Where art meets terroir, and family roots run deep.
Established in 1996, Darcie Kent Vineyards is a family-owned & operated winery in the Livermore Valley located east of San Francisco Bay. Along with her husband David and her two daughters Kailyn and Amanda (sixth generation), Darcie Kent is committed to combining Livermore Valley terroir along with her artistry and passion to forge and sustain a world-class, family-owned estate winery. We grow, barrel, and bottle all of our own wines.
As a fifth-generation artist and vintner, both art and wine run through Darcie’s bloodline. At Darcie Kent Estate Winery, art and wine are inextricable, and they are also inseparable from the natural world.
From alpine cellars in Missouri to a bold, art-driven estate in Livermore, our story is one of legacy, landscape, and creative passion — told in vines and brushstrokes.
An Artistic Legacy Takes Root
1875 – 1945
Darcie’s great, great grandfather, Fritz R. Ruegsegger, came to America with his family from Switzerland in 1875 to pursue a career in winemaking. In 1883, Fritz’s son and Darcie’s great grandfather, Christian Ruegsegger started his own winery, the Alpine Winery, in St. Joseph, Missouri, which held bond #62 in the United States. Along with managing the vineyards and all winemaking tasks, Christian hand painted his own wine labels. The Alpine Winery bottled its last wine in 1945, when hard times following the repeal of Prohibition forced the family to shut down operations.
The Garagiste Years
1996 – 2008
When Darcie met David Kent at the University of Colorado, Boulder, stars aligned. Early on in their marriage, they set out to restart the family legacy of winemaking. They were inspired by the budding “garagiste” movement on the right bank of Bordeaux, where up and coming winemakers working out of their garages were overturning old notions about terroir, winemaking- and Merlot. Darcie and Dave purchased a ten-acre block of Merlot in Livermore, California in 1996, and eventually built a house there to raise their two daughters. They concentrated on making intense, complex, small-lot Merlot in the Saint Emilion style from this little block, and made olive oil from the trees bordering the driveway. Darcie painted the labels for both, a tradition that continues today.
A Breakthrough Vintage
2008 – 2012
Darcie and her family wouldn’t go undiscovered for long! In 2008, the release of DeMayo Chardonnay changed everything. This wine became the “house white” of the San Francisco Four Seasons hotel, and the 2012 vintage was poured at the 2013 First Lady’s Luncheon. Darcie set up a gallery and tasting room on the Concannon Vineyard property, and her wines were poured at restaurants and restaurants all over the country. Darcie brought on master winemaker Julian Halasz to elevate the winemaking to a new level, and he is the head winemaker to this day. During this time, the Kent family’s estate vineyards grew from just the first ten-acre block, to forty acres, featuring several different varietals.
Growth with Purpose
2012 – Today
Encouraged by the success of their expansion, Darcie and her family knew they would want their own space. In early 2013, Darcie and her family acquired the estate winery and vineyard formerly occupied by Cedar Mountain Winery and began a state-of-the-art renovation. Most notably, the Kent family restored the iconic “Bing’s Barn” that has long graced the property, legendarily owned by Bing Crosby himself, and was used as a training space by boxing legend Max Baer. Today, you can taste inside this historic space, which is temperature controlled and serves as a gallery of Darcie’s artwork. The family also re-designed a world-class outdoor tasting pavilion, called The Terrace and Green, which features panoramic views of the foothills and surrounding vineyards. Darcie Kent’s wines, crafted by Julian Halasz, continued to bring in numerous Best of Show, Class and Double Gold Awards each year. And the Kent family’s estate vineyard plantings doubled in size again to over eighty acres. Today, the Kent family focuses on the wider renaissance of their whole region and strengthening the region’s connection to Loire wines and winemaking, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.
Explore Our Estate Vineyards
Where every label begins with a brushstroke
Darcie Kent is a sixth-generation artist whose original works — from sweeping vineyard skies to expressive animals and abstract metallics — appear on every label and across the walls of our estate gallery. Her paintings bring the land to life, using reclaimed barrel heads, metallic leaf, and vivid acrylics to reflect the same natural beauty that shapes each vintage.
Come sip among the brushstrokes, and discover where vineyard and canvas meet.