Travel and lifestyle guide USA Today 10Best recently released a roundup of the “10 best small towns in the West.” From the mountain ranges of Utah to the Oregon coast, one Sonoma County locale shined as a must-visit for small-town luxe: Healdsburg.

The list, curated by a panel of editors and voted on by readers, highlights charming, scenic western towns with diverse offerings for locals and visitors. Clinching the No. 3 spot, Healdsburg ranked on the 10Best list for its “award-winning wineries, farm-to-table dining and a walkable town square.”

It’s not the first time (nor will it be the last) that the north county town of just over 11,000 people was lauded by national publications. Condé Nast Traveler ranked Healdsburg among the best cities in the United States (for the second time) in October 2024. A year prior, Travel + Leisure magazine called it “the jewel of California Wine Country.”

From foodies and wine lovers to outdoor enthusiasts, people can find plenty to do in the delightful town of Healdsburg. Here’s where to start:

Dining

Healdsburg’s dining scene might be one of the biggest draws of this Sonoma County town. The three-Michelin-starred SingleThread restaurant consistently ranks among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. And SingleThread alums Melissa Yanc and Sean McGaughey started their own wildly successful bakery, Quail & Condor, which The New York Times named among the best in the country.

Aside from the highly publicized eateries, other Healdsburg restaurants are worth their share of praise. For breakfast, it’s hard to go wrong with the new Acorn Cafe, which boasts an inspired tiramisu French toast, a Seussian green eggs and ham, and the fattest pancakes ever. Lunchtime is a breeze — head to Iggy’s Organic Burger for a solid burger (and side of Angela’s Organic ice cream), or The Parish Cafe for Louisiana-inspired po’boys on Costeaux French bread.

For dinner, bring a partner to the hidden gem Guiso Latin Fusion for Salvadoran pupusas and Caribbean paella. In search of great cocktails to enjoy with dinner and friends? Chef Dustin Valette’s epic three-story restaurant and cocktail bar, The Matheson and Roof 106, has you covered with an ever-changing menu and a rooftop cocktail lounge.

Wine

Healdsburg is awash with tasting rooms pouring Wine Country’s finest, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend an arm and a leg to get a taste of the good life. The unassuming Arnot-Roberts tasting room, hidden in an industrial setting off Healdsburg Avenue, pours uncommon wine varieties (like Trousseau and Falanghina) at a shaded, rustic tasting bar. Tastings are $45 per person.

For last-minute weekends plans, J Vineyards & Winery offers its Signature Tasting flight ($35 per person) daily, no reservations necessary (except for groups of six or more). This summer, the winery will host its Bubbles & Beignets event (July 6), serving up fresh beignets paired with estate wines — a great primer for Bastille Day (July 14).

Recreation

With premium access to the Russian River, Healdsburg’s Veterans Memorial Beach gets tons of action as the weather heats up. Beachgoers can partake in sunbathing, swimming and paddling — made even more accessible via the nearby Rivers Edge Kayak & Canoe Trips, offering watercraft rentals as well as guided paddle trips.

People can enjoy the area’s classic redwoods at Riverfront Regional Park, which features hiking, biking and horseback riding trails around a scenic lake. It’s also a great place for a large group picnic — grab all the provisions you need at Big John’s Market.

With the town’s vast assortment of eateries, wineries, art galleries and more, there are endless possibilities for a perfect day in Healdsburg.

The post Healdsburg Named Among Best Small Towns in the West by USA Today appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

“It was serendipitous,” says Sam Bilbro of the first time he met David Drummond back in 2018. Drummond, the retired chief legal officer of Google and a former football wide receiver at Santa Clara University, had recently realized a lifelong dream by purchasing a 550-acre ranch in Sonoma. But there was a problem.

“It was 2019 and the grape glut had set in,” says Drummond. “I didn’t have any long-term contracts, so it was a very lean year for me.”

