Behind the Bottle: A Tour of Great Bear Vineyards
What better way to learn about local wine than to step behind the scenes? Last Wednesday, we took some of our Members on a tour of Great Bear Vineyards, right here in Davis, for an inside look at how their wines are made and the care, patience, and craftsmanship that goes into every bottle.
More than a winery, Great Bear is a working farm built around sustainability, biodiversity, and a thoughtful relationship with the land. During our visit, we learned about the animals that call the property home, the organic farming practices used throughout the vineyard, and the many steps that happen long before a bottle reaches our shelves.
Look for Great Bear wines on the local wine end cap and Great Bear olive oil in Aisle 4. The Co-op exists to support small farms and artisans like Great Bear, and with your support, we can continue growing our local food system!
A big thank you to Marcus, Jenny, and Cara for guiding our Members around the beautiful vineyard, sharing the story behind Great Bear, and leading us through a tasting of their award-winning wines and olive oil.
A History of Great Bear
We began in front of Great Bear’s beautiful Spanish-style winery building, where Marcus shared the story of how the vineyard came to be. After retiring from a career in agriculture, Marcus and his wife, Jenny, decided to purchase the property and plant a vineyard. Since Jenny had studied winemaking and viticulture at UC Davis, the new venture was a natural fit. Their connection to the university also gave UC Davis students an opportunity to help design the vineyard as a case study, creating a special connection between Great Bear and our local university community.
Their original plan was small: they intended to make just two or three barrels of wine for family and friends. That idea eventually grew into something much bigger, and Great Bear opened as a commercial winery in 2018, the same year Jenny officially became a winemaker.
The property itself has a long agricultural history. The original homestead was built in 1860 by German settlers and has since been converted into an Airbnb, while still featuring the original wood-burning stove and two rooms from the historic home. The land was originally used for dryland farming, where wheat and barley were grown using natural rainfall, before becoming a horse-breeding operation.
After Marcus and Jenny purchased the property, they began transforming it into the vineyard, olive grove, lavender field, and fruit-growing operation it is today.
Growing in Harmony with Nature
Marcus then took us through the vineyard and explained what it means to grow in harmony with nature. The property spans 20 acres, including 9.5 acres of grapevines and approximately two acres of olive trees.
Great Bear has been farming organically for 12 years, and its grapes are CCOF certified organic. The team doesn’t use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and strives to go beyond organic practices to support the ecology of the farm while farming efficiently.
One example is deficit irrigation, which encourages the vines to develop deeper roots and contributes to the flavor profile of the grapes. They also maintain a permanent cover crop that helps keep the ground cooler while creating habitat for beneficial insects and wildlife, including jackrabbits, cottontails, squirrels, lizards, and snakes.
Rather than viewing wildlife as a problem, Great Bear embraces the ecosystem around the vineyard. Owls and hawks help naturally manage pests, while native California wildflowers support the local environment. Great Bear is also a member of Slow Wine, an organization that recognizes wineries that respect their local terroir and practice sustainable methods that benefit the environment.
Even the design of the vineyard is intentional. Through pruning, the team limits the number of grapes produced on each vine, allowing the plant to concentrate its energy on higher-quality fruit. The single shoots also improve airflow and keep the grapes at a consistent height, making them easier to harvest.
Great Bear originally planted Cabernet Sauvignon rootstock and later used grafting to introduce additional grape varieties. By cutting the tops of established vines and grafting new buds onto them, they were able to add different grape varieties without digging up and replanting the entire vineyard. Today, the vineyard produces four white and eight red grape varieties.
Harvesting the Grapes
As we continued through the vineyard, Marcus explained how Great Bear achieves different flavor profiles through grape variety, vineyard location, and, most importantly, harvest timing.
Great Bear produces approximately 2,000 cases of wine each year. While many of its wines are California-style and fruit-forward, the winery also produces European-style wines with lighter flavor profiles. Rather than relying heavily on additives, the team focuses on harvesting grapes at the right time and carefully managing the winemaking process to naturally develop the flavors and mouthfeel they want.
Wine grapes are different from table grapes: they’re smaller, have thicker skins, and contain seeds. Those thicker skins are especially important because much of a wine’s color and flavor comes from them. Sugar content is another important factor because the sugar in grapes ultimately converts to alcohol during fermentation. For example, Great Bear’s Cabernet Sauvignon is picked at approximately 25% sugar content, which translates to around 14% alcohol in the finished wine. The team also looks at the color of the seeds and tastes the grape skins to determine when the fruit has reached the desired level of ripeness.
Harvest timing can dramatically change the flavor of a wine. Cabernet Sauvignon picked around the middle of the harvest can have flavors of strawberries, raspberries, and red cherries alongside darker notes of blackberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, and chocolate. If the grapes are picked later, the wine can become much more dominated by dark fruit and jammy flavors.
That’s why Great Bear doesn’t simply harvest all of its grapes at once. The team can taste the grapes as they develop and decide when to pick them based on the flavor profile they want to create.
White grapes are generally harvested earlier, when they have higher acidity, lower sugar, and lighter flavors. Great Bear’s Chardonnay is an exception. They allow it to ripen later because it develops richer Meyer lemon, orange, and peach flavors.
The vineyard is also intentionally designed to keep the grapes shaded. Direct sunlight can cause grapes to raisin and concentrate their sugars, changing their flavor. Rather than letting those grapes go to waste, Great Bear uses some of its raisined grapes to make a port-style wine with concentrated preserved blackberry jam flavors. They also produce a white port-style wine using Chardonnay grapes harvested later in the season when their sugars have become more concentrated.
