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Before vineyard

Safari Creek Vineyard and Winery


SafariCreek .... What is in a name? Why "SafariCreek"? ...... Well we like to go on African Safaris and we live in Walnut CREEK; the perfect name for our Chardonnay vineyard.

Before vineyard Squirt

The site of Safari Creek vineyard has been a normal backyard since 1986 when we bought the property. But in 2014 we decided to turn an eye sore into a vineyard. The image at the right is how our vineyard looked for 28 years. It has been home to Squirt our 80+ pound tortoise for many years. The image shows his two igloo homes and a dry field with no food for a tortoise. Well that was before the vineyard and the establishment of Safari Creek Winery!!!!




Vineyard Feb 2014

So we contracted with Diablo Vineyards to transform this dry field into a 120 vine, Chardonnay vineyard.

They informed me that deer like vineyards too so needed to install a deer fence. Additionally the short Squirt fence shown in the before image needed to be upgraded. By February the vineyard was in and planted as this image shows.

Vineyard August 24, 2014 By the end of year #1 the vineyard looked like the image to the far right. Not grape producing but a good first year and the weeds at the base of every vine are very much appreciated by Squirt, and way better looking then what we started with.


Safari Creek Vintages


  1. 2014 Chardonnay - Sunrise Vintage
  2. 2015 Chardonnay - 2015 Vintage
  3. 2016 The Barrel/Wine Room and Vineyard *AWARD*
  4. 2017 The Barrel Year and Vineyard *AWARD*
  5. 2018 The Chiller Year and Vineyard *AWARD*
  6. 2019 Champagne and Vineyard
  7. 2020 Vineyard, Winemaking during the Corona Virus pandemic
  8. 2021 Vineyard, Winemaking STILL during the Corona Virus pandemic
  9. 2022 Vineyard, Bottling and new Press