Jessica Gasca, born and raised in Southern California, loved creative arts as a child and teenager. As she says, “I was an outgoing kid who wanted to sing, dance and do community theatre.” She started working at age 15 and hasn’t stopped since, putting herself through college working at restaurants and, in her early twenties, at a sports bar in Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, Jessica couldn’t shake her interest in theatre, so she moved to New York City in 2003 at the age of 23 to pursue a career in the dramatic arts. She took a job bartending at Nice Matin, a French restaurant on the Upper West Side to support herself, and it was there that she was bitten by the wine bug. The position provided Jessica with a unique opportunity to learn about wines. To quote her, after finding that she “wasn’t tough enough for New York,” she returned to California, having spent only a few months in the “Big Apple.”

She initially managed a restaurant in Los Angeles, but by 2009, she wanted to learn more about wine and the process of winemaking. This led Jessica to an internship with an uncle who was making wine at his own winery, Costa de Oro, in Santa Maria. She worked her first harvest there and fell in love with the entire experience, including getting up at 3 a.m. to work in the vineyard in freezing cold. Jessica spent the next three and one-half years apprenticing at Sanguis Wines in Santa Barbara, and the experience taught her the importance of how every decision and action were of vital importance to the quality of the wine produced. To quote her, “It was at Sanguis where I saved my pennies to journey out and buy my own fruit.” In 2012, while working there, I made my first vintage and began learning on a deeper level. The path of my wine-making adventure was just starting.”

She then spent five years as Director of Sales at Dragonette Cellars in Los Olivos, while continuing to her hone skills a winemaker. From the winemakers at Dragonette, Jessica learned how the site of a vineyard defines the quality of the wine that results, which resulted in her focusing on single sites for the fruit she uses.

Although Jessica’s first vintage was only about 150 cases, she now produces some 1500 cases and hopes to increase the volume to 2500 cases. Her philosophy in high-quality winemaking is encapsulated in three guiding principles: 1. Select vineyards that are farmed with the greatest level of care; 2. Focus on single varietal and single vineyard. and 3. Keep lots small. In keeping with these principles, she is producing site-specific Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Grenache, and Syrah.

Jessica’s Mexican heritage is reflected in her advocating for farmworker health care and donating 100% of the proceeds from sales of “Gracias a Ti Por Tus Manos,” a Pinot Noir, to the Vintners Foundation, which supports farmworker initiatives through Direct Relief International and Community Health Centers of the Central Coast.

She and her family live near Los Olivos.