Our Story

Jerry likes to say that his love of wine developed after he got a chance to drive a forklift.


While most winemakers start with the palate, Jerry wanted to know more about the forklifts, the 1,500-gallon steel tanks, the grape presses and destemmers. Motors, tools, electricity and heavy equipment had been Jerry’s obsession since he was a teenager, when he spent summers working on his uncles’ farms in the Midwest.


But soon Jerry had an epiphany, in the form of 30-year-old Chateau Margaux. Jerry, formerly a Long Island Iced Tea connoisseur, put his Chemistry degree to work trying to find out “why some rotten grapes could taste so good.” He started volunteering full-time at Matthews Cellars in Woodinville.


During his years as a cellar worker at Matthews, Jerry met up with Lance Baer and Mark Ryan McNeilly, who were both starting their own wineries. Jerry helped Lance build a production facility and then went on to help Mark get his winery off the ground.


Jerry has been a friend, business partner, electrician, cellar rat, money manager, computer technician, janitor and assistant winemaker at Mark Ryan Winery for nearly six years.


Mark, who has quickly become one of the rising stars in Washington winemaking, in turn helped create Guardian Cellars and is its co-winemaker.


“The focus at Guardian Cellars," Jerry says, "is to continually strive to produce the finest single varietals and blends from Washington vineyards." But, he quickly adds, "making kick-ass wines is also a nice change from the day job of arresting people."