Andy started Peay Vineyards with his older brother, Nick, in 1996. Their goal was to make American wines that captured a purity and unique sense of place like the great wines they enjoyed drinking from the Old World. To that end, the brothers decided it was critical for them to own and farm their own grapes in a climate much cooler than they had experienced in the New World. In 1996, they purchased an old sheep ranch on a ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the extreme West Sonoma Coast near Annapolis - where folks said it was too cold to ripen wine grapes - and were the first to plant the region in 1998. They were joined in 2001 by Vanessa Wong, former winemaker at Peter Michael and Hirsch, who started her career with stints at Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Domaine Jean Gros. This allowed Nick to focus on farming the 53-acre organic vineyard and Andy to manage sales and marketing. They have been very fortunate to be able to make wines of finesse and intensity that capture the character of their estate vineyard as well as the attention of wine lovers around the world.