A.W. Baxter was a California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

n winemaker

Winemaker

A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:*Cooperating with viticulturists...

 who founded Veedercrest Vineyards which competed in the Judgment of Paris wine tasting. The Veedercrest entrant was Baxter's first commercial vintage Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

. He began buying grapes and making wine in the basement of his home in the Berkeley hills. He then acquired land on Mt. Veeder in Napa and planted a vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon funded by selling limited partnership shares. Eventually the wine making volume outgrew his home and at the suggestion of one of the limited partners, C. R. Nelson, he moved his winemaking to a thick walled concrete building at the by then closed Shell Shell Development

Shell Development Emeryville

The Emeryville Research Center of Shell Development Company in Emeryville, California was the major research facility of Shell Oil Company in the United States from 1928 to 1966...

 Companies' Emeryville research lab. The business failed when the winery's distributor dropped prices to work off excess inventory. His wife Gail Fleming was one of the 25 people who died in the 1991 Oakland firestorm