Bryan Kane

Through attending classes at UC Davis and learning as much as he could from the winemakers he respected, Bryan honed his winemaking skills. But, after years of begging top vineyards for “seconds” (grapes left on the vine by the purchasing winery) or commercial winemakers for a couple of hundred pounds of grapes for his home winemaking, it was time to take the next step. In 2004, Bryan was convinced by a friend (and fellow home winemaker) to begin making wine commercially at his crush facility. In a pursuit to share his passion for great Zinfandel and Rhone based wines with others, Bryan formed VIE.

Outside of his studies at UC Davis and learning through fellow winemakers, Bryan has worked harvest along side of several established winemakers. First, Bryan worked two harvests along side of Scott Shapley who worked as Assistant Winemaker at Siduri and Novy Cellars and currently heads up winemaking efforts at Roessler. Bryan continues to work along side of Scott as they both make their wines out of Copain’s crush facility. In addition, Bryan worked with Kian Tavakoli of Clos du Val and Opus One and Mike Zitzlaff of Girard and Yarra Valley’s Oakridge Estate in Australia. The experience working with Scott, Kian and Mike have been invaluable to the Bryan’s transition from a home winemaker to his commercial efforts at VIE.

Through several years of enjoying, collecting and making wine, we have developed a refined sense of the attributes that make a fine boutique wine. Our efforts in Vie Winery are focused on creating wines that reflect these attributes for each of the top California vineyards from which we acquire our grapes.

Vie was started by Bryan Kane who asked a small group of friends (Bryan Robertson, Rachel Blatt, and Barry Dorf) who were also passionate about wine, to join him in his desire to produce high-quality, unique rhone varietal wines. We decided to use traditional “old world” family winemaking techniques to ensure that the unique qualities of the grapes are reflected in the wine, thus making each bottle a unique drinking experience. While these techniques take more time and produce less wine, the end result is a wine that can be enjoyed now as well as cellared for many years to come.

Vie comes from the Old French word meaning "to invite" or "to give occasion for". Or, in French today, it is simply translated "Life". With friends, with experiences, with everyday life – get the most out of life! We at Vie Winery embrace this philosophy and hope that you can experience this through our wines. Make an occasion to enjoy Vie with friends. Enjoy Vie! Enjoy Life!