Ocelli (ah-sell-eye) Cellars is the realization of the dream of John & Sirpa Peacock, born out of a shared passion for food and wine. Driven by the desire to "work" on our passion, we just couldn't escape the need to make our own mark on the wine world, and we decided to produce Grenache exclusively.
Who we are:
Two people with a shared love of food and wine, with aspirations to truly be in charge of our own future, and decided that wine was the way forward.
John’s career was spent in various analytical jobs, primarily in data and reporting management and software development. Beginning in 2010, he started helping friends during harvest when he could get away from work, and when we started Ocelli Cellars he started taking his vacation time in order to work harvest, both for Ocelli Cellars as well as to help friends. This on the job training was primarily done with Mo Ayoub of Ayoub Wines, who John considers his mentor. After being laid off from his “day job” in 2023, he is applying the same kind of analytical and problem solving skills honed through his career on the various aspects of wine production and small winery ownership.
Sirpa has spent the last 16 years working in the Oregon wine industry, primarily in tasting room sales, wine club management, event planning, and operations management. She is currently the Director of Sales and Marketing at Appassionata Estate, home of J Christopher Wines.
Why Wine?
Wine is more than just a beverage, there is a story behind each bottle. The uniqueness of each bottle of wine that comes from grape variety, vineyard location, growing season, and winemaking technique has fascinated us since we first got into wine. That fascination has grown to the point where wine is a large part of our life, from our monthly wine tasting group to the trips we take for our vacations. Wine for us is a borderline obsession.
Why Grenache?
The complexity and nuance of the Grenache variety are immense, and there is a great variation of style. While Grenache is a relatively familiar grape variety, it is distinctly different from the more common focus of Washington, like Syrah or Cabernet. Grenache can be delicate and pretty, elegant and rich, or more structured and intense, and this range of styles lends to the variety to being a great one to create and build a brand portfolio with. As far as we know, we are the only winery in the northwest focused solely on Grenache. Our goal is to take a look at the various vineyards across the northwest producing Grenache and give them a touch of dedication and focus and make 100% Grenache from each of the sites we can.
Why Ocelli?
When brainstorming ideas for the name of the winery, we wanted the name to be associated with our surname, Peacock. Naming anything is a tedious undertaking and this was no different. The obvious options were already taken, so after learning far more about peacocks than we would care to admit, we came across a diagram of the various types of feathers, and saw the term ocelli when referring to the tail plumage. Ocelli are spots that look like eyes, like those of butterflies, ocelots, and the tail feathers of a peacock. After lengthy consideration, we felt that this name truly fit our brand and we had discovered our name.
