OUR STORY
Stewards of the Sierra Foothills
A love story that became a vineyard. A vineyard that became a legacy.
The Story of Airola Road Vineyards
Tucked into the hilltops of California's Gold Country, Airola Road Vineyards is a 61-acre estate vineyard overlooking New Melones Reservoir in the heart of the Sierra Foothills. It is a place built from devotion, to the land, to the vines, and to the belief that the best things in life take root slowly.
But before Airola Road became one of Calaveras County's most distinctive vineyard estates, it began with something far simpler, a handwritten letter.
THE PROMISE
A Letter Across the World
Thirty years ago in Vienna, a serendipitous exchange of handwritten letters between George in California and Birgit in Austria sparked a connection that would cross continents and decades.
From pen pals to partners, their journey together was shaped by the kind of patience and intention that, years later, would come to define how they tend their land.
What began as ink on paper became the foundation of everything Airola Road would become.
A Dream Born
in Wine Country
WHERE IT BEGAN
On their 25th anniversary, George and Birgit visited Napa Valley. Surrounded by vines, Birgit was transported to her youth in Austria, growing up among the lush vineyards of the countryside, where wine was woven into the rhythm of daily life. Standing together in California wine country, the couple felt something shift.
That evening, George made a quiet promise to his bride: one day, he would find a vineyard they could call their own.
Not to build a business, but to put down roots.
STEWARDSHIP
Finding the Hilltop
A few years later, George discovered a property perched high above New Melones Reservoir in California's Gold Country, once known to locals as Villa Vallecito. Sixty-one acres of rolling terrain with established vines, panoramic views stretching to the Sierra Foothills, and a Mediterranean-like climate that seemed made for growing grapes.
As fate would have it, the property was for sale. George and Birgit didn't hesitate.
Airola Road Vineyards was born, and a promise was kept.
Tending What
Was Already Here
GOLD COUNTRY
When the Klauses arrived, the bones of something extraordinary were already in the soil. Vines first planted in 2001 had quietly adapted to the hilltop's unique conditions, the morning fog drifting up from the reservoir, the warm summer winds, the mild winters shaped by elevation and terrain.
Rather than reshaping the land to fit a vision, George and Birgit chose to listen to it. To understand what was already thriving. To become stewards of this place, not just its owners.
The land doesn't belong to us. We belong to it.
LOOKING AHEAD
This Is Only the Beginning
George and Birgit didn't come to Gold Country to build something fast. They came to build something that lasts, a vineyard estate that honors the land it sits on, the history beneath it, and the people who pour their care into every vine, every vintage, every glass.
The story of Airola Road Vineyards is still being written.
And every season, the roots grow deeper.
THE LAND
Explore The Vineyard
61 acres, 7 varietals, one extraordinary hilltop with breathtaking views