The Family That Works Together ...Budge Brown, Founder & His Daughter, Kristi Brown, President

Budge Brown has been farming in California for over 50 years. When asked about his educational background (although he is a UC Davis graduate) he will smile and tell you he graduated from the School of Hard Knocks with a degree in Trial and Error and an emphasis in Blood, Sweat and Tears. His dream was to own a winery and share the experience with his family; his daughter, Kristi, took him up on his offer.

June 2001 - The Tulip Hill brand begins with the Mount Oso Vineyard 2001 harvest coming in, a crush facility in Kelseyville, California, and one man's dream. The 2001 harvest was just around the corner and Budge needed a home for his fruit. Budge, being who he is, achieved what was close to a miracle. He was able to obtain the necessary permits and put his winery together in just eight short weeks! The Mount Konoctt Growers facility created a cozy home for Tulip Hill's 2001-2003 vintages while he continued to search for the new home for Tulip Hill Winery.

December 2001 - The First Tasting Room For Tulip Hill
In 2001, Kristi Brown joined her father in his endeavor, and she quickly came to the realization they needed a tasting room and a means of marketing the Tulip Hill brand. Kristi, who lives in the Palm Springs area, found the perfect location, The River at Rancho Mirage. On December 8th, 2002, the doors opened for Tulip Hill Winery's first tasting room. The River offers large format restaurants, multi-screen cinema and many different and unique shops with a river running through the middle of it all.

March 2003 - New Home for Tulip Hill Winery
In March of 2003, Budge found a new home for Tulip Hill Winery at the historic Bartlett Springs water bottling building built by Vittel Mineral Water Co in 1985. After many long days of clean up and renovation, this revamped location became home to Tulip Hill Winery and Visitor Center. Located on the North Shore of Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in California that rests at the base of Mount Konocti, a now dormant volcano, Tulip Hill Winery sits in a stunning and picturesque setting.

October 2, 2004 - Tulip Hill Opens Production Facility in Nice, CA Tulip Hill Winery celebrated the grand opening of its new location. In addition to the winery and visitor’s center, we also feature a tasting room, special event/outdoor tent and lawn area (perfect for weddings!) and gardens planted with seasonal flora , as well as more than 30,000 tulips - a sight not to be missed.

May 18, 2011 - Budge Brown, Founder, Passes Away in a Private Plane Crash. "He is greatly missed. Prior to his passing, we had made the decision to restructure our business in order to reduce costs by closing our winery production facility in Nice, CA so that our wines could be made closer to our Mt. Oso Vineyard in Tracy, CA. As a result of this decision, we will be closing our tasting room in Lake County as of October 2011. Please see our website for the exact closing date. Obviously, this decision was extremely difficult as it means saying goodbye an incredible team of employees" - Kristi Brown, president.

October 14th, 2011 - Tulip Hill Winery closes the doors to the winery production facility and lists the winery for sale. "We are saddened to inform you that we will be closing the winery tasting room in October. Circumstances are such that we have put the winery facility up for sale and will no longer be making wines from this location." Tulip Hill is currently searching for a facility in the Tracy-Lodi area where our wines will be made.

Waiting to see what 2012 Brings!

August 30, 1932 - May 18, 2011

Robert H. "Budge" Brown, Sr. resident of Gardnerville, NV, born in Stockton, CA and long-time resident of Manteca, CA.

Among his many hobbies and pleasures along with spending time with his family were flying, swimming, hunting, boating, SCUBA diving, wine and travel.

Budge was the quintessential entrepreneur who was a farmer all of his life and founded many companies including Brown Sand, Inc. He is probably most fondly remembered as the founder of the Manteca Waterslides and inventor of the modern fiberglass waterslide tube. In his later years, he pursued his passion for farming and wine by combining the two and founding Tulip Hill Winery. After the death of his wife Arlene from Breast Cancer in 2005 he wanted to make a difference. In 2008 he founded Cleavage Creek Winery in Napa County and focused his time, energy and resources into donating 10% of the gross sales to fund cutting-edge breast cancer research and support.

Articles About Budge:
Lake Berryessa News - May 22, 2011
Manteca Bulletin - May 22, 2011
Wine Spectator - May 23, 2011
Lake County Record Bee - May 20, 2011