Around the time Duboce Triangle resident Mara Feeney retired from 10 years of service on the DTNA board, she and her partner Deborah bought a 13-acre hobby farm in the Sierra foothills. They used it as a weekend escape from their hectic urban professional lives. Over the years, lots of labor transformed their property, nestled in the rolling hills above the valley fog but below the snow line, into a vineyard specializing in the production of California's unique and historic Zinfandel wine grape.

"We never intended to become wine producers; we just wanted to grow grapes," Mara said, "but one thing led to another, and now we find ourselves selling the wine that is made from our grapes." The wine is sold under the Damas Vineyards label. 'Damas' means "ladies' in Spanish, but it also represents the initials of the vineyard founders -- Deborah and Mara and Scooter, their black Cocker mix dog.