Dream and Make it Happen…

This is a saying that Denise and Scott Schramm have always believed in. “Follow your passion and your dreams”, was something they always told their 2 daughters, Phoebe and Emma.

A Note from the Founders

After 30 years in the Fashion industry in New York City, we followed our hearts and our daughters to California.  

Longtime wine enthusiasts, we had always dreamed of owning a vineyard.  Traveling to Napa Valley since the early 90’s indulging our thirst for Cabernet Sauvignon, we fell in love with California wines and the beauty of wine country. We were also fortunate to travel to Europe frequently for work, and developed a fondness for the Italian Super Tuscans, Spanish Riojas, and France’s wines from the Bordeaux and Rhone regions (and of course Provencal Rosé). Nothing made us happier than gathering with friends and family sharing stories, good food and great wine.   

Our dream became reality when we purchased an established vineyard on the West Side of Paso Robles in the Adelaida District. The vineyard was known for growing award-winning Tannat and Tempranillo, two varietals that follow our “Road Less Traveled” philosophy in our winemaking. At CRUSH Vineyard, the focus is on small batch, hand crafted red wines which are Estate grown on our family vineyard. Always sustainably farmed and handpicked.

For our very first bottling, we decided to commemorate the wedding of our oldest daughter Phoebe to Henry Miller with a special blend of Tannat and GSM. We named this blend INCEPTION to mark the start of their life together, and the beginning of our winemaking adventure. What better way to get started? All we needed was a good reason to begin this journey, and some really good partners. In order to launch our Dream, we chose to work with the winemakers of Pulchella Winery as they have been making incredible wines with this fruit for over a decade. In May 2021, CRUSH Vineyard 2017 INCEPTION was born and joined by 2018 TANTALIZE and 2018 TEMPTATION as CRUSH Vineyard’s first releases.

We expanded our portfolio of wines in 2022. Offering our first Rosé, made from 100% Estate grown Tannat. Our TANTRIC Rosé earned 97 points and a Double Gold Medal in the Los Angeles Invitational Wine Challenge. In Fall we introduced SASSY, TEMPTRESS and INTUITION, by blending Rhone varietals, Syrah and Grenache, with our two estate grown grapes. Get them while they last!

2023 marked new milestones for CRUSH Vineyard as we set out to establish deeper roots in the Paso community. We are working with award winning winemaking consultant Tyler Russell, producing our wines in Tin City and opened our first tasting room in the Tin City Annex.

We hope you enjoy the wine as much as we are enjoying the journey!

 Keep CRUSHING It…

Denise and Scott

 Shop Our Wines