The Joy Fantastic

Peter has been making wine in Lompoc since 2001, learning the craft while working at Stolpman Vineyards as assistant winemaker and co-founder of Piedrasassi until 2008. Since then he has devoted all of his efforts to developing the Holus Bolus and The Joy Fantastic wines.

Amy met Peter in 2004 in Lompoc and the following year they began making wine together under the company name of Black Sheep Finds (which persists today on their back label!). In 2013 Amy achieved the title of Master of Wine, becoming one of only thirteen women in the United States to achieve this remarkable goal. She also works for Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, selling their wines in southern California.

From 2003 through 2015 they made their wines exclusively from a collection of vineyards sites in Santa Barbara County in which they had year-to-year contracts to purchase grapes. While this is a sound strategy for making high quality wines it was, for them,  a means to an end.

Their dream was to develop and own a vineyard site, a place to grow their own vines and build a wine from the ground up. They searched to find a place where they could practice sensible organic viticulture with respect for the land and create a set of distinct and meaningful wines. In 2014 they made the first steps  by leasing a five acre piece of land at the western edge of Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. What was formerly a hillside cow pasture has now been developed and planted to a certified organic vineyard (CCOF) of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah vines. The first harvest from The Joy Fantastic Vineyard was in 2016.