Our Story.
In 1986, Suzy & Squire packed up their three-year old daughter and all their worldly goods to trade the freeways of Southern California for the backroads and fertile soil of Sonoma Valley.
Suzy & Squire purchased 26 acres of raw land, just north of the village of Glen Ellen. The gentle rolling hills were covered with poison oak, manzanita trees, oak trees, madrone trees,
bay trees, and a few redwoods. They cut a few of the trees and put in a road, got poison oak, dug a well and brought in power, got more poison oak, built a cottage, hand planted two acres of
grapevines, and got a lot more poison oak. After a year of Calamine lotion, itching, and cottage living, they built a winery, planted a second vineyard, and created a new life for themselves.
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The Following is an Unsubstantiated, Unverifiable True Myth:
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As we were brainstorming a name for our new winery, we found “The Squire Fridell Winery” didn’t fall trippingly off the tongue, so we searched through Suzy’s family history and found “GlenLyon” to be the name of the historic homeland of Suzy’s Scottish ancestors. As we live in the town of “Glen Ellen” the “Glen” connection felt fitting.
Coincidentally (or not) both our hillside vineyards were planted on wild boar rooting grounds, and Suzy’s ancestors Clan Crest depicts a wild boar! Hence, our logo is emblazoned with a Boar surrounded by grapes and the saying “Ne Obliviscaris” which means “Do Not Forget”.
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As mentioned above, Suzy’s Scottish ancestors resided in the historic homeland of “GlenLyon”. The ancient Clan of “MacDairmid” takes its name from Diarmid O'Duibthne, the Fingalian Hero who battled and slew the fierce Wild Boar that terrorized his village. After the Battle of the Boar was fought and won and Diarmid was basking in his glory, a rival for Diarmid's lady-love challenged him to measure the hide of the slain Boar with his naked feet.
Unfortunately, unknown to our triumphant Hero, the bristles of the Wild Boar were poisonous, and as Suzy’s (not-too-bright) ancestor walked the length of the slain critter to see how long his trophy measured, one of the poisonous bristles pricked him and he subsequently died a terrible and agonizing death. (Obviously, a good argument for the metric system.) Both Suzy McDermaid Fridell and Suzy and Squire's daughter, Lexy, are directly related to Diarmid (although neither Suzy nor Lexy could ever be convinced that walking on a wild boar’s hide might be a swell idea).
The original race of Diarmid is said to have ended during the reign of Alexander III, when Eva, daughter of the last of the O'Duibthne Clan, married Archibald Campbell and "carried away the possessions of her house" (whatever THAT means....) A few wars, rapes, pillages and many marriages followed and continued to intertwine and convolute the histories of the MacDiarmids and the Campbells.
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Definitely questionable German and Irish stock. Squire joined Clan Campbell for a mere $10 in 1986 at the Scottish Games in Santa Rosa after a few glasses of Sonoma Valley Wine. What cost a lot more was buying a kilt and then deciding it might be a good idea to build a winery.