One day in the late 2014, Jamie Meves happened to pass the big white tent and decided to stop in to investigate; motivated by his interest in woodworking and sailing and wanted to help. When Jamie explained his background in winemaking, Chris Burke said, “winemaking has to do with barrels, barrels have bungs and we are going to need help setting about 10,000 of them!”When Jamie was in his 20’s, he took up sailing as crew on various yachts making passages from Beirut to Marina Del Ray. His early years also include jobs at Snowbird in Utah and river guiding on the Green and Colorado Rivers. As a river guide, he met his wife of 37 years, Ann Rowland, whose family owns the Pacheco Ranch, which is the last Spanish Land Grant property that has been continually lived on and cultivated by the original family for 176 years.
After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Fermentation Science (the study of winemaking, beer brewing and sewer systems management) Jamie chose to specialize in oenology and become become the award winning winemaker at Pacheco Ranch Winery. Jamie’s Cabernet retails for about $26 and is available at Whole Foods. Jamie’s idea of a perfectly balanced life would be 6 months of winemaking and 6 months of sailing. He says that his time at the shipyard has provided him with opportunities he never thought he would have and his ] skills have increased accordingly. So far, he has contributed 1,175 volunteer hours to the project. He appreciates the teaching and coaching provided by Franz and his shipwrights. “These guys are great!”, says Jamie.
