He founded Cakebread Cellars with his wife Dolores while working as a partner in an auto repair shop and moonlighting as a photographer. Today Cakebread Cellars is considered one of Napa Valley’s great, classic estates, renowned for its Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines.
Cakebread was no ordinary photographer: he had studied with Ansel Adams. His landscape photography had been displayed in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His photography skills led to him photographing winemakers, including Robert Mondavi and Joe Heitz, for Nathan Chroman’s book, “A Treasury of Modern Wine.”
He became enchanted with wine, and one day after a shoot at Beringer and Christian Brothers wineries, he stopped to visit his mother’s best friend from grade school who owned Sturdivant Ranch. He mentioned in passing that if the property was ever for sale, he’d be interested. Two hours later he got the call, agreed to a $2,500 down payment and a payment plan.
The rest is history. The first vintage was released in 1973, and after a slow start accelerated when Bruce Cakebread after graduating from UC Davis with a degree in viticulture and enology, became winemaker and Jack Cakebread graduated from UC Berkeley and the executive program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. In 1987, the family launched the American Harvest Workshop featuring prominent chefs and food purveyors. It was one of the first wine and food experiences.