Lambert Bridge Winery is named for C.L. Lambert, who in 1915 built a ranch and the trestle bridge you take today if you traverse from Dry Creek Road to West Dry Creek Road via Lambert Bridge Road. The winery opened in 1975, during the first wave of premium post-Prohibition wineries in Dry Creek Valley. Today it is owned by Patti Chambers, whose family acquired the winery in 1993. The tasting room is a majestic-yet-welcoming room with a high ceiling made from local redwood and a stone fireplace that ensures a cozy environment year round.
For the last ten years, Lambert Bridge Winery has emphasized exceptional, small-production bottlings of distinctive wines. General Manager Jill Davis and winemaker Jennifer Higgins head up the team producing Lambert Bridge’s elegant, terroir-driven wine. Long before they joined the team at Lambert Bridge Winery, Davis and Higgins worked together at Napa Valley’s William Hill Winery. They each came to Lambert Bridge with decades of experience and deep love of California’s diverse terroir and ability to produce refined and food-friendly wines.
Winemaker Jennifer Higgins, center, with the 2014 Lambert Bridge harvest crew
Regarding winemaking, Higgins says, “I love that winemaking combines science–which I just love–with that art side, because there is no recipe with winemaking. For that, winemaking is truly unique. I get to go from these fancy dinners to the cellar driving a forklift all the way to driving a dumptruck. I love my job every day.”
She continues, “Lambert Bridge is such a good fit for me. It is so important to find the best fit that can last you a lifetime if you’re a winemaker because you do put a lot of your heart into every bottle. For me, I just know that this level of winemaking–making so many different, but absolutely amazing wines, and working for a family-owned winery that has a bunch of amazing people around it, that is the most important thing. It automatically makes the day start off great.”
Enjoy a picnic outdoors at Lambert Bridge Winery this summer
Within Dry Creek Valley, Lambert Bridge Winery has about two acres of petite sirah at their Winery Ranch Vineyard and about two acres of zinfandel at Meyers Vineyard. They source fruit for vineyard-designated bottlings from three more highly regarded Dry Creek Valley sites; Grist Vineyard located two miles north of the winery, Forchini Vineyard, and Bevill Vineyard. The winery is known for its excellent Bordeaux varieties and blends, as well as viognier, sauvignon blanc, petite sirah, and several zinfandel offerings.
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