Jerri, with husband and winemaker, Jerry, opened Bernhardt Winery in July 'o5. Both being retired educators, building a new business in the fast growing wine industry came from their desire for learning something new together. This began their passion for learning about wine and winemaking. Traveling the Texas roads on weekends, visiting with the pioneers of the Texas wine industry, and contemplating all the possibilities for the future, they began living their dream.

Jerri's role in the business stems from her love of people and wanting to create a warm and welcoming environment for their guests. Her chief responsibilities include marketing, events planning, organizing wine pairing dinners, and working the daily operations of a business. However, she claims that her true love of owning a winery is working with her husband (the real winemaker) including hands-on winemaking from crushing the grapes to the final bottling process. She prides herself in that she does have a keen nose for wine during the blending process.

Jerri believes that she is far from being a wine connoisseur, but that learning (with a good glass of red wine in hand) sharpens the mind. So, after being a teacher for over 28 years, the love of reading has changed from fiction and biographies to "everything she can get her hands on" about wine! Jerry and Jerri have made a pledge to never bottle any wine until they both agree that it is at its best, which they believe has been a big part of their early success in the wine business.