Robert Fiore joins the team as Winemaker.
We celebrate Sir Peter’s 80th birthday.
The winery sponsors the Peter Michael Winery Executive Classroom benefitting Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute.
Peter Michael Winery celebrates 35 years
Wine Spectator names 2012 Peter Michael Au Paradis as the number one wine in their Top 100 Wines of the Year.
Sir Peter receives the Wine Spectator Distinguished Service Award for his achievements in the wine industry.
Sir Peter presents five Peter Michael wines at the Wine Spectator’s venerable New York Wine Experience, including the debut vintage of Au Paradis Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.
Construction is completed on our second-year barrel cellar, Chai des Pavots.
First vintage of Au Paradis Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is produced.
“I was so pleased to bring a small part of our adopted home to Europe in this way, and to know that a curriculum inclusive of California wines is a part of the training for students who will go on to manage fine hotels and restaurants all over the world.” - Paul Michael
The winery funds an educational wine tasting room to Paul Michael’s alma mater, École hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland.
Noted wine critic, Robert Parker, and Sir Peter in 2014 in London. While "Bob" had visited the estate to taste our wines for years, he and Sir Peter never actually meet until then.
Peter Michael wines awarded its first of many 100-point scores by the Wine Advocate.
We purchase a property with 26 acres of planted Red Bordeaux varietals in the Oakville AVA in Napa Valley. Later named Au Paradis, the vineyard is in the heart of the appellation’s famed “red dirt.”
The first vintage of our estate-grown Pinot Noirs are produced: Ma Danseuse, Le Caprice and Clos du Ciel.
Twenty years of Mon Plaisir Chardonnay is celebrated with the release of the 2006 vintage.
Construction is completed for the Pinot Noir fermentation room and the Calvin Holmes hospitality suite.
We celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first vintage.
The first of many dinners with Thomas Keller as chef is held to benefit the Peter Michael Foundation. The close relationship between Chef Keller and the Foundation continues today.
With fruit from the Reuling Vineyard in the Russian River AVA, the first vintage of Le Caprice Pinot Noir is produced.
The first Pinot Noir vines are planted at our Seaview property. Three distinct blocks of vines are created to give different expressions of the terroir: Ma Danseuse, Le Caprice and Clos du Ciel.
“In 2001, I tasted Peter Michael wines with my brother Luc at the Hotel de Crillon in Paris. I never imagined Grand Cru level wines could be produced in California. Four years later, I packed my bags and headed to California. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.” – Nicolas Morlet
Luc Morlet passes the winemaking baton to his brother Nicolas Morlet. Luc continues as a consultant (and is still with us today). Pictured Luc, Javier, and Nicolas.
The Sir Peter and Lady Michael Foundation is redirected to exclusively support prostate cancer research. The culinary arts book Hands & Heart is published as the inaugural fundraising effort.
In a particularly proud moment for the Michael Family, the White House serves 1997 Les Pavots at a dinner honoring Queen Elizabeth.
The first vintage of Ma Belle-Fille Estate Chardonnay is produced.
The 1996 vintage of Les Pavots is selected for a New York Wine Experience seminar on great California Cabernets.
Luc Morlet becomes Winemaker. Mark Aubert remains as our consultant.
With fruit from the young vines in the Les Pavots vineyards, the first vintage of L’Esprit des Pavots Estate Cabernet Blend is produced.
Expansion of the historic schoolhouse is completed.
Herb Westfall becomes Estate Manager (and is still with us today).
Vanessa Wong becomes Winemaker. Mark Aubert remains as a consultant.
The first Chardonnay vines are planted in the Ma Belle-Fille Vineyard.
Yo-Yo Ma performs at PMW, the first of two special performances to benefit the Sir Peter and Lady Michael Foundation for the Arts.
The final vintage of Clos du Ciel Chardonnay is produced.
“If we were going to explore Pinot Noir more deeply, we ought to be making it from our own grapes, so we went and found property out there on the Sonoma coast.” - Paul Michael
The winery purchases the 400-acre Seaview Estate in the heart of what is now the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA.
The first vintage of La Carrière Estate Chardonnay is produced.
Made with grapes grown by the Pisoni family in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, the first vintage of Le Moulin Rouge is produced and a long relationship begins.
“I didn’t yet have a ring, but there was a large rock in the garden that Paul had engraved “Emily” as a symbol of my joining the family. It’s a lovely memento but to me it is also quite funny, because most people who walk through the gardens today think a dog is buried underneath.” - Emily Michael
Sir Peter and Lady Michael’s son Paul is engaged to Emily Holmes.
The first vintage of Belle Côte Estate Chardonnay is produced.
The Sir Peter and Lady Michael Foundation for the Arts is created.
The first Chardonnay vines are planted in La Carrière Vineyard.
The White House serves 1991 Peter Michael Chardonnay at a dinner honoring Nelson Mandela. It is the first of many White House dinners for which we are proud to have provided our wines.
The first vintage of Point Rouge Chardonnay is produced
Javier Aviña joins the winery as Vineyard Manager (and is still with us today).
The first vintage of L’Après-Midi Sauvignon Blanc is produced from fruit grown at Liparita Vineyard on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley.
The first vintage of Clos du Ciel Chardonnay is produced from fruit grown at Liparita Vineyard on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley.
After the unexpected and very exciting discovery that the upper parts of our Knights Valley property offered perfect terroir for Chardonnay, we plant our first vines in what would become the Belle Côte vineyard.
Mark Aubert becomes winemaker.
Paul meets Emily Holmes. He was so struck by her that the coincidence of her surname escaped him. (Calvin Holmes, pictured here and relationship unknown, was the original owner of the estate.)
Our winery buildings on the estate are completed in time for harvest.
Our location in Knights Valley becomes retroactively apt as Sir Peter Michael is knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his service to industry in the UK.
The first vintage of Les Pavots Estate Cabernet Blend is produced, a very small production that was distributed only in the UK.
The first vintage of Cuvée Indigène Chardonnay is produced.
Winery buildings are constructed: the school house, red and white wine fermentation buildings, and crush pad.
Framing the winery building.
“I remember the family discussing over dinner what to name the place and the wine. My father is a modest man though, so he decided it was to be the Peter Michael Winery.” –Paul Michael
Peter Michael winery is founded.
Helen Turley comes to the vineyard to make the winery’s very first wine: 1987 Mon Plaisir Chardonnay from fruit grown on the Gauer Ranch, a mountainside vineyard in the nearby Alexander Valley.
“As teenagers, my brother and I planted some of the first vines in the Les Pavots vineyard in 1983. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were starting a rite-of-passage tradition.” - Paul Michael
The Les Pavots Vineyard site, cleared and waiting for the first red Bordeaux vines.
David & Paul Michael pose with the Les Pavots vines they helped plant.
“People thought we were crazy. But in Europe, generally speaking, the cows were on the valley floor and the grapes were on the hills. So it seemed to be a pretty good idea to me.” - Sir Peter Michael
Sir Peter finds the 630-acre Sugarloaf Ranch on the western face of Mount St. Helena in the little-known Knights Valley. The property begins at the valley floor and climbs to 2000 feet in elevation.
Inspired by the 1976 “Judgment of Paris Tasting” Sir Peter starts his six-year property search that ultimately results in the purchase of our Knights Valley estate. Mural by Gary Myatt, displayed in the Michael Family’s Vineyard Hotel in Newbury Berkshire, UK.
“My father imagined making a wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon in the manner of the great wines of Bordeaux, but from California, under California sunshine and in California soil.” – Paul Michael