Our Story

A family-owned, family operated Petaluma winery
Barber Cellars is a family winery dedicated to hand crafted, high quality wines made from their small, organically farmed vineyards. Lorraine Barber started making wine with her husband Michael in San Francisco in 2005. His background was in wine retail, hers was in construction, and both were still working their day jobs when they formed Barber Cellars in 2007 with the intent to start a wine brand.

There is a saying in this industry that goes: “In the wine business, you start with a large fortune to make a small fortune.” The Barbers started with no fortune at all, just a desire to hand craft unique, memorable, and honest California wines. Their first wines were from Dry Creek Valley fruit, crushed and fermented at a co-op winery in Suisun City close to San Francisco, which they hand sold on their lunch breaks while working their day jobs in the city. Fast forward many years of hard work, sweat, and toil. Now they farm 9 acres of smaller, remote vineyards around the Sonoma County town of Petaluma, making wine in their own winery and pouring wine in their downtown Petaluma tasting room.