Vallejo Cellars promotes local nonprofits through good wine

VALLEJO — When you talk to Kevin Jones, the owner of Vallejo Cellars, two things become immediately clear: he’s passionate about winemaking and he loves Vallejo. That’s why he has chosen to use the labels of seven of the 15 wines he produces to promote Vallejo nonprofit organizations, and he donates 20% of the sales proceeds to them.

Jones currently tends vines, buys grapes and rents production spaces in wineries located in Sonoma, Petaluma and other locations. This year he also took on caring for the small Lighthouse Vineyard located in Glen Cove Marina, which is owned by a friend. He hopes to eventually plant more vineyards in the surrounding steep slopes, with permission from the neighbors who own them. Well-tended vineyards beautify the space, and he would be buying the grapes he produces, so everyone wins.

Jones’ support for Vallejo’s nonprofits and worthy businesses runs deep. Vallejo Art Walk, the Humane Society of the North Bay, Stand! For Families Free of Violence,  the Solano Resource Conservation District, the Butterfly Festival and the Roller Derby all have their own wines. The name or purpose of the organization is on the front label, while the back label explains what they are about and why they are worth supporting. The labels are designed by local artists.

“Even if I can't give them a million dollars a month or go to every single parade, what I can do is raise awareness,” Jones said. “Anywhere that wine gets poured or sold, that means we're supporting that cause.” 

Aside from these organizations, Jones keeps a running list of other nonprofits or companies to which he donates bottles of wine to sell at their events or money, including the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, Loma Vista Farm, the Vallejo Seaweed baseball team and Mare Island Art Studios among others.

Jones started studying and making wine in 2009, while he lived in Arizona. “I was fascinated with fermentation, so I was making yogurts, beer, wine, cider,” he explained. He experimented with around 50 different batches of fruit wines to get his fermentation techniques down. 

He soon discovered that there was a reason grapes were the best fruits for wine. “Other fruits have seeds, stems, all these different things you're trying to work around,” he said. “So you learn. That’s what fermentation tells you.”

He also read countless books about winemaking and visited Arizona wineries, asking questions and requesting to work the harvest. 

“They were like, ‘Kevin, we would love to bring you on, but we're so small. You need to go to California, where they have an abundance of grapes and opportunities. In Napa they'll pay you for an internship.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, that's so cool. I'll go there, and I’ll get paid to learn.’”

In 2011, Jones moved to California to continue his winemaking journey. He fell in love with Vallejo for its diverse and artistic community and its historical links to the industry. “Vallejo has a lot of history tied already to wine, based on General Vallejo, who developed vines that went on to benefit Napa County,” he said. 

He found work in Napa and Sonoma wineries, from tending the vineyards to packaging and wine tasting rooms. In the evenings, he took classes at Napa College about wine from different countries, and how to become a sommelier. The sommelier project got derailed once he got his license to become a wine producer, because once you produce wine, you’re not allowed to work in a restaurant.

“The good thing is, I learned a lot about different climates, different varieties and different wines. And I built awareness for different tastes and different scents,” Jones explained. “People say, ‘How can you taste and smell so much in a wine?’ You build that palate. I wasn’t born this way.”

In 2017, he launched Vallejo Cellars. It takes two years to go from grapes to wine, so before his first wine came out — a red blend Portuguese wine — he decided to make a vermouth, which he could produce off other wines at home.

“People would say, ‘I don't know why you're doing this, kid, vermouth is disgusting.’ And I’d say, ‘Maybe, but try mine.’ And they were, ‘No way, this thing is so good!” Jones said. He sold out that whole batch of vermouth and has made two more batches since.

Today Jones works full time during the day for a packaging company and continues to produce wines on his time off, often starting as early as 3 a.m., especially during harvest time, because grapes are at their peak in the morning. And he keeps taking classes, reading, researching grape varieties and asking questions in every winery he visits.

“I’ve worked for many people in the wine industry that act like they know it all and have nothing to learn,” Jones said. “It’s such a shame because the lack of knowledge will always reveal itself in time.” By contrast, Jones knows he doesn’t know it all. “I know enough to make this all work, but I don’t know enough to keep growing, so I need to keep learning.”

Jones’ vision is to have his own warehouse in Mare Island, where he would ferment, produce, and store his wines, and a wine tasting location in downtown Vallejo. He’s been looking for suitable buildings in Mare Island but many have significant structural issues and owners who don’t want to invest in the repairs.

“What's the responsibility of the landlord? What's the responsibility of a tenant? That's the hang up here,” Jones said. “And then, who is the owner? Do they live here? Or how do you get a hold of them?” 

Some people scoff at his idea of opening a winery in Vallejo. They think the city doesn’t have a wine culture or that a business based on alcohol is not a good thing. Jones disagrees. 

“There's a massive wine culture here. Every time we do the art walk, I hear from people all day long. They're like, ‘I can't wait for you to open,’” he said. Jones also pointed out that his business would employ people, and it would bring more vitality to a city that badly needs it.

“I look forward to seeing Vallejo transform from a town of vacant buildings with dead end landlords and roadblocks by city managers and staff that don’t even live or eat or embrace anything here, to a vibrant community that embraces its diverse cultures,” Jones said. “This is not Napa, this is Vallejo!”

Vallejo Cellars sells its wines online and during events in Vallejo. In the meantime, Jones keeps working towards his dream of opening his winery and wine tasting locale in the city. “From here to New York, that's the goal, because we sell wine everywhere, and we're not stopping,” Jones said. “This is my retirement.”