Nurturing a Legacy

“I love seeing my staff’s kids feel comfortable coming around the winery. I grew up here and it’s really special to know that this place is an important part of these kids’ lives—just like it is in mine.”

As she’s learned more about the wine industry from a professional stance, Lulu’s love for Handley Cellars has grown. When she left home to attend UC Berkeley, she broadened her wine education by working at the famed restaurant Chez Panisse. After a stint as a harvest intern in Galicia, Spain, Lulu then delved into the study of old-world farming and homesteading skills on small-scale farms. On a farm in Maine, she met her husband Scott, and in 2016 the two moved to Anderson Valley to offer their skills to the family estate.

To say that Lulu has had big shoes to fill would be an understatement. A true pioneer in the field, Milla Handley was one of the first women to graduate from the UC Davis oenology and viticulture program, and was the first woman in the United States to have her name on a bottle of commercially sold wine. When she succumbed to COVID-19 in 2020, a wide community of friends and colleagues mourned her passing.

“Mom knew herself and she never strayed from that. This shows in her wines and her business,” says Lulu, citing her mother as her greatest inspiration.

Handley wines are now made by Milla’s longtime co-winemaker Randy Schock, who Lulu finds to be a wonderful resource and teacher. As a second-generation Mendocino County farmer, Lulu recognizes that the entire wine industry starts with earth and those who tend it.

“I would like to see more recognition of wine as an agricultural product; how it is based on nature’s cycles and moods. And how much of the beauty of wine is based on the hard work of the vineyard workers.”

In her lifetime, she’s seen her native Mendocino County wine region become more popular with tourists. She notes that there’s a lot more Pinot Noir made in the valley now, but is happy that it also continues to produce beautiful white wines, such as Handley Cellars’ own Riesling and Pinot Blanc. At the end of a long day, though, she finds herself reaching for her favorite sparkling wine: the elegant Handley Brut Rosé.