Our winery takes its name from the hardy fig trees (botanical name: Ficus carica) that accent the first vineyard we purchased wine grapes, Kick Ranch vineyard. Carica’s fig leaf insignia is inspired by these trees, too. The Kick Ranch vineyard is owned and planted by Dick Keenan and his wife, Kathy McNamara.

Dick is a 1974 alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, and still counts as one of his college high points marching as an Irish Guard at halftime on the field of New Orlean’s Tulane stadium for the 1973 Sugar Bowl.  That  game ended with a National Championship for Notre Dame (Notre Dame 24, Alabama 23).  Dick graduated from Yale Law School in 1977 and then practiced in San Francisco as a trial lawyer for 31 years.  In 2008, he moved full time to his second career as a grape grower and vintner. Dick and Kathy live in San Francisco.

The saying that great wine is made in a vineyard really only tells half the story. Charlie Dollbaum took his years of private wine making to a new level with Carica Wines. Winemaking’s marriage of art and science comes naturally to Charlie, who originally trained in the biological sciences at UC Davis, and then turned his decades of experience in medical research and biotech laboratory science to enology. Beginning with the 2005 crush on September 23, he has directed every step of Carica’s winemaking process.