In 2014 Jonathan was a soldier in the US Army, studying Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Knowing nothing about wine, he and his wife Aileen went on a trip to Napa that ended up changing the course of his career. Reading everything he could, Jonathan became WSET level 3 and CSW certified. In November of 2020, after 12 years in the Army, he and his wife made the decision to move back to California with their four-month-old son and forge a new path in the wine world. In early 2021, Tim Slater took him on and taught him the ropes of winemaking. While working in the Sarah’s cellar, he completed the UC Davis Winemaking Certificate in 2022. In July of 2023, Jonathan succeeded Tim as the winemaker for Sarah’s Vineyard. He continues to carry the Sarah’s torch, with high standards for quality, making sure only the best expression of each wine makes its way to your glass.
The Sarah’s Vineyard estate is a labor of love for winegrower Tim Slater. Tim took the helm at Sarah’s Vineyard when he purchased the vineyards and winery in 2001. In his former life, Tim has been a DJ, a musician, and a successful MEMS scientist. As an inventor in Silicon Valley, he's been involved in over 40 patents and publications. Tim has brought a scientific approach to replanting and modernizing S.V., finely balanced by an artist’s sensibility and a traditionalist’s love of the land.
By channeling both his inner mad scientist and his artistic side, the S.V. estate has flourished, growing and producing some of California’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. “My philosophy is a fairly simple one,” says Tim: “bottle by bottle, vintage by vintage, to capture the music of the vineyard.”
Marilyn, being a trailblazer, was one of the first women to own a winery when she purchased 10 acres in south Santa Clara County's Hecker Pass area in 1977. She began the vineyard with an initial planting of seven acres of Chardonnay. The winery itself was founded in 1978, named Sarah’s Vineyard for the Biblical Matriarch Sarah, the mother of all living. Her connection and respect for the land and what is grown and created from it, is a core value we still adhere to at Sarah’s Vineyard today.
Marilyn is a creative, free spirit, with a love for the land, and an innate sense of style. Both her and the early wines’ character caught the public and media’s fancy the ornate Sarah’s Vineyard label quickly developed a loyal following and a reputation for top-flight Chardonnays. The small, rustic tasting room soon became a must stop for early Central Coast wine excursions. Today, the Sarah’s legacy can still be seen in the attention to detail and warm hospitality on display daily around the winery.