She Made Winemaking History. She's Beating the Odds Again
A grape grower-vintner is taking an unusual path to overcome the pandemic and the California wildfires.
Photographer: Sarah Deragon/Ceja Vineyards
Amelia Morán Ceja made history in 1999 when she became the first Mexican American woman to launch her own wine business with her family in California. She’s endured racism, earthquakes, wildfires, blackouts, and now, a mismanaged pandemic.
Ceja moved with her family from Jalisco, Mexico, to Rutherford, California, when she was 12 to join her father, who was working as a vineyard foreman. The first time she picked grapes, at Robert Mondavi’s To Kalon vineyard, Ceja told her dad she’d have her own winery one day. That was in 1967. After attending college and working in the industry, Ceja, her husband and other family members bought their first 15 acres of land to grow grapes in Carneros in 1983.