Molly De Hetre Meeker was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, allowing

    for a short digression to Winnetka, Illinois.  She studied theatre and  

    sociology at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA (one of the Seven 

    Sisters, if anyone still knows what that means), and moved to Southern 

    California after graduating. 

     The plan was to find a job in the entertainment business (she secretly 

     hoped to be discovered and become a star, but was willing to type in the

     meantime). 

     She lucked out and found a job at Tandem/T.A.T., the television production

     companies owned by Norman Lear, Bud Yorkin, and Jerry Perenchio.

     She worked there on television series such as "All in the Family," "Maude,"

     "Sanford & Son," "One Day at a Time," among others, for eight years, rising

     to her corporate personal best as Vice President, Business Affairs at the

     age of 30.

     During her summer vacations, she worked as an actress on the Straw Hat

     theatre circuit in New England.  Later, in Los Angeles, she appeared in

     commercials and an episode of "Quantum Leap." 

     She met Charlie Meeker while at Tandem/T.A.T. and the rest, including the

     birth of two children and the owning of many dogs, as they say, is herstory.

  Matthew Blankenheim

Co-Winemaker

      Matt’s story is an interesting one. He got into the wine business through the

      back door, having only stumbled onto it through a misfortune.

      Matt was a contractor renovating Victorians in San Francisco, when after a

      long Labor Day weekend, he showed up for work and found that

      everything was gone! All of his tools, the bank account, the office

      equipment, and even his chair. Everything was gone-except his old Chevy

      truck, and that was only there because he had the keys.

      Now of course, and needless to say, he needed a drink. But instead of

      going to a bar, he drove to his sister’s house in Sonoma County. His sister

      later introduced him to a friend of hers that was the assistant winemaker at

      one of Matt’s favorite wineries at the time. He offered Matt a job for harvest.

      During the interview, the winemaker asked Matt why he wanted to get into

      the wine business and Matt said that he thought it was a romantic   

      profession..the winemaker laughed!  

      About a week later around one o’clock in the morning, Matt was covered in

      grapes, soaking wet and shivering.  The winemaker asked‘Where’s the

      romance now, Blankenheim’? And began laughing!

      Matt was absolutely hooked!  Sixteen years later and working with the

      Meekers since 2001,  the romance is still there...