Truckee River Winery was established 26 years ago with the vision of sourcing quality grapes and bringing the fruit to Truckee in order to take advantage of the high elevation and cold temperatures to naturally cool the fermentation and slow down the barrel aging process. Our focus from the beginning has been to produce handcrafted wines with great structure and finesse. Our award winning Pinot Noir is the winemaker's pride and joy.

In 1989, Russ and Joan Jones began making wine in their 2-car garage in Sierra Meadows (a neighborhood in Truckee). For 9 years they made great wine for their friends and family in the area, and decided to expand. They moved the winery into a two story barn on the Truckee River, where they could make 1,000 cases.

The Jones have a longstanding Truckee connection. Russ was born in Yosemite National Park, where he spent most of his childhood until his family moved to Squaw Valley. Russ learned how to ski in Yosemite, but he learned how to race at Squaw. He spent his high school career racing, dominating the field, and even met his wife Joan on the high school race team. He graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Enology and Viticulture (winemaking and grape growing). Russ and Joan spent time in Oregon, Washington, and Paso Robles after graduation, where Russ worked at several wineries and perfected the Pinot Noir process. They then moved back to Truckee to start a family, and that is when Russ decided to make his own wine, using the natural ideal temperatures and humidity of Tahoe to make the wine distinctively unique.