Sandra Jordan emerges from a barn dressed in a red shirt, khakis and a straw hat. A basket of freshly harvested leeks and fava beans hangs from one arm. It's not the first impression you'd expect from a woman knee-deep in financing, branding and development of The Sandra Jordan Collection, a high-end line of wine country-inspired objets d'art, classic clothing and jewelry.

But if there are burdens associated with running a household, acting as marketing director for Jordan Vineyard & Winery and starting a new business, the Peruvian-born Sonoma resident gives no indication. As she interweaves a tour of her home with stories of travel, history and the inspiration behind her new retail venture, the former head of foreign languages at a private San Francisco high school shows the calm assuredness of a tenured professor.

"Wine country design and lifestyle are about the juxtaposition of the gifts of the California soil with manmade beauty, where the outdoors and indoors come together," says Jordan. "My inspiration for products comes from entertaining - my surroundings, gardening and cooking."

Around every corner of Sandra and Tom Jordan's home, a California interpretation of a New England white clapboard residence, is a memento that Jordan has integrated in the surroundings, and in some cases included in her retail collection. A patinaed 18th-century Tole lavabo (cistern) that she found in France adorns the small dining room, where French-inspired dinners are often prepared by Jordan winery chef Udo Nechutnys, the original Domaine Chandon restaurant chef. The cistern, she says, jump-started her study of the design and historical context of French painted tin home and garden accessories-and she decided to create an enhanced reproduction of the antique.

In the living room, which feels as though some living really occurs in it, Jordan shows off an 18th-century rafraichissoir, or wine-tasting table, with Louis XV legs on casters. The Paris find, which became a reproduction, complements her notion that the Jordan line has "some wine relationship, but also a dual function." The refined new and aged cherry, walnut and oak wood table with a veined marble top and two recessed metal wine pails is as decorative as it is useful. "When the rafraichissoir is not in use for wine service," she points out, "the zinc pails can hold beautiful potted plants and other things."

You can learn a lot about the Jordans' life by touring the grounds. In the backyard, memories of a trip to Italy are embodied by chestnut trees, which were planted after Jordan noted their beauty in Tuscany. A visit to Modena, Italy, is commemorated by a bateria (where balsamic vinegar ages in various wood barrels) in a rustic red barn, which doubles as a favorite Thanksgiving venue. The terraced garden-an abundance of rhododendrons, lavender, irises and vegetables contained by rough-hewn wood fences-epitomizes farm-fresh wine country. Chickens cluck from the hen house, escargot gnaw on fresh lettuce in their terrarium, bees busily produce Jordan honey, and dogs-three Labrador retrievers and a German shepherd-bound around a grassy clearing between naps.

Jordan seems fearless about submerging herself in the world of high-end retail. She was once a department store buyer and has taken a few classes in an MBA program and some in marketing, but one could argue that her new line was a side effect of her problem-solving abilities. "There's a limited quantity of antiques for decanting available," she says when discussing how her resurrection of old-world wine accouterments began. "I did not use my decanters even though I liked having them because they were very hard to dry." Seeing an opportunity, she produced a wine funnel and decanter dryer designed to be beautiful and functional. Later, the shape of tasting cups intrigued her. After scouring European flea markets, auction houses and wine museums, she found her inspiration for her own rendition in Bordeaux's Museum of Decorative Arts.

At Jordan Vineyard & Winery, her dedication to a higher form of wine-related entertainment is exhibited in, as she puts it, "everything visual," which includes the wine-tasting program. There's no crowding at the bar here. Guests arrive by reservation for a tour of the winemaking facilities and grounds and a tasting held in the wine library. More like an oak-paneled study of a wealthy friend, this is the room where guests savor highly regarded Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. It is also an opportunity to browse Sandra Jordan Collection silver and furnishings, which are never merchandised out of context but instead are part of the dcor or wine service.

One look at her $5,700 wine cooler and it's not hard to believe the design of the 68.5-gram, hand-hammered Peruvian sterling silver bucket took over two years to perfect and included multiple trips abroad for Jordan, who worked with Peruvian and European silversmiths. She's also responsible for the modern interpretation of an antique Alsatian grape-picking bin ($650), which she often tops with glass and uses as a table; one New York client turned it into a pedestal for a wine-cellar sink. Her beautiful Burgundian tole bins ($920 each) hold enormous dried flower arrangements throughout the winery.

Visitors can also browse her collection of baby Alpaca ruanas (around $900). More glamorous than Pashmina, the rain-resistant, warm yet light wool wraps are designed to complement wine country's casual-chic style. Made from top-grade Peruvian baby alpaca wool, they are superfluously soft, adorned with embroidery or semiprecious stones, and practical in that they don't slip off the shoulders. In keeping with Jordan's perfectionist approach, she studied double-relief embroidery techniques of the 1600s and personally retrained Peruvian embroiderers to ensure the thread delivered the best sheen.

With an expanding line of collectibles encapsulating historic craftsmanship and embracing wine country lifestyle, Jordan seems well on her way. Still, she manages to keep things in perspective. She and her husband, Tom, have a house rule, which they follow with surprising regularity. At 5 p.m., they call it a day, meet on the patio overlooking their tranquil farmhouse property and take time to enjoy each other's company over a glass of wine.

Selections from The Sandra Jordan Collection are available at Jordan Vineyard & Winery, 1474 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg, California; 707.431.5250. Also available at the Ritz- Carlton San Francisco, 600 Stockton St., San Francisco; 415.364.3494 and the Ritz- Carlton Half Moon Bay, 1 Miramontes Point Road, Half Moon Bay; 650.712.7090.

Sandra Jordan Collection
707.836.9240
Sales@SandraJordan.com