Ann Wofford had worked in wine tasting rooms for years before meeting her husband, Paul.

“He’d been a winemaker for 26 years, and we married 23 years ago,” Wofford recalls, adding wryly, “He came with the package.” Eight years ago, the pair, along with Wofford’s brother-in-law, founded Wofford Acres Vineyards (wavwines.com) in Camino. After taking on her new role as the “face” of the company, Wofford quickly began to pursue her passion for community outreach. She joined the El Dorado Women’s Fund and involved the winery in a variety of charitable events with proceeds going to breast cancer research and local nonprofits including MORE (Mother Lode Rehabilitation Enterprises), an organization that assists adults with disabilities. The last weekend of this month, as part of the Apple Hill Growers Association, the winery will participate in “Apple Blossom Festival,” an outdoor event in support of prostate cancer research.

Wofford is also the mother of a son with Asperger’s syndrome, and the experience taught her many crucial life lessons that fueled her desire to make a difference in the community. “It taught me to be more patient,” Wofford explains. “How to step back and look outside (my) needs for the moment and look at other people’s.”

For more about Ann Wofford, and other local happenings and information, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style – El Dorado County Foothills edition. Click on the Get Your Copy link on this Web site for some of our newsstand locations; click on the Subscribe link on this Web site to become a regular subscriber, or to order a copy of this issue or one of our back issues, please email  [email protected], or call 916-988-9888.