The Beginning
Szabo Vineyards founder Sándor (aka Alex) was raised in Northern California. His Hungarian heritage and decades working abroad gave him an appreciation for European wine-making traditions. Pilgrimages to renowned wineries especially in France and Hungary established his life's goal to build a family-run winery and inspired his future style.
Driven by this desire, Sándor scoured the West Coast — from Washington state to Santa Barbara — searching for land that would allow him to produce full-bodied old-world wines. In Nevada City, a historic Gold Rush town, he found the acidic, decomposed granitic soil he was looking for.
I'm a purist. I believe that great wines are made from great fruit.
– Sándor Szabo, Owner & Winemaker
The Szabo Family
Sándor pursued a degree in Viticulture from UC Davis in order to develop the land responsibly. Today, wine-making continues to be a family affair. His wife, daughters and their children, frequently help — in winter and spring to trim the vines, in summer to harvest, crush and ferment, and year-round to maintain the property and work in the tasting room. Fall is the main event, where cousins, friends and neighbors come together for several days to bottle the wine and enjoy great food.
Hungarian Roots
The Szabo family hails from the town of Egér, in northern Hungary, where there have been vineyards since Roman times. It is in here that they produce the famous Egri Bikaver, "Bulls Blood" wine. The name originates from the Turkish invasion of 1522 — the soldiers of Egér were so successful in repelling the Turks that they were rumored to have mixed bull's blood into their red wine for courage and strength. A genetic predisposition for full-throttled, robust wines led Sándor to develop a bold California wine, with a European influence.