Two German brothers named Bowman originally settled this piece of property in the late 1800s. Folklore has it that one of the brothers was a concrete mason by trade and the other was a citrus farmer. There is still a concrete watering trough on the property from those days. At one time, this property was also planted with many lemon trees. Back in that day, valley cattle ranchers would drive their cattle through this country to the coast, where ships from all over would be waiting to buy the cows.
The Bowman brothers were quite ingenious, as you would have to be to survive in that country in those times. Folklore also has it that they had rigged up some sort of battery operated cooler/refrigerator and that cowboys “in the know”, running cattle to the coast, would come by this ranch to get some cold, fresh lemonade in the heat of summer.
By the early/mid 1900s, the brothers were getting to old to keep farming and neither had anyone to pass the ranch on to, so it was sold cheap to someone with little farming interest. After this point, the ranch lay dormant and exchanged hands several times until the early 1990s when a farming couple bought the land as a retirement “nest egg.” She worked in the wine grape business for years and he was a wine grape farmer, who had worked near by for years. Having a solid working knowledge of this country, they realized wine grapes and specifically Cabernet Sauvignon, would grow well in this location. Hence, the original 22.5 acre planting contract with Meridian that was put in 1996/1997.
Fast-forward to 2001 where retirement time arrived and the ranch was sold and is known today as Last Frontier Vineyards.
