We just wanted to grow a few fruit trees and some vegetables…something to keep my soon-to-be retired husband busy.  We needed something healthy and active to do; a chance to dig in the dirt, breathe the fresh country air and maybe end up with some fruit!

To grow fruit trees, we needed land & water…so we bought 3 manageable acres and dug a small well.  Before we could plant anything, we had to fence our 3 acres to keep animals big and small out.  We realized we needed a place to sleep and a place to store our tools, so a small farmhouse and storage sheds were added.  We purposely started building our farm while we were still working, so we would have money to invest in our orchard. We added on bit by bit as we could afford it. It took about 5 years to plant our first trees and grow fruit, nuts & vegetables.

Over the years, my husband and a small, wonderful crew of helpers, has turned our acreage into a little paradise…Over time we have added variety of fruit and nut trees, vegetables and herbs. Many things died but some thrived and we learned. The Antelope Valley (the Palmdale/Lancaster area) is located in the high-desert and gets very hot in the Summer and cold in the Winter. Only certain crops do well;  Pomegranates, almonds, pistachios, peaches, plums, tomatoes, peppers and olives thrive in this area….and as we soon found out, red grapes….Cabernet Sauvignon grapes!

That’s when the idea of adding a vineyard came to us. We began experimenting with different kinds of wine grapes to see which grew best.  The more delicate varieties of white wine grapes withered in the sun, so we decided to grow hearty, red wine grapes, that do well in the heat of the high desert. We put in Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grape vines, and they seem to be thriving. The wine gets better as the vines (and the wine-maker) matures. 

Slowly, we have added mechanization to ease our labor. Our “crusher/de-stemmer” crushes the grapes and removes the stems. (Believe me, the foot stomping thing doesn’t work as well as you would think… grapes are very slippery.)  We have a small Wine Press (to press the juice out), a hand bottler and corker, which inserts the cork, and a labeler that holds the wine during label application.  And finally, we have a ‘foiler” (it heat shrinks the colored foil tops that seal the corks.  We used to do it by hand with a hairdryer, so are very happy with this improvement.

It has been an interesting journey with lots of learning and mistakes. (Mistakes are called “vinegar” in the wine business).  But the entire process has been rewarding in so many ways. Physical hard work in the fresh air; the peace & quiet of nature and working with the Seasons. We delight in the local wild life; many migrational birds now call our vineyard home and return annually to have their young. We have seen rabbits and coyotes, road runners and once, a mountain lion.  This is their land too, so we always share our crops with them.

We are considered a small, “boutique” winery. And the Antelope Valley now has its own official “Appelation” (a designated viticulture area)  Our annual output is about 15 cases, which is 180 bottles of wine. We sell our fruit and vegetables on-site and are working towards selling our wine commercially. Keeping the production small allows us to relax and enjoy the process.  We won’t get rich this way, but we are having a great time.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our little operation. We would love to hear from you or answer any questions you might have…please feel free to correspond.

Max & Toni                                                                                                                Bavejdon Vineyards & Orchards                                                                                 Antelope Valley, California                                                                           Bavejdonvineyards.com