Wine · Windsor, California
Two Shepherds
A tiny Sonoma winery making low-intervention Rhone varieties from old vines.
- Founded
- 2010
- Founded by
- William Allen; Karen Daenen (partner from 2015)
- Based in
- Windsor, California
Making it since
2010
Their story
William Allen was a wine writer and blogger before he was a winemaker. He started Two Shepherds in Sonoma County in 2010 as a part-time, garage-scale project, making wines his friends kept asking for, while still holding a day job.
The winery grew from 175 cases in its first year to around 1,000 a few years later. In 2015 Karen Daenen joined as a partner to help grow the brand, and in 2018 they harvested their own Grenache vineyard for the first time.
Today the winery is based in Windsor and remains small and family-owned, known for Rhone grapes like Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris and Carignan.
How it's made
Two Shepherds sources from old-vine Northern California sites such as Bechthold Vineyard in Lodi, home to some of the oldest Cinsault vines anywhere, and Trimble Vineyard in Mendocino. Wines are made in small lots with natural yeasts and neutral vessels, aiming for bright acidity and a clear sense of place.
Why we carry them
We love Two Shepherds for its fresh, food-friendly Rhone wines with real personality. The old-vine Carignan is a great bottle to bring to dinner.
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