Our Story
Family History
FOUNDERS: Lanny and Fran Replogle
Fenestra Winery was established by the Replogle family on the historic Ruby Hill property in Pleasanton in 1976 and in 1980 occupied the century-old George True Winery building on Vallecitos Road in Livermore. The old building had been badly neglected, and the Replogles hauled away tons of trash, and installed a new roof and strengthened the building. The winery building was refurbished in 1997 and vineyards have been planted around the winery. The winery specializes in classically balanced, award-winning wines from primarily Livermore Valley grapes. Livermore Valley’s first boutique winery, Fenestra Winery has celebrated many years of fine wines.
LANNY REPLOGLE- OWNER
Born and raised in California, Lanny obtained a B.S. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley and earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Washington. His first career was teaching Organic Chemistry at San Jose State where he taught for 31 years.
Lanny’s first foray into winemaking was in 1958 at the University of Washington where there was an ongoing study into cranberries. Consequently, there was an abundance of leftover fruit to be had. He and some friends decided to ferment some cranberries and ended up with a quaffable wine. A few years later while at a dinner party with colleagues and some fine wines being consumed, they decided to have a go at making their own small batch of wine. They used table grapes purchased from the farmers market but alas, the wine turned out terribly. The following year they made another attempt with Mourvedre grapes and had failed again, but Lanny had caught the winemaking bug and was learning a great deal from the failures and process.
With a background in chemistry, the process of winemaking unfolded before him and he was soon making enjoyable wines at home. However, it soon became apparent that it wasn’t the scientific part of winemaking that he enjoyed, but the creative part. After many years of making wine at home, Lanny and his wife, Fran, decided to start a real winery. In 1976 they started Ventana (Spanish for window) Winery in Pleasanton that morphed into Fenestra (Latin for window) Winery a few years later, and relocated to the current beautiful location in Livermore. Fenestra and the Replogle family are now celebrating over 45 years of making world class wines.
AARON LUNA- WINEMAKER
A native Californian, Aaron Luna grew up in Monterey County surrounded by agriculture. In 1999 he gained an interest in the fermentation process and started working for Bernardus Winery in Carmel Valley, California. His passion and skills for winemaking grew rapidly and he was promoted to Assistant Winemaker.
After 10 years with Bernardus and the tutelage of notable winemakers, Aaron left for Margaret River in Western Australia to learn winemaking from other great winemakers. Upon his return to California, he yearned to know more about winemaking and pursued a degree in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis. After graduating with his degree, he worked in the vineyards and winery of Stags Leap Winery in Napa Valley, California.
With experience under his belt and an increased passion for winemaking, he was ready to settle down and discovered the beautiful Livermore Valley and Fenestra Winery.
1878 George and Christina True
True Property History
George True immigrated from Germany to California in 1868 at 22 years of age. In 1876 after farming on rented land in Alameda County and receiving an inheritance, he purchased 584 acres in Livermore Valley. He married another German native, Christina, in 1878 and they both continued to improve the ranch. In 1880 the True family planted 80 acres of grapes, followed by 130 more acres in 1886. George built the winery in 1889 in which the Fenestra tasting room now resides. The winery produced wine made from estate grapes of Zinfandel, Mataro (Mourvedre), Carignan, Culumbar, and Burger. They also had a distillery and produced Sherry, Port, and Brandy. All the wines produced at the True Winery were sold in bulk via railroad and were not bottled by the family.