Bourassa Vineyards

The turning point for Vic Bourassa, owner and proprietor, really occurred over a lunch he had in with the godfather of California wine, Robert Mondavi. The chance to talk wine about the wine business with one of the most influential winery figures in the world was to be savored and appreciated. At some point during that memorable lunch Bourassa uncorked a bottle of his own homemade Napa Valley Pinot Noir and after a few evidently pleasurable sips Mondavi began to encourage the novice winemaker to enter the winemaking field as a professional, not just as an amateur. It was at that very moment that Bourassa Vineyards was born, though it was not official, until two years later when Vic and Kathy Bourassa opened for business. The first wine produced under the new ‘official’ Bourassa Vineyards label was a traditional Bordeaux blend called Harmony3. It received tremendous attention from both consumers and the media. All of the 400 cases produced sold out very quickly, and Bourassa Vineyards was on its way. A Napa Valley Zinfandel followed the Harmony3 bottling, and on it went, without pause. The wines – no matter what the varietal – are painstakingly hand-crafted in small lots. The winery carefully creates rich, complex blends using grapes from premiere, self-maintained Napa Valley vineyards. Vic and Kathy Bourassa believe their responsibility as vintners and winery owners is two-fold. The first is to educate, the second is to entertain and promote. Want to know about what toast means when it comes to oak barrels? Vic shows you a cross section of a barrel, each stave toasted to different degrees. Curious about the importance of cork? He brings out a section of cork tree and begins to talk about the importance and harvesting practices of cork. And so it goes, the educational experience and the tasting experience seamlessly and enjoyably commingled.