About –– Narrow Gate Vineyards

A Story of Reinvention, Faith & Perseverance

Red clover flowers growing in a green grassy field.
A smiling man and woman sitting on the floor surrounded by large glass containers filled with a dark liquid, likely wine, in a storage or fermentation room.

Meet Frank & Teena

Founded in 2004, by husband and wife team Frank and Teena Hildebrand, Narrow Gate Vineyards is a testimony to faith, perseverance and reinvention. In 2000 they traded fashion industry careers for a new beginning in El Dorado wine country and have never looked back.

A man outdoors wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses, smiling, with a house, trees, and a motorcycle in the background.
A smiling couple standing in a vineyard with a yellow Labrador retriever dog, with a backdrop of rolling hills and leafless trees under an overcast sky.
A man in a black t-shirt with orange accents and the word 'Santa' on it, smiling and pressing a wine crusher screw into a large container filled with dark grapes, surrounded by wine barrels and storage boxes.

  • Farmer, Winemaker

    Frank grew up in Woodland, California, an agricultural community just 11 miles north of Sacramento and is a University of California Davis graduate in Managerial (AG) Economics. He returned to Davis’ winemaking extension program to hone his skill. Today, Frank is both viticulturist and winemaker at Narrow Gate, securing Biodynamic® vineyard certification in 2010 and winery facility certification in 2013. His passion for stewarding the winemaking process, from vine to wine, without chemicals, pesticides or additives, is evident in the vineyard’s biodiversity and soil health and in the natural quality of the wines he makes. His work is his hobby – if he’s not farming wine he’s making wine and if he’s not making wine he’s enjoying wine!

  • General manager, Culinary

    Growing up near Portland, Oregon then moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in middle school, Teena, a University of Colorado graduate in Business Marketing, along with her hospitality team, oversees the business, wine club, marketing and food and wine pairing events. After their second child was born she resigned her fashion industry career and began teaching culinary arts in Newport Beach, California. Today she is also the winery chef creating menus and seasonal dishes for the food and wine pairings, educational vineyard walks/hikes, and seated multiple course lunches served in the cellar throughout the year. Teena also serves on the El Dorado Winery Association board of directors as President.

  • Vineyard Manager

    A local native, Kass plays an integral role in our biodynamic farming and processes related to soil, vine and land management, all throughout our 86-acre farm. Prior to coming to Narrow Gate in 2007, he worked for 6 years after high school as a wildland firefighter and was on the USDA Forestry Service Interagency Hot Shot crew. He’s also had a longtime passion for mountain bike racing. Currently, he is an ambassador for Specialized Bikes. Kass and his wife Dianna, a local realtor, stay busy raising their two grade-school age children.

View of a rustic house labeled 'Narrow Gate', seen through two large tree trunks with rough bark, set in a wooded area with tall pine trees and a clear blue sky in the background.
Wooden double door framed with white string lights, flanked by two large wooden barrels, with a crucifix above it on a rustic stone wall inside a winery or wine cellar.

The Winery & Cellar

In 2001 Frank & Teena planted 14 acres of wine grapes and in 2004 built a European style, small, intimate, boutique winery and cellar set amidst majestic Ponderosa pines at 2500 feet altitude.

Enter through the old barn wood doors into the romantic, candlelit cellar and taste Narrow Gate Vineyards’ biodynamic certified wines in the cellar amongst the barrels or in our outdoor spaces. Enjoy your wine tasting in the cool cellar, on the patio with a view of the Dunamis Vineyard block or at tables set under majestic Ponderosa pines.

Join the Club •

Join the Club •

Four women smiling and toasting glasses of wine or similar beverage at an outdoor social gathering. They are seated or standing around a round table with a potted succulent plant, under a roof with string lights. There are trees and a tent in the background.

Become a part of our Narrow Gate family and enjoy our small production, certified Biodynamic grown, natural wines, as well as wines made from a handful of other select California vineyards. We have several Cellar Clubs to choose from that fit every budget and preference, each offering different quantity, benefits and options, but all clubs offer savings on wine purchases, complimentary wine tasting, access to limited production wines, and priority invitations to special food and wine pairing events.

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