Over a 100 years ago, the first known woman wine grower in California, Dona Marcelina Felix Dominguez, grew Mission vines on her Santa Barbara County property. The vines survived, and when Deborah Hall, and her late husband, William, bought the property in 1994, they discovered these vines under a heavy cover of brush. They originally thought the vines were Zinfandel and sold them as such to other vintners. DNA testing at the University of California, Davis, later revealed that they were Mission vines. Spanish Padres brought Mission vines into California in 1767 from Mexico and established a chain of missions from San Diego to Sonoma from 1767 to 1833.

Deborah’s historic Mission vineyard of three acres is part of only ten acres of this varietal still growing in California. She has named the vineyard "Dona Marcelina’s Vineyard," and it is the oldest producing vineyard in Santa Barbara County today, having been planted in 1887. Using a recipe written in 1891 by Emile Vache, Deborah crafted a Gypsy Canyon Ancient Vine Angelica, a rich, fortified dessert wine from the Mission grapes.

The original Gypsy Canyon property was 290 acres and included an1800s farmhouse. In 1997, she sold 160 acres and its 18 acres of vineyards, keeping 130 acres with 12 acres of vineyards for herself and her two young children. The site has an exceptionally cool microclimate compared to other vineyard sites in the Santa Rita Hills AVA. Farming was largely by hand and is both organic and biodynamic.

In keeping with the historical roots of the property, Deborah used hand-blown glass bottles of historically correct shape with an embossed glass seal, a handmade paper label, and a beeswax seal. Each finished wine was bottled in a numbered hand-blown bottle signed by her. The bottles and seals hark back to time of the Spanish Padres from Mexico who established a chain of California missions from 1767 to 1833 and planted Mission grapes along the way. In addition to her Ancient Vine Angelica, Deborah also crafted a Gypsy Canyon Pinot Noir. She sold the winery in 2024 and retired to live in Santa Barbara.

Deborah has had a major impact on the wine industry of Santa Barbara County. For example, working with Richard Sanford and other pioneer winemakers of the area, she was one of the founder of the Santa Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance. The AVA was officially recognized in 2001.