Founders & Proprietors: Joe Lazzara and Bob Smith

The beginnings of Jazz Cellars go back to 2005 when two neighbors and good friends discovered that they had similar passions for both fine wine and great music. During an annual trip to New Orleans to attend “Jazz Fest” (The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival) it finally hit them … it was time to move from talk to action and create a winery that would embody the spirit and improvisational nature of jazz in the production of fine wines.

Jazz Cellars is focused on producing rich and complex hand-crafted wines for those who enjoy great food, great company, great music and, of course, great wine. Our goal is to produce the best single varietal, single vineyard California wines available including Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Barbera, Grenache, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir. To date, our wines have won well over 100 awards and medals including multiple Best in Class, Double Gold, and numerous Gold and Silver medals.

Until 2019, we produced our wines at an urban winemaking facility in San Francisco. In 2019 we moved our winemaking operations to Murphys, CA where our popular tasting room is located. All our wines are handmade in small quantities - typically 100 - 150 cases of each wine.

Several years ago we had the opportunity to tell patch.com the story about Jazz Cellars and how it came to be the first (and only) winery based in Foster City. Watch the video.

Stay tuned as Jazz Cellars expands and evolves. Our tasting room in the historic gold rush town of Murphys, California just celebrated our 4th year at 380 Main St. -- stop by and see us!

Our opening hours vary by season. See our home page for the current hours.

Join our mailing list to be kept informed about Jazz Cellars news and events and be first in line to purchase our new releases. Or, better yet, join The Cellar Club and receive 4 shipments of our wines every year and get great discounts on your Jazz Cellars wine purchases as well as first access to new releases.