Karmere Vineyards & Winery
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KARMERE VINEYARD AND WINERY OF SHENANDOAH VALLEY is a result of five generations of farming and a love of the land and rural life. Marilyn K Hoopes, co-founder of Karmere, grew up in Teton Valley, Idaho on a potato farm on the Teton river in full view of the Grand Tetons. In l978, at age twenty-seven, she moved to Amador County and fell in love with the bucolic Shenandoah Valley. She also fell in love with Todd Pickens [far left in picture below] who had recently moved from the Bay area and prior from L.A. to Amador County to become a "back to the lander." They made their home in Jackson, California and in l990 bought their first piece of property in Shenandoah Valley: a seventeen acre parcel adjacent to Terre Rouge. This is their home place. In l995, they completed an IRS 1031 real property trade and obtained the eighty-nine acre Jameson Ranch where the winery and tasting facility now exists. The name "Karmere" (car-mare) is in honor of Marilyn's mother Karma Hoopes: "mere" is the French word for mother. Since the land exchanged came from Marilyn's parent's estate and the existing farm in Idaho bears her father's name, Marilyn decided to honor her mother's hard work and vision and thus the name was created. Marilyn, an attorney, and Todd, an optometrist, are the parents of three grown children, Josh, Jared, and Hayley. All of the children are involved in the winery or vineyards. Todd continues to practice optometry and Marilyn works as a part-time Administrative Law Judge devoting the majority of her time to the winery and vineyards. The first Zinfandel vines were planted in l994 and plantings of zin, syrah, barbera and nebbiolo have continued with sixty-four acres of the hundred and seven already planted. Karmere plans on a grafting a small portion of their 35 acres of Zinfandel to other varities such as Roussanne, Vigonier and Petite Syrah.
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