Back when Evelyn and Victor Reyes-Umana bought a winery in Calaveras County, there was not much focus in the U.S. wine business on growing and using Spanish grape varietals. It was a risk in many ways to give the winery a Hispanic name and to decide to produce wines that reflected the deep, rich flavors of wines generally produced in Chile, Argentina and Spain.
Each vintage of Carmesi wine continues to honor brave women who, as Evelyn says, “inspire and make an impression on all of us.”
Today, this is a successful woman-owned business and Bodega del Sur wines have secured their place in the California wine scene. These good wines with a Latin flair are produced in its own winery, located on the site of a former gold mining camp near San Andreas in the Sierra Foothills.
Victor and Evelyn shared a dream of owning a winery and Evelyn put her heart and soul into making the dream come true. Natives of El Salvador, they moved to California with college degrees that served them well in Silicon Valley – Victor as an electrical engineer and Evelyn as a dedicated teacher of Spanish and special education at a school in San Mateo. After some years, they found a vacation home in Arnold, close to the wine region of Calaveras County.
When Evelyn and Victor visited friends in Chile in 1993, their intent to own a winery solidified. In Chile, they had an opportunity to go to many small, family owned wineries. Pursuing more knowledge about wine, they took trips in 2004 and 2005 to Spain and France. With their travel focused on wine, they visited a number of important wine regions and made it a point to talk to winemakers. Producing fine wines someday became their goal.
In 2007, the opportunity arose to buy five acres in Mountain Ranch in Calaveras County. The property was perfectly sized, with a small winery already in place. They were thrilled, as they knew by then that this region of the Sierra Foothills was similar to grape-growing regions of Chile, Argentina and the Southern Mediterranean.
Vacation and weekend travel around the area near their second home in Arnold had led them to enjoy the wines produced by consulting winemaker Chuck Hovey. With the deed to the property in Mountain Ranch in hand, Evelyn and Victor gave Chuck a call. Would he be part of Bodega del Sur’s start-up team? Together they selected Albariño, Tempranillo, Malbec and Tannat grapes from nearby growers, along with more familiar varietals such as Sangiovese, Merlot, Marsanne, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. They decided to produce 10 premium quality wines as part of their normal offerings – and one special one. That’s a program that today’s winemaker, Gary Grant, has continued. Gary has a keen understanding of the quantity and production challenges faced by small wineries.
Most of the effort of this family venture fell to Evelyn as Victor continued his Silicon Valley career. “For the first few years, the work of opening a tasting room, designing labels, managing a legally regulated inventory and building the brand was hard,” said Evelyn. “But I saw an opportunity to do good things for the community as part of this business, and that’s when I created the Carmesi wine.” It’s a blend that Bodega del Sur only produces when they can set aside separate lots of special grapes that meld together to make something unique that is rich in taste and deep in color.
Carmesi is a Spanish word that means “crimson, bright red, somewhat darkened with blue; purple.” It’s a word Evelyn had heard in music and read in poetry as a young girl in El Salvador. And it’s the word she chose to use for Bodega del Sur’s red blend that honored the memories of two important women in her life who persevered and built strong families against difficult odds – her mother, Maria Trinidad Aguilar de Alas, and her mother-in-law, Maria Alicia Umana.
Each vintage of Carmesi wine continues to honor brave women who, as Evelyn says, “inspire and make an impression on all of us.” The image of the woman on the label changes with each vintage and Bodega del Sur fans look forward to the story of that woman. For each bottle sold, the winery makes a contribution to The Resource Connection of Calaveras County, which provides services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Bodega del Sur has moved beyond the dream stage and is a solid member of the Calaveras wine scene. The tasting room is open by appointment only. | (209) 728-9030, bodegadelsur.com
