About the winemaker, Sandor Faludi:

I was born and raised in Hungary, in the middle of a wine region where almost every family had a little vineyard and made their own wine. My grandfather was a winemaker and viticulturist, so from a young age I helped out around the family vineyard and winery. At 18, I opened my own tree nursery business, growing saplings, and selling plants & grape vines. When I met my wife Sabrina, she introduced me to another part of wine culture. My family never served wine with dinner (except on special occasions), and on our first date, she opened a bottle of white to go with dinner. I thought it a bit odd, but I went with it. Then, on our second date, she opened up a different bottle to go with dinner, and I thought, does she have a problem? Wine has since become an engrained part of our everyday life. It makes our dinners special, inspires our travels, and introduces us to great people. We became true wine enthusiasts, trying all different kinds of wine, joining wine clubs, and we even started a blog on wine tourism.

A few years later, I decided to go back to school to formally study winemaking and viticulture in Villány, one of the most famous wine regions in Hungary. After working for a few different wineries in Hungary, my wife and I moved to Santa Rosa, California in 2010, where I learned even more about vineyard management and winemaking techniques. I got a job as an assistant winemaker at Derbès Wines, where it was my responsibility to care for their 5-acre family vineyard in the heart of the Russian River Valley. I also had the opportunity to work at a biodynamic winery in Napa, spending a harvest at Quintessa. I believe the best way to learn about wine is to get out there—work, learn, and taste at as many different wineries as possible.

Every role in winemaking is important, and we all have so much to offer! While I was working in California, I began to dream about starting my own winery. We lived in Santa Monica at the time and I started making wine and beer in my small garage, which opened onto the alley. Every time I rolled up the garage door, one of my neighbors would inevitably come over to see what I was doing, and of course taste some wine and beer. We became pretty popular, and by the time the first harvest rolled around, all of our neighbors—and my very pregnant wife—were helping me de-stem one ton of grapes by hand! I felt like I was in the middle of the Prohibition Era, and my garage was a speakeasy bar. It was then and there that I decided to name my future winery Prohibition Cellars.

In 2016, we made our first trip to Washington and were amazed by the wines coming out of the region. I felt a big opportunity coming. Later that year, we packed our bags and moved to Woodinville, WA. When we bought our house, the first thing I did was make our garage a licensed winery: Prohibition Cellars. We made our first two vintages there (2017 and 2018), and in 2019, we moved our production to the Woodinville Warehouse District. We opened our official tasting room and sold our first bottle of wine on January 16th, 2020, the 100th anniversary of Prohibition.