The Owners

Niels and Bimmer Udsen — Founders

Niels and Bim­mer have struc­tured Cas­toro Cel­lars to reflect their val­ues and have devel­oped an approach­able and envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious brand. Niels’ father was a native of Den­mark who immi­grat­ed to Amer­i­ca in the late 1940s. A farmer turned suc­cess­ful busi­ness­man, he taught Niels about both the agri­cul­tur­al and busi­ness worlds. The two made many trips from their home in Ven­tu­ra, Cal­i­for­nia, to Den­mark where Niels and Bim­mer first met at the ages of 9 and 7 respectively.

Niels’ inter­est in the wine indus­try sparked dur­ing a senior mar­ket­ing project while study­ing Agri­cul­tur­al Busi­ness Man­age­ment at Cal Poly for a local win­ery. Niels and Bim­mer were mar­ried in 1981 and Niels began work­ing in the wine cel­lar of Estrel­la Riv­er Win­ery. For the next five years, under the direc­tion of Estrella’s then wine­mak­er, Tom Myers, he learned all aspects of wine­mak­ing from the ground up.

In 1983, Niels and Bim­mer decid­ed to launch their own brand. The Cas­toro Cel­lars label was estab­lished with a laid-back, warm and wel­com­ing style. Show­cas­ing their sense of humor, the win­ery was named for the Ital­ian trans­la­tion of Niels’ long-time nick­name, ​“Beaver,” thus prompt­ing the mot­to ​“Dam Fine Wine.” 

Niels and Bim­mer have shaped Cas­toro Cel­lars into a busi­ness that mir­rors their own fam­i­ly-ori­ent­ed val­ues. They offer a fam­i­ly-friend­ly tast­ing room, serv­ing alco­hol-free Zin­fan­del Grape Juice. Addi­tion­al­ly, they offer their employ­ees a busi­ness envi­ron­ment that under­stands the flex­i­bil­i­ty nec­es­sary for rais­ing a family.