Like mother, like daughter? Well, not quite.

Given their generational differences, you might at first think Barb and Kristen Spelletich come from different planets.

But, when it comes to wine, they speak the same language, albeit with different inflection, accents and attitude. To oversimplify, Barb – the mom – is a classicist. Kristen – the daughter – likes pushing drinkers’ buttons.

“We’ve always been close,” says 32-year-old Kristen. “We communicate well together. She respects me, and I respect her. We consult with each other all the time.”

“I’m proud of Kristen,” says Barb, who turns 60 this summer.

“She’s done a great job … Her brain is sound. She knows what she’s doing. She’s got a really good palate. It’s different from mine, but, when I’m working on my blends, I’ll have her come in and taste with me. My contemporaries look at our situation and they’ll ask, ‘Don’t you guys fight?’ The truth is, no, we really don’t.”

In the cellar, despite the overt stylistic differences, Barb said: “We vinify the same way. When we get to the blending, there are differences. But what she’s doing is based on good, sound winemaking techniques.”

Adds Kristen: “We’re both true to the varietal. We don’t manipulate the grapes.”

Further, they strongly agree on having the patience to bottle-age.

The Spelletich red blend on the shelf at Spec’s today is a 2004 ($25). The Spell red blend is a 2006 ($15). They also share boundless affection for Gage, Kristen’s 3-year-old son. Barb’s wines wear the Spelletich label, traditional and elegant in appearance. Kristen’s Spell labels are jarringly colorful and abstract and carry names like Severed Head Red and Spellonu. (A meet-in-the-middle lineup of wines called Three Spells is on the way.)

Kristen admits her angle is a marketing device, fully intended to target her peer group.

“I couldn’t believe anyone would be drawn to a wine only because of the label,” Barb said. “But the young drinkers, which she was targeting, were.”

“Spell is geared around Millennials,” Kristin said. (People in) my generation are visual buyers. The label, the price point, that’s what’s important to us. We don’t read reviews.”

The last major disagreement they had was when Kristen was still a teenager.

Barb, a wine-seller and importer in Seattle then, insisted that Kristen learn the business from the outside in so she sent her daughter to work for other folks for 10 years before allowing her to return to the family’s winery.

“I resented it at the time,” said Kristen, whose first job was taking reservations for the famed French Laundry in Yountville.

“But it was the best thing. I was able to bring a lot back with me to our business.”

Explains Barb: “I thought it would instill a work ethic she couldn’t get from me. I’ve known too many kids in the wine business, in lots of businesses, whose parents paved the way for them. Kristen went out, worked hard and learned. She can even fix things that are broken in the winery.”

The bottom line, as Barb and Kristen prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day Sunday with Barb’s cellar-master husband Timothy and, of course, Gage?

1 Barb: “She’s not just my daughter. She’s somebody I work with, but somebody I really like working with. Sure, I’m older. I know more history, more stuff. But I don’t know everything. I respect Kristen’s opinions.”

1 Kristen: “She’s my mother and I love her. We’re the two biggest support systems in each other’s lives.”

For details on upcoming wine dinners, tastings and classes, go to 29-95.com/wine. To have your events listed, email the information to dale.robertson@chron.com. And follow Robertson on Twitter @sportywineguy.