Our property comprises 20 acres and is located right beside 360 acres of rolling state land for unobstructed mountain views.  Currently five arces are planted with seven different varietals.  We have plans to plant another three acres or so, but we're learning more about viticulture before we "outrun our headlights".  (Get going so fast, we loose our light, loose track of what we're doing and start making mistakes).
     Our first plantings were July 2005, when we put in one acre each of Syrah and Tempranillo.  Of course, this meant over 1500 grapestakes had to be driven by post pounder, over 120 end posts driven in by tractor, and miles, yes miles, of trellising wire strung.  That was just for the trellising-the irrigation infrastructure was another huge task.  Vineyards can be hard work!
     The following May, we added 1.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, one acre of Merlot, about a half acre of Cabernet Franc, and about a quarter acre of Petite Verdot..  You might have noticed all six of those varietals are red.  That's because I hadn't found a stand out white I liked well enough to attempt making.  White wines are certainly more challenging than red to make, so it was important to me to choose a white I really liked.  Sorry folks, that's not Chardonnay-besides there's lots of other talented winemakers out there making some fine Chardonnay-I wanted something new and unique.  
     Kevin and I had an opportunity to try a white wine from Spain and really enjoyed it.  Albariño (Galician) or Alvarinho (Portuguese) is grown in Galicia (northwest Spain) and northern Portugal.  We planted 70 little Albariño vines to see how they would do here in Sonoita.  We were delighted to find it does just fine!   In July 2008, we planted another 200 vines of Albariño and plan to plant an additional 800 in Spring '09.
     Kristian and Kassandra are huge helpers, and make the Wilhelm Family Vineyards name quite accurate.  They help plant, cover, trellils, prune and most certainly harvest.   We even get their friends involved and have a great time.  Our Wine Enthusiast and Winemaker's Club members also have a standing invitation to join us for harvest!  We plan on Harvest Festivals with food, music and drink in the future.  Sound like fun?