Our Story
The origins of Joyce Winery trace back to when now owner and winemaker Russell Joyce’s father stumbled upon the small rural town of Carmel Valley California in 1972. Russell’s father Francis was in search for a place where he could both set up both a practice for his day job as dentist but also a race shop for his race cars he used to compete in his professional racing career. The close proximity of the infamous Laguna Seca raceway along with the rural feel of the area appealed to him being a small town farm boy from Wisconsin. After settling down and starting a family he was on to his next passionate endeavor - wine. In 1986 he planted the small 5 acres around the family home and Joyce Winery was born.
Russell, born in 1986 grew up working on the small vineyard his entire childhood. From pulling weeds, hand terracing vineyard rows and pressing grapes in the small mirco-winery located on the property a passion was being provoked without him even realizing it at the time. A self taught winemaker Russell has spent his entire adult life pursuing his dream of creating Joyce Winery into legitimate sustainable winery that he can hopefully one day share with his children. Working day jobs along the way in produce and metal fabrication in the Salinas Valley helped pay the rent but his passion for winemaking never subsided.
The next chapter led to Russell and his dad setting up a small production winery in an industrial building in the rural Salinas Valley. Struggling every step of the way the small winery accommodated the production from about 2006 - 2019. Strapped for space Russell and his wife Charlotte began searching for a rural piece of land, vineyard or winery they could purchase in hopes of one day developing it into a family estate. After several failed deals Russell stumbled upon the old Ventana Winery in Soledad, Ca. Familiar with the Arroyo Seco AVA from years of purchasing fruit Russell saw a great potential in this site even though it was quite dilapidated looking from the outside. In 2020 a handshake deal was made with the former Ventana Winery partners and the next chapter for Joyce Winery began.
Russell has spent years sprucing up the old winery along with developing much of the barren land around the winery to make it suitable for a new organic vineyard. He has partnered with the original Ventana Vineyard owners in developing some new plantings of gamay. All of the long-standing contracts to purchase fruit come from neighboring family owned vineyards all within a 10 mile radius of the winery.
Philosophy
Our philosophy is simple. We believe that organic practices in farming and practicing sustainability in all aspects of production is imperative. We are dedicated to producing wines of place. We believe our wines should be a reflection of the terroir and not the cellar. We believe that all additives, such as acidification, enzymes, cultured yeast and cultured bacteria should be avoided at all costs in our pursuit of the greatest expression of terroir. To produce these types of wines it requires a fanatical attention to detail which we are committed to. Our ultimate goal is to create wines that are a transparent reflection of our home here in Monterey County.
