FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Barrels of wine line the inside of Engelmann Cellars.
Each aging barrel is proof of how far this Fresno County winery has come.
"We just celebrated 20 years in business so it's a huge milestone for the little winery, the raisin shed that grandfather built that turned into a winery," says owner Bret Engelman.
Engelman is the winemaker. They've grown to making about 2,500 cases a year.
They make a variety of red and white wines, mostly dry table wines, but also sweet wines.
"The majority of our grapes are state grown. Most years we're anywhere from 85-100% estate-grown, just on my little 8 acres of grapes that I have for a winery. On years we can't or we need to source something different than what we're growing, we buy from local growers. We won't bring grapes from outside the area," Engelman says.
They have won more than 200 awards.
Recently, they were one of 14 wineries accepted to the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival, where they poured their wines from a white wine blend to cabernet sauvignon. Their session was sold out.
"We had a lot of people come up to us afterward. they knew nothing about Fresno, they knew nothing about our region and they couldn't believe the wines they tasted. We were really excited about that. Who knows? Maybe it leads to some customers or them telling other wine-drinking friends that they had some wine from Fresno and it was really good, maybe that sparks the interest," he says.
He hopes to put Fresno on the map for its wine community and region.
"It's just showing we can do something here in the Valley that everybody said we can't. When they say I can't, it makes me work ten times harder to get it done to show we can. I'm glad we can show this with everybody in Fresno," Engelman says.
Theirs is Valley-made wine with passion that can be enjoyed in each bottle.
You can try local wine that was poured at the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival. Engelmann Cellars will be open Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m.