Zeka Vineyards is a family project of passion and purpose.
Our passion is Old World style Pinot Noir created with a California flair.
Our purpose is bringing great wine to our family’s table. And to yours.
Though our story is about wine, Lorenz and Louisa’s first passion was fashion. Louisa had trained as a fashion designer in London, England. Her career began modestly, operating an atelier in Zurich, Switzerland with her small design team. She and her devoted husband, Lorenz, started built a pret-a-porter fashion business, with the label of “Creation Louisa Zee”; specialized in cocktail and formal evening wear during 1966 -1975. Her fashion lines were featured in high end boutiques and fashion stores across major cities in the northern Europe under local sales team Lorenz’s managed. Along with Creation Louisa Zee, their business also operated as exclusive authorized agencies for ladies high fashion textile piece goods imported from Switzerland, Italy, France and Germany for wholesale to retail stores in the Hong Kong and South East Asia markets.
Lorenz and Louisa settled in San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s and their professional interests extended to real estate development and home building. In discerning a name for their growing business and honoring both their families, they named their company Zeka, combining their surnames (Zee and Kao) into a single, unified identity.
As creatives themselves, Lorenz and Louisa have always valued the expertise of artists. In 1984, when Zeka International (now The Zeka Group, Inc.) birthed its first residential development in San Jose, California, they partnered with the award-winning team of architect Goodwin Steinberg and his wife and entrepreneur, Geraldine Steinberg. This and other projects continues to be cherished homes to over 200 families in the Bay Area.
Lorenz and Louisa’s passion for excellent ingredients and expert craftsmanship now serves the purpose of making wines they would want on their own family’s table. Louisa has focused her formidable energy and dedication toward the development of great wine. Just as she had poured herself into learning of fashion design and building new homes for California homeowners, Louisa plunged into courses at U.C. Davis Department of Viticulture, from vineyard management, enology, to branding and marketing, providing the fledgling Zeka Vineyards with informed support and clear direction.
As the dream of Zeka Vineyards has become a reality, after many years of ongoing dedicated commitments Louisa has, from vineyard development to winemaking, she, with the assistance of Patrick Saboe, Director in Winemaking, is proud of the outstanding quality of beautifully structured and well balanced 2015 and 2016 vintages Pinot Noir wines produced from Zeka Vineyards.
Our 2017 Vintage Pinot Noir wines will be scheduled for bottling in late 2018 and we expect the quality will turn out as extra-outstanding.
The passion in Zeka Vineyards and Wines has been joined in the family by daughter Laveille, son Lefont, and son-in-law Jeff. Together they continue to pursue the fulfillment of Zeka Vineyards’ vision of great California Pinot, made in the traditional European style.
We hope you enjoy the fruit of Lorenz and Louisa’s dedication, poured into a glass and savored with family.
Cheers!
The family of Zeka Vineyards