Dr. Kevin Lester, a semi-retired orthopedic-surgeon, has launched Lesterland Winery, turning a hobby into a commercial venture. Photo by Frank Lopez What began as a decades-long passion for local wine enthusiasts has become a new small winery founded by a business owner with big ambitions.
About a year and a half ago, Dr. Kevin Lester, a local orthopedic surgeon, launched Lesterland Winery in Fresno, using his 40 years of winemaking experience with grapes that he grows, as well as the harvest of other local farmers. The venture began with Lester and his friends and their shared passion for winemaking as they all approached semi-retirement.
They wanted to learn more about the winemaking process, embracing the belief that “grapes are meant to become wine.” Lester has a special focus on a unique Croatian wine that won double gold at the Orange County Wine Competition two years ago, the Cetiri Special Reserve 4. He was introduced to the wine by one of his patients, Peter Kupina, who would make his own wine and give to him and his friends.
After Kupina’s death, they sent specimens of the locally grown grape to UC Davis to try to find out the variety, but they couldn’t figure it out. “He taught me how to make it and he taught me all the subtleties about it too,” Lester said. “It’s genuinely a unique grape.
Nobody knows what it is.” A friend of Lester’s grew four acres of the particular grape with plans to give him the bounty for free. Lester bought the tanks and.
