Our Story

Life is a grand adventure, make the most of the journey and embrace both the joys and challenges that it brings

And so it began . . .

Proprietors, Brian & Sheree Thornsberry discovered their passion for wine and the specialness of the Northern California appellations during a 2010 visit to Sonoma and Napa Valleys. A spark was ignited . . . and their mutual appreciation for the craft of winemaking and the expression of terrior was born. Over the next decade, they pursued their interest in all-things-wine . . . satiating their thirst for understanding what made for exceptional wine just that . . . exceptional.

With visits to France, Spain, Northern and Southern Italy, Greece, Portugal, and South Africa adding pins to their “grand adventure in wine” map, they honed their palettes on a spectrum of grapes and winemaker’s expressions of them. They found a common thread endured . . . upon returning and reflecting on their latest foray, they would inevitably return to the same conclusion that nothing quite affected them like the wines of Northern California. Gradually, an idea took root . . . that living in St. Louis, Missouri was much too far from the fountain of their passion and they decided to make California a permanent place to reside . . . first to Calistoga part-time, then to Napa, finally settling in Santa Rosa.

An evening of encouragement

The “ah ha” moment came one unsuspecting evening in 2018 during a wine-soaked dinner with their oldest son. After many bottles, the topic of pursuing passions came up (he was a recent graduate and doing some of his own career soul-searching). After offering what guidance they could to him, he turned the advice mirror on Brian and Sheree, asking what they wanted to do when they “grew up”. Topics surfaced around travel, around their careers, about family, and then about wine . . . where they opined on what it would be like to start a “grape” adventure.

After a pregnant pause in the conversation, their son shared a comment that would serve as the proper fuel and encouragement to push them to make the leap. The precise words weren’t scribed, but it went something like this:

“You two have lived very interesting lives, have raised 4 children, and I’m sure that if you put your shoulder to the wheel, you can do anything that you set your mind to . . . after all, you’re above average”!

The threesome burst out in laughter, finished their glasses, and called it an evening . . . but a seed of thought was planted . . . and in the light of the next morning over breakfast, the topic once again arose. They questioned what “above average” meant . . . were they in the 51’st percentile of doers? . . . what had their son seen or heard in their passion for wine that elevated his belief that they could make beautiful wine? The conclusion . . . all signs pointed to following their passion.

And Innumero Wines is born . . .

So the couple began to ask the hard questions about how they were going to breath life into their winemaking venture. With the gifts of focus and grit, Sheree proposed the “how” side of the equation . . . and with the gifts of creativity and vision, Brian proposed the “what”.

A balance was struck, the wine profiles and the first partners that were to help in the journey were chosen . . . all that was needed was a name. They looked back on their journey and noticed that there was a common thread that ran through winemaking . . . numbers. The vintage year, the brix, months in barrel, being “above average” . . . and a thousand other digits, fractions, numerators, and denominators all affect the wines that crossed their palettes.

But the numbers could only take a wine so far . . . the artistry, craft, and luck of the winemaking process is where special things happen. From this truth, they decided that their venture had to transcend numbers and convey that elusive and ephemerous component that brought them to wine . . . an INNUMERO quality . . . the serendipitous, incalculable, unmeasurable magic that makes wine gloriously exceptional.