The Captain family has been living in Moraga, California sine January 1989, at that time the family consisted of Sal,  Susan, Alexander and David.  Captain Senior, Salah was head of the Mechanical Engineering group at Siemens Medical Systems. Joseph, the third son, was born the day we moved into our home. With 4 boys, a new home, new neighborhood, almost 5 Acres of land, Susan was overwhelmed and had the idea of gainfully occupying the energies of her young men. During the following year, most of the shrubs, including Poison Oak, and dead trees were cleared, and our delightful daughter Sara was born!

After few visits to the nearby Napa Valley, the idea for a Captain Family vineyard took root. Susan attended several Soil Science and Management courses at Diablo Valley College and a number of viticulture classes at UC Davis and Santa Rosa college, she is easily proclaimed as the ultimate viticulturist in Lamorinda. With more research about the Moraga climate and soil, we found that we live in an area that is as close to the heavens for vines; and one can easily add humans, as could be.
In 2005, approx. 1500 Petite Sirah, 500 Pinot Noir, 500 Cabernet Franc and 500 Petite Verdot certified vines went into the hillside. The vines did so well, by 2007, we added further 500 vines, a combination of Petite Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Implementing the European hillside style of planting that affords healthy stress and competition between vines, we used the 3X5 feet layout. Each vine is treated like a child, maintained and loved.

In 2008 Salah finally retired as the Global VP of R&D from Covidien Medical, and concentrated all his efforts into the wine making. The Captain winery came into Bonding in May 2009, that year's harvest netted 12,800 lbs. making approximately 10 barrels of wine to be released in 2011.

Today Captain Vineyards is fully sustainable, environmentally friendly, and the first Green Winery in Contra Costa County.