Vineyards & Wine Bars

New winery will pour into Brentwood

Local wine lovers will have another reason to celebrate later this year as a new winery joins the ever-growing list of selections in Brentwood.

Serendipity Cellars, located at 1600 Chestnut Street, just outside of downtown, plans to open this summer as a “boutique winery experience,” featuring six varietals of fantastic wine.

Owners Bryan and Michele Lucay ended up in the winemaking industry by chance.

By trade, they work in construction, having established their own contracting company — GroundWorks Inc. — back in 2002.

Beyond that, they were never wine drinkers, preferring the taste of tequila. But all that changed in 2004, when they took on a job engraving a logo in the tasting patio at Ceja Vineyards in Napa, where one of the owners Pedro Ceja graciously offered tastes of their wines.

The pair politely refused at first, saying they didn’t care for wine, but Pedro simply stated, “It’s not that you don’t like wine — you just haven’t found a wine you like.” With that, he once again offered each of them a glass, and the rest is history.

“That experience is really what started us on this journey,” Michele said. “We had sent out 2,500 flyers to wineries in Napa to show them this engraved concrete idea we were working on. Out of those 2,500, the one winery to reach out was Ceja — that was just the beginning of the serendipitous happenings that took place resulting in the name “Serendipity Cellars”.

Soon after discovering a passion for drinking wine, the Lucay’s began taking a liking to wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma. It wasn’t long after Bryan received a call from a friend asking if we were interested in 250 mouvedre grape vines.

Bryan, always eager to learn something new in the most hands-on way possible, quickly accepted. That was 12 years ago.

Today, Michele and Bryan are coming into their own as winemakers as they are quickly approaching the day their winery will be open.

The property is 15 acres, 10 acres are planted with a total of 9,315 vines of 6 different varietals. Prior to the Lucay’s purchasing the property in August 2018 the property was growing grounds for green beans.

The varietals of wine you can expect to taste are chardonnay, cabernet, sauvignon blanc, vermentino and tempranillo, along with sangiovese, which lends itself to both the classic red wine and a sangiovese rosé.

The vines were planted in June 2019. Prior to choosing the varietals to be grown, the soil was tested to ensure its compatibility. Once chosen, the vines were grafted onto one-anda-half year old root stock. This would allow the first true harvest to take place in 2021.

Serendipity Cellars will open with whites and a rose. In mid-2022, they will introduce reds. The back area of the property will be a family-friendly hangout where, except on special occasions, even children will be welcome to play lawn games and enjoy the rustic ambience of the winery, while food will be served from a rotating selection of local food trucks.

Although the winery offers a vast space of outside areas, to enjoy the wines there is also a small interior tasting area.

For more information, visit https:// www.facebook.com/serendipitycellars/.