Dan Dooling

Coming Up

Winegrowing in Dan Dooling’s case was built from work that paid in hours, not applause: a waterfront teamster, a truck driver in the family trucking business, then study at University of California, Davis. Farming rewards repetition, timing, and the ability to keep moving when the conditions change, and Dooling came to Mariah Vineyards with a background already shaped by labor, logistics, and responsibility. The vineyard itself was the long-held target. Dan Dooling said, “I always, always wanted to have a vineyard.” Since 1979, he has been owner and winegrower of Mariah Vineyards, turning that stated aim into a working farm and a fixed point for his practice. The role joined training and experience to one piece of land, where the work could be carried season after season.

Where They Are Now

At Mariah Vineyards, Dan Dooling remains the owner and winegrower, still working in the same framework that has defined his career since 1979. The language he uses about it is plain, but the record is clear: this is a farm he has been able to sustain over decades, not a brief chapter. “I was able to pursue my dream in spades and that's probably why I'm farming at this age and all these years and will probably continue to farm.” What that describes is continuity. Vineyard work depends on long memory, routine, and the ability to keep pace with the land rather than force it. In Dooling’s case, the years at Mariah Vineyards show a career built on staying power: the same site, the same role, and the same discipline of tending vines across time.

In Their Words “I was able to pursue my dream in spades and that's probably why I'm farming at this age and all these years and will probably continue to farm.” “I always, always wanted to have a vineyard.”