TOR

About TOR

Arriving in Napa for the very first time in 1975, Tor Kenward spent decades in the wine trade in and around the land from which he now crafts exceptional wines. His was not a conventional journey, however, from aspirational young oenophile to legendary estate owner. Kenward did not come to California with a shiny degree in viticulture, nor was his first job even amongst the vines learning the process of vinification.

Tor Kenward began his Napa journey as a tour guide for Beringer winery, where he would go on to spend a remarkable 27 years of his life, rising eventually to the position of managing director. Commercially speaking, Kenward has been credited with transforming Beringer into the wildly successful company we know today and is regarded as one of the finest business operators in the vinous world. During almost three decades at the estate, Tor came to befriend a number of Napa Valley legends and mentors such as Robert Mondavi himself, who was instrumental in his development towards being an outright owner.

Finally retiring from Beringer in 2001, the ever-ambitious Napa stalwart founded TOR with his beloved wife Susan. Jeff Ames was the winemaker during that very first vintage and remains so to this day. He and Tor Kenward have formed one of the most formidable partnerships in California, sharing a strong passion for respect of the terroir and wines possessing as broad a sense of time and place as possible. Naturally, the focus of TOR is on sensational single-vineyard expressions of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon – the Kings of Napa Valley.