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What the name "Quivira" Means
Quivira (pronounced "key-VEER-ah!") is taken from a Spanish legend. It is said after the conquest of the Aztec kingdom, the Spanish found it easy to believe that kingdoms of similar wealth could be found to the north. In 1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado set out from Mexico City along the present Arizona-New Mexico border to find and claim them for Spain. The lack of gold among the Zuni and Hopi tribes discouraged him, but he was lured on by the tales of an Indian named Turk, who described a kingdom to the north, that the Spanish named Quivira Regnum, where everyone ate from gold dishes. The legend was born. When Juan Rodriguez de Cabrillo sailed up the coast of California two years later, neither the fact that Coronado had searched 1,000 miles to the east, nor that Turk had confessed under torture to making up the story as a ruse to lead the Spaniards away from his home, deterred his expedition from reporting that they had discovered the true location of Quivira.
History of Quivira
When prohibition and the depression caused growers to divert their wine growing practices to the more practical and legal varieties of agriculture, the fertile valley floor was replanted to peaches, prunes, green vegetables and hay production for livestock, and vineyards on the bench land mostly fell into disuse or were turned into fruit orchards and pasture as late as the 1960s.
The Nelson Family purchased much of the land that comprises Quivira Estate in 1941 and continued the fruit and crop production of the time period. Twenty years later in 1961 the Nelsons planted the valley floor around today's Quivira Winery to Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Carignane and French Colombard, and then planted the benchland across West Dry Creek Road to Zinfandel. During the sixties and seventies, grapes from these vineyards were sold to various wineries including Seghesio and Rodney Strong.
Quivira Founders Henry & Holly Wendt purchased the property in 1981. After a few years of experimenting with Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc, they designed and built Quivira Winery which was completed in 1987. An expansion to the barrel room and a new tasting room completed by 2002.
In spring of 2006, Pete Kight met Henry & Holly Wendt. He was immediately captured by the winery’s location at the confluence of Wine Creek and Dry Creek, with its historical significance in the evolution of grape growing and winemaking in Dry Creek Valley. He was also struck by Henry’s vision for better wine through better vineyard management, using biodynamic® and organic farming techniques. Pete believed the balance and clarity of Quivira’s Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc could be attributed to this belief in biodynamic® farming and was evident throughout Henry’s wines. As an avid fly fisherman and Trout Unlimited member, Pete learned of the Wine Creek restoration project which even more affirmed his decision that he was in the right place. He and Henry shook hands on the purchase after just the second meeting.
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