We are Niles and Sheila Fleege. Our label, Bookshelf Wines, reflects our two passions, good wine and good books. When it came time to name our winery, what better way to capture two of our passions; hence the name Bookshelf Wines! Books and reading have been very important to us and our careers and we attribute much of our success to our ability to read. Because we believe reading is so important for success in life, we help library-associated charitable organizations by donating wines for events so libraries can purchase materials and promote reading programs.
We produce award winning wines including a White Pinot Noir that we called Dichotomy. We also make Viognier, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir. Bookshelf Wines showed very well at the 2017 El Dorado County Fair Commercial Wine Judging. Our 2015 Zinfandel won Double Gold and Best of Class awards, and the Dichotomy and Viognier won silver and bronze awards. We make wines from 100% El Dorado County grapes. We co-op farm six acres of grapes on the Vine Hill Vineyard in Georgetown. Our red and white pinot noir grapes were harvested from Vine Hill as were the viognier grapes. We sourced the Zinfandel from Thaddeus Vineyard in south El Dorado County. Both vineyards have produced multiple award winning wines over the years. Vine Hill is at elevation 2,750 feet and is a north facing slope which are two reasons we can grow pinot noir grapes. Pinot noir is a varietal normally found in cooler grape growing areas and is not commonly planted in El Dorado County.
Where are we located? Bookshelf Wines is a boutique, virtual winery. What is a virtual winery? We rent space in a bonded winery to have our wine made and sell it by phone and internet. Dominic Mantei is our consulting winemaker. We work with him to make wine to our specifications. As our chief “editor” we believe he proved himself with our first vintage as evidenced by our awards and reviews from our fans.
How can you be a part of the Bookshelf Wines Club that we call “The Book Club”? Visit us on the web at bookshelfwines.com, and click Join. Don’t forget to check out our library section on the website for book reviews and book and wine pairings. Our Club members get a 20% discount off of retail prices. Prices are listed in the Shop Wines section and our catalog is located there as well. Point and click and you’ll be enjoying Bookshelf Wines in no time. You can also find us on facebook@bkswines, or call us at (530) 642-8409.
Cheers and happy reading!
Niles and Sheila Fleege
