About Keep

Keep is a partnership between Johanna Jensen and Jack Roberts. The wife and husband team of two passionate winemakers who focus on producing under a thousand cases total of two blends and four varietals, all sourced from organically farmed vineyards that would be classified by Northern California growers as the hidden gems of the region including the Mayacamas range, the corners of Napa Valley and the Sacramento River Delta.

Jack Roberts’ early life in the UK and France instilled a love of wine and that brought him to California to the US for an internship. Upon arrival, he met his future wife, Johanna Jensen who went on to work with Abe Schoener of the Scholium Project and Chris Brocway of Broc Cellars. Eventually Roberts became Steve Matthiasson’s assistant winemaker. The husband and wife team’s first collaboration was inspired by an available ton of Albariño in 2009 and then the couple were given an opportunity by Brocway to farm a small block of Syrah at the southern tip of the Mayacamas range in 2011.

The project continued to grow, and in 2016 they were named San Francisco Chronicles Winemakers to Watch, and have been fortunate to be graced with articles from Bon Appetit, Boston Globe, Bloomberg, Vigneron Magazine & Decanter Magazine to name a few. Since then, Jensen and Roberts have consistently made wine together in a collaborative fashion, sharing a common style of picking for lower alcohol levels, minimal manipulation and great ageability.

Roberts currently farms a few of the source vineyards that are certified organic. The remainder of the fruit comes from other organic vineyards, most of those are certified and the remainder practicing. The winemaking is minimal intervention with spontaneous fermentations without inoculation and the only additions are small quantities of sulfur to ensure stability. Generally, the wines are not fined or filtered.