, and my father Jake II.In early 1990, an old family friend suggested that we look into the California vineyard business, specifically high-end wine grapes. Thinking this would be an exciting departure, we began looking for properties north of Stockton, California. After considerable time and investigation we settled on our first property, just south of Sacramento near the then small town of Elk Grove. Through hard work and good fortune, these vineyards proved to be of excellent character, with our grapes being purchased by a number of well known wineries in the Sonoma Valley.

In 1998, one of our neighbors came to us with a proposal to buy the ranch, an offer we couldn’t refuse. Having developed a passion for the business, we applied what we’d learned about the business and went looking for a great undiscovered site, finding it at last in the mountains of the North Coast. Lake County, to be exact, where we planted our vineyards and began producing Two Jakes of Diamonds.

In as much as we would love to be considered noble men, the truth is, idealistic farmers have difficulty surviving. Farmers play the hand they are dealt, exploit their advantages and try to minimize their risks. Economics compel us to focus on efficient productivity.

However, in the stern, rocky soils at our high altitude site near Clearlake, high yields are not an option. Therefore our mantra can be summed up in one word ~ quality. We grow top quality grapes because we have to. Distinctive wines reflect perfectly the environment in which they are grown, because grapes are delicate vessels which drink in the vineyard site’s attributes and carry the stamp of that place. Our ace in the hole is that our site allows us to grow fruit of comparable and sometimes superior attributes compared to our downhill neighbor Napa County, at a fraction of the cost of land, the principle driver of grape price.

Our unique combination of sought-after characteristics and reasonable prices results in tremendous value which is the key to our success. Our winery customers have come to rely on us to provide intense fruit aromas, color, minerality and tremendous palate energy, and these qualities have become our stock and trade.