The Padre's Vineyard

"I researched 'The Padre's Vineyard' for five years," June explains. "I feel a deep connection to the timeless sense of life that still echoes from the historic walls. After collecting many black and white photos and books on the mission's architectural history, I felt brave enough to attempt to recreate a real sense of this peaceful place as it looked before the town swallowed up its walls. This view of Carmel's San Carlos Mission, as it appeared during its renaissance of the early 1900s, imagines the Padre's wine grapes happily tethered on a sunny slope overlooking the mission.

"Mission grapes were developed by the Spanish Padres that arrived in the 1700s for mission wine they still grow today. The missions were self-sufficient, supporting not only themselves, but their many converts. They grew all their own food, raised livestock and, of course, they needed the Holy Wine!"