Campovida (“Field of Life”) is a working organic vineyard and farm in Hopland, California. Under the name Fetzer Valley Oaks, the 51-acre property was well known for being the first organic food and wine center in the United States, and once hosted culinary legends such as Emeril Lagasse, Julia Child and John Ash. Its reopening last year has brought visitors back to the Hopland region, which is becoming known as a hidden gem of sustainable agriculture. One of our favorite places on the property is the 13-acre biodiversity-rich, organic garden featuring more than 2,000 varieties of fresh fruit, herbs, vegetables and edible flowers, which you’ll get to see when you arrive for our ceremony.

As lovers of nature, food and the bounty of the earth, we’ve chosen to be married and celebrate outdoors surrounded by oak trees, rolling hills and the scents and colors of late summer. Expect it to be warm during the day and cooling off when evening comes. Wear layers and shoes that won’t trip you up – wedges ok, but stilettos not so much.

Getting There

Campovida
13601 Old River Road, Hopland CA
Phone: 707.400.6300
Email: info@campovida.com
Website: www.campovida.com

From the Bay Area
Simply find your way to Hwy 101 North. Once you’ve passed Healdsburg, you have about 25 some odd miles to go. Highway 101 becomes two lanes. Keep your eyes peeled for a big green bridge. Do not cross it; if you do, you’ve gone too far. Just before the bridge, on your right, is a street called Old River Road. Take this a few miles until you come to the first stop sign. Our entrance is on the right. The gates are open during the wine tasting hours.

From points north of Hopland
Come south down US-101 South/Redwood Highway towards Santa Rosa. Just as you pass the small town of Hopland, take a left at CA 175 – East River Road. You will travel approximately one mile until you see Campovida directly in front of you and at your first stop sign. The gates are open during the wine tasting hours.

History

Campovida has been lauded as part of the “California’s hidden organic wine region,” and has a long legacy of agriculture and sustainability.

The place that we now call Campovida has been home to the Pomo Indians of Sanel Valley, a cattle rancher, a railroad and timber baron, a hop broker, a lumber executive and a host of winemakers, each with a reverence and respect for the bio-diversity of this place. Each deeply concerned with preserving the land and its agricultural heritage.

Part of a Mexican land grant, the property originally encompassed 1,300 acres, where in 1844 Fernando Feliz built an adobe house and raised his cattle.

In 1890, A.W. Foster, a baron of timber and rail, purchased the land from the Peck estate and developed the property as it exists today, constructing all of the buildings from his Willits-based redwood holdings. He spent 45 years on the ranch, raising ponies, sheep, alfalfa, pears, prunes, grapes and hops.

John Haas bought the land in 1942 and cultivated the fields for hops. By now you’ve probably worked out that hops were the major farm crop in Hopland. According to Mendocino Brewing Company, who has it on the authority of a local hop farmer, sometime around the 1950s, hops plants in the area became susceptible to the downy mildew disease and that–combined with a decline of hops use in the beer industry–was the end of the local hops trade. A teeny bit of the town’s namesake remains though: both Campovida and MBC have hops growing non-commercially on their premises. Keep your eyes peeled for the twisty plants, which grow all over the inn’s staircases.

In 1958, Bernard Fetzer bought a home on the property from John’s son Frederick in order to raise his family and grow grapes. Ten years later the Fetzers began growing grapes commercially. In 1981, after the death of the family patriarch, all 11 of the Fetzer children took on managing the vineyard with a commitment to environmentally-conscious stewardship and built the company as a leading varietal wine producer. They eventually created a world-renowned food and wine education center known as Valley Oaks, and installed the organic gardens.

In 1992 the Brown-Forman Corporation purchased the certified organic vineyard, the Fetzers moved on to other wine projects nearby, and much of the grounds fell into disuse. Finally, in 2010, Anna and Gary fell in love with the property, becoming the current stewards of this beautiful land and restoring it to its Valley Oaks glory.