Vineyards

The grapes for Chumeia's wines are from two appellations, Paso Robles and Central Valley.  They also source grapes from several growers. 

Winery

In 1999 Chumeia Vineyards was formed with the purchase of 20 acres of land eight miles east of the Central Coast city of Paso Robles, California. Lee Nesbitt’s dream of building a winery was coming to fruition. In June of 2000 ground was broken and construction was underway. It took just over 90 days to construct a 5,400 square foot facility with a capacity to produce over 7,500 cases. That fall, the winery was ready to receive its first load of fruit on the new crush pad just twenty minutes prior to receiving the temporary occupancy permit from the Fire Department.

Wine Maker

Lee Nesbitt, the winemaker has worked for several years at J. Lohr and Meridian Vineyards. Both the Simpson family and the Nesbitt family had been active in agriculture for more than 20 years, including ranching, dairy cattle and sheep. The Simpson family had also been major grape growers.