Concannon Vineyards & Winery – A Grand Vision for Growth by Tom Lemmons
Photo of Concannon Vineyard
On a recent visit to northern California, I was asked to visit Concannon Vineyards & Winery for several reasons. One of the reasons is that they recently acquired Cuda Ridge Wines and the other is that Harrison Miller, their DTC Marketing & eCommerce Manager, had requested that I stop by on my next visit.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The meeting was set up with Tom Lemmons, the CEO of Concannon Vineyards & Winery, Larry Dino, the winemaker of Cuda Ridge Wines, Kevin Baskin, VP of Lemmon Family Vineyards & Concannon Vineyard and Harrison Miller. After a brief introduction to Tom & Kevin, we embarked on a golf cart tour of the facility. Tom took over the facility in from The Wine Group.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The Wine Group previously expanded and used Concannon site to do many things beyond Concannon production. For example, The Wine Group was bottling around 34,000 cases per day on two of their fully automated bottling lines. This allowed them to bottle 25 million cases a year. These lines are still “in place” but have been decommissioned for they are far beyond the current Concannon and Cuda Ridge production levels.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Currently they are expecting around 30,000+ cases to be produced in 2026. This includes a wide range of wines. The current varietals being produced are Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Sémillon, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir, Grüner Veltliner, Albariño, Viognier, Zinfandel, Syrah Mourvèdre and Grenache Noir. There are so many additional creative blends, far too many to list, and would direct you to their website. Today the total acres under vine is 136 and the potential is around 232 total acres.
Along the drive around the property, various stops were made to where they have cleared the land for a new Olive Grove Lawn area opening in Spring of 2027. This will be a large area for wedding ceremonies and private parties. Adjacent and already built are office spaces for winemaking staff, lab area and a few private rooms that could accommodate weddings or small corporate events.
Tom’s vision is at times breathtaking as he has a myriad of ideas and wants them all implemented as soon as possible. He is a visionary not just for Concannon but for Livermore in general. His goals include specialty stores, a boutique hotel and even perhaps another wine brand on the property. With additional space Harrison mentioned ideas like aroma therapy and mindful movement yoga. Tom wants Concannon to be a focal point for the Livermore Wine community as well as growing their wine business. They have already implemented on site a Pedego Electric bike rental which one can easily meander via bike paths to other wineries and downtown restaurants.
Photo by Concannon Vineyard
One of the more interesting projects is the inside remodeling of the Victorian House founded by James Concannon in 1883 and is a California Historical Landmark #641. Leaving the exterior in its pristine condition, Tom has embarked on hiring wood working craftsmen to upgrade the interior. What I saw will leave you speechless with the intricate woodworking designs. Kevin and Tom have a few other “special ideas” they are also implementing but will let them divulge when appropriate.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
To increase production, the team is in discussions with regional and national wholesale distribution to broaden their status beyond a 100% DTC winery.
Back to the tour seeing their interior barrel room which is beautifully decorated in wood and can be rented for various events.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The amount of land both under vine and acres just recently replanted is astonishing as viewed in this picture.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
One of the more interesting rooms was viewing their state-of-the-art laboratory. Winemaker Brett Fikse has at his disposal just about all the tools needed for in-house information on the development of each batch of grapes and wine. This includes almost everything that is needed to be measured without any wet chemistry or manual titrating. Here is just some of the equipment:
- GC gas chromatography machine
- A spectrophotometer for wine color determination and measuring phenolic compounds
- An automatic alkalizer and density meter
- A Chemwell automated lab analyzer to run enzymatic tests for residual sugars, volatile acidity, malic acid, etc
- An Oenofoss for rapid analysis using infrared spectroscopy
- A turbidity meter to measure the wine’s clarity or cloudiness
Photo ©Michael Kelly
At the conclusion of the tour we settled back at the Historic Wine Library and tasted a few of the Concannon wines and Cuda Ridge Wines.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
We started out with the 2024 Chardonnay Reserve that frankly was spectacular and tasty. I have for years purchased a lot of Livermore Chardonnay and this is one of the best! Aromas and flavors of honey suckle blossoms, caramel and stone fruit blend together to provide a gentle buttery and brioche finish. This wine won Best of Class at the 2026 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and Vine Pair awarded it 93 points. This wine is listed at $45/bottle.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Following the Chardonnay was their 2025 Cabernet Franc Blanc in keeping Livermore Valley focused on Cabernet Franc. This wine provided the nose and refreshment of a light Cabernet Franc with the juices providing a peach dimension. Aged in stainless steel for three months and coming in at 13.5% for a great summer treat. Priced at $35/bottle and rated at 93 points by Wine Enthusiast.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
We then switched our attention to the red wine offerings starting off with the 2021 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon (74%) and Cabernet Franc (26%) blend. When you can combine two strong wines and produce one of the smoothest wines you have discovered the recipe! Combining Cabernet Franc’s herbaceous quality and the fruit medley of Cabernet Sauvignon it was close to being heaven sent. Blueberries and blackberries swirled merrily on the palate with excitement. An excellent wine at $55/bottle. The current release is the 2022 vintage and is listed at $50/bottle.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Next up was an opportunity to compare two excellent Cabernet Sauvignon wines side by side. The first being a Cuda Ridge Wines Black Label with French & American oak treatment that was strong and with present and appropriate edgy tannins perfect for a juicy ribeye steak. This wine goes for $45. The second wine is called the Mother Vine named for their 1893 vine still located on the property. This is root stock of 7,8 and 11 and used in Chateau Margaux. An extremely silky-smooth Cabernet Sauvignon on the finish. $55/bottle
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Here is the picture of Mother Vine on the property that is planted on the estate.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
All these wines received my ratings as the Best Wines Tasted in 2026! It was amazing that these wines rated so highly at one sitting, which seldom happens. Only 2-3% of all the 1800-2000 wines I taste yearly make my annual Best Wines Tasted list.
The last wine tasted was the 2023 Captain Joe’s Petite Sirah made with 100% Petite Sirah estate grapes. Dark and brooding with black fruit and plum flavors. A “masculine wine” with strong tannins and a “feminine side” finish with baking spices and vanilla. The 2023 is the current vintage and aged 16 months in both American and French oak. The wine is listed at $50/bottle with 14% alcohol.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
This concluded the tasting portion of the visit with Larry and Harrison.
It has been some time since I had tasted several of the Concannon wines and appreciated the opportunity to taste some of these exciting wines.
If you should be in Livermore Valley tasting, which there are many solid wineries, Concannon should be on your list to visit. Today with their existing facilities and tomorrow with Tom’s vision, this can only get better.
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly
https://californiawinesandwineries.com