Starting from Scratch: Dresser Winery
Story and Photography by Lori Rice
Settled on the couch beside her husband Kory at their Paso Robles tasting room, Catherine Burke shares that she recently asked him what he would do if he won the lottery. “I’d own a winery,” he says. Catherine smiles and responds, “I think that’s a good sign that we’re on the right path.”
Kory says he’d run the winery but use his winnings to pay other people to do the laborious work that exhausts him and Catherine, except the winemaking. That’s his passion and the reason the couple left their day jobs in 2020 to go all in with their purchase of Gelfand Vineyards, which they’ve been evolving into Dresser Winery ever since.
They had no industry background. Professionally, Catherine comes from the world of architecture and Kory from sports marketing and technology. A few years earlier, they’d purchased a fixer-upper property that happened to have one and a half acres of zinfandel grapes growing on it. With the fruit they harvested from that small vineyard, Kory learned the art of winemaking, one part of owning and operating a winery. But expanding beyond that basic experience would take patience and perseverance.
“Every obstacle was in our way,” says Catherine. Not only did the vineyard need extra care to support the growth of better yields, the tasting room required updates and the large home on the property needed a remodel before it could be rented. Add to that all the required documentation and marketing. Kory adds, “We had the energy and willingness to do the hard work … to learn,” remembers Kory. Catherine suggests they may have benefited from a lack of formal training because it gave them the freedom to question existing processes and techniques and to test new approaches.
As a team, Kory and Catherine collaborate on ways to enhance the taste and production of their grapes while reducing the stuffiness or pretentiousness that sometimes surrounds high quality wine. Even their daughter Kaia has a role in the business, contributing hand-drawn family portraits for the wine labels.
“We’re boutique, we’re small, we’re family owned,” expresses Catherine. “When you are a small business, you have to rely on these small things, which I think can make the biggest difference.”
Collaboration with local mentors has been another essential part of making the Burkes’ dream a reality. The winemaker at Eberle Winery, for instance, has provided Kory invaluable advice on navigating the challenges of winemaking. “I don’t think we could have done this in any other wine community,’’ Catherine continues. “Paso Robles has such a sense of community […] everyone uplifting everyone else.”
Motivation also comes from the memory of Saila Consalvi, a dear friend of the couple who passed away last summer after a five-year battle with cancer. The pain of the loss apparent in her teary eyes, Catherine shares how Saila’s presence helped them approach each obstacle as a solvable problem instead of an impassable roadblock. “Look at what she went through. We can do this,” Catherine says, noting that proceeds from some of their wines benefit Saila’s Jaksaa foundation, which raises awareness about and funds research in genetic lung cancers.
Another key person in Dresser’s success is vineyard manager Mauricio Rendon, without whom they say this venture would suffer. As vineyard manager, his role is to maintain the health of the vineyard. He oversees cultivation, pruning, planting and harvesting of the grapes. “He’s so humble and he wants no credit at all,” says Catherine, adding that they named a wine after him.
Reflecting on the challenges, twists and turns of their experience, the Burkes share some insight for prospective winemakers. “I don’t think anyone can prepare you for it until you are in it,” explains Catherine.
“The one thing I’d ask is, ‘How passionate are you about this?’” Kory says, recognizing that even the romantic parts — the parts he loves doing — get hard. “You also need to have a level of humility. You have to ask for help.”
Despite the challenges, Kory continues to come back to one word: fun. Good or bad, each day is exciting and different. As he reflects on working 18-hour days for two months straight to produce 2,000 cases of wine each year, it’s obvious that passion, not profit, drives their commitment. “This is what you do,” he says. “You pour everything into your business so, eventually, it becomes what it really can be.”
Today, the 6,300-square-foot home on their property affords guests an idyllic view of the 25 acres of working vineyard, while their tasting room allows visitors to savor the liquid fruits, so to speak, of their efforts. The couple likes to say that Dresser wines capture a moment in time. In that case, each bottle of wine produced here is a time capsule containing the family’s most precious memories of pursuing this dream together.