More Than Just Grapes
Grapes aren’t the only crop grown at Great Bear. The property is home to approximately 600 olive trees, which were originally planted to help block the wind. Today, they provide both habitat and olives for Great Bear’s olive oil.
The property also has organically grown peach and other stone fruit trees. All of it is donated to the Yolo Food Bank, helping ensure that the harvest benefits the wider community.
The olive oil is also made from organically grown olives. Great Bear picks its olives while they’re still approximately 75% green, creating a fresh, green flavor reminiscent of tomato leaves followed by a slight peppery kick. Because green olives don’t fall from the tree easily, they must be handpicked or harvested with a rake.
Waiting until olives turn black makes harvesting easier and produces more oil, but Great Bear prefers the distinctive flavor of greener olives. The harvested olives are taken off-site for processing, and currently the olives from the property’s California and Tuscan trees are combined into one oil.
The property also features a lavender field that blooms from late May through early July. Great Bear sells fresh lavender and produces lavender oil, with proceeds from fresh lavender sales going to charity.
What Happens Inside the Barrel?
Once we entered the winery, Marcus gave us a closer look at what happens after the grapes are harvested.
One of the biggest differences between Great Bear’s red and white wines is how they’re aged. Their red wines spend two years in oak barrels, which helps soften the wine and create the smooth, elegant mouthfeel we experienced during the tasting. Their white wines are aged in stainless steel, helping preserve their bright, crisp, and fresh characteristics.
Marcus gave us a fascinating explanation of what happens to red wine during those two years. After the first fermentation, yeast converts the grapes’ sugars into alcohol, but the young wine can still taste stringent and drying. During barrel aging, a second fermentation occurs in which bacteria convert malic acid, which has a sharper flavor, into lactic acid, a softer acid also found in milk. This process helps create a smoother mouthfeel.
The tannins also change during barrel aging. Over two years, longer tannins break down into shorter tannins, transforming the wine from stringent and drying to silky and smooth.
Once barrel aging is complete, Great Bear allows its red wines to rest in the bottle for at least another six months. Marcus explained that wine can become temporarily “discombobulated” when it’s bottled, so this additional time allows it to settle and return to its intended state.
Not every wine is made to age for the same amount of time. Some are intended to be enjoyed young, while others are crafted to develop over 10 to 15 years. White wines generally have a shorter lifespan, with Marcus recommending enjoying them within about seven years.
We also learned how different winemaking techniques create different styles. Rosé is made from red grapes that spend a short amount of time on their skins, creating its characteristic blush color. Orange wine is made from white grapes fermented with their skins, extracting additional color and tannins. Natural wines are unfiltered, allowing some natural sediment to remain and giving them a cloudy appearance.
Great Bear’s natural wines are made under its Black Bicycle Farm label, giving the team an opportunity to experiment with techniques and styles beyond its traditional wines.
Time for a Tasting
After exploring the vineyard and winery, we finally got to taste the results. Marcus led us through several wines, showing us how harvest timing, grape variety, aging, and winemaking techniques can create dramatically different flavors.
We started with the 2023 French-style Chardonnay, aged in neutral oak barrels that had been used at least four times. The barrels contributed softness and texture without imparting a strong oak flavor. As the wine warmed slightly, its Meyer lemon flavors began to evolve toward orange and peach. You can find this wine in our Beer & Wine Department.
Next was the Provence-style Rosé, which has won Best Boutique Wine at the California State Fair for the past two years. Its pale color comes from limited grape skin contact, creating a lighter, citrus-forward wine.
Their 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel blend, which can also be found at the Co-op, demonstrates just how much harvest timing can affect flavor. Made with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Zinfandel, the wine combines red and dark fruit from the Cabernet with the darker, jamminess of later-harvested Zinfandel.
We also tasted the Tempranillo, made in the style of wines from Rioja in central-northern Spain, which is also available at the Co-op. Next, we moved on to Great Bear’s natural wines, which are sold under the Black Bicycle Farm label. Squiggle 2023 is an orange wine made from white grapes fermented with their skins, while their Carbo Cab uses carbonic maceration, a traditional technique in which whole grapes ferment in a carbon dioxide-rich environment. The result is a distinctive, intentionally funky wine with an acquired taste and natural sediment.
Ending with the Carbo Cab was a fitting reminder that Great Bear isn’t afraid to experiment. The tasting took us from French and Spanish inspired wines to natural wines and traditional techniques, demonstrating just how much variety can come from the same piece of land.
Of course, we couldn’t leave without tasting the olive oil, too! Its fresh, green, and peppery flavor profile make it perfect for dipping, salads, pasta, and more. Find it on Aisle 4 of the Co-op!
More Than a Winery
Our visit to Great Bear Vineyards was more than an opportunity to taste local wine. It was a chance to learn about the land, the people, and the thoughtful practices behind the products they produce.
Great Bear continues to maintain a close relationship with the UC Davis community, including hosting the UC Davis viticulture group for an annual wine tasting and welcoming students to work at the vineyard. They also host community dinners and enjoy bringing people together to share food, wine, and their passions.
We’re grateful to everyone at Great Bear Vineyards for welcoming our Members and sharing their knowledge with us. We hope this tour gave our Members a deeper appreciation for the local producers in our community and a new perspective on everything that goes into the bottle before it reaches the Co-op.