Bilbro, who specializes in Italian-style winemaking, convinced Drummond to take a leap into the Italian wines they both loved. They regrafted the entire vineyard over to 46 different types of Italian grapes, many of which are quite rare in California. Six years later, and the vines are thriving. Now, the two partners are diving headlong into a new venture called Overshine Wine Co., showcasing a trio of distinct brands.

In June, Drummond purchased Idlewild from Bilbro, who has stayed on as managing partner and winemaker. Drummond also bought Armida Winery, reimagining it as Overshine, a name inspired by the hip-hop band Onyx, and their newest label, Comunità, recently made its debut.

If wine brands were musical bands

“Overshine might be Sly and the Family Stone, maybe updated with a hip-hop beat,” says Drummond, whose brother Ray Drummond is a well-known jazz drummer. “And Comunità would be more of a blend of what formed me musically, something like Robert Glasper, a jazz guy who leans heavily on soul and hip-hop.”
At the other end of the spectrum, “Idlewild would be the Clash,” says Bilbro.

Everybody under the tent

“The ethos of Overshine as a company is about openness, diversity and welcoming folks,” Drummond says. “Fine wine is sometimes exalted in a way that makes it seem not accessible to lots of people. So, we talk about doing that differently, using cultural signposts, whether it’s music, or the way we talk about wine, or the way we talk about our place, to make it clear that everybody is welcome…We’ll talk about how it feels to drink the wine, how it feels to be out there on the patio on a sunny day, listening to Grover Washington Jr.”

Introducing Overshine

“In reworking the tasting room, and fully remodeling the interior, we want it to be a spot where you want to come and spend your afternoon,” Bilbro says. “You’re not here for a transactional experience, standing at the bar, and then you get out of here. It’s more about: you come sit on the couch and lounge and enjoy your time and listen to some music, and have some great wines, and really enjoy that slice of the good life.”

2201 Westside Road, Healdsburg, 707-433-2222, overshinewines.com

The post These Healdsburg Vintners Want To Give You a Slice of the Good Life appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Julie Rothberg launched Odyssey Wine Academy at Healdsburg’s Bacchus Landing in 2021 to provide classes with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, or WSET, an internationally recognized certification pursued by many industry professionals. As president of Medlock Ames winery, Rothberg knows that the formal study of wine makes good business sense — not only for those who work in tasting rooms and other hospitality roles, but also for those who work in the vineyard.

Medlock Ames co-founder Ames Morison agrees. “Our vineyard team has such incredible site knowledge. They understand every idiosyncrasy of the vineyard and how that influences the fruit,” Morison said. “But they didn’t have a lot of knowledge about wine itself. I wanted to help them understand how their hard work was contributing to the final wine through the WSET’s universally recognized training.”

But finding a local WSET teacher fluent in Spanish was difficult. So Morison, who is fluent in Spanish, decided to become a WSET-certified instructor. And in August 2023, Morison taught his first course to a group of Medlock Ames vineyard employees.

Agustin Santiago is a vineyard manager who has worked at Medlock Ames for 24 years. He was one of the first to complete the six-hour program.

“The class helped me learn how to taste wine and understand the flavors,” said Santiago. “It also helped me understand the aromas in the wine and what techniques I can use in the vineyard to improve those aromas. It will help me in my career because it improved my understanding of wine and opened my mind to new opportunities.”

The class experience was enlightening, but there were also some obstacles.

“One of the challenges I didn’t anticipate is that many of the students had never taken a formal exam,” said Rothberg.

With WSET’s standardized curriculum and mandatory 30-question exam, there was little Rothberg could do to modify the course for nontraditional learners.

Rothberg and Morison are now partnering with Sonoma County Winegrowers to develop a new, customized course targeted specifically to local vineyard workers, with Morison as the instructor. They hope to launch the partner program within the next year.

“These classes will be really geared toward native Spanish-speakers who live in the community and may or may not work in wine,” said Rothberg. “For those who do work in wine, these classes can help them communicate with other Spanish speakers who may understand things better in their native tongue. We talk a lot about diversity and inclusion in the wine industry, but there are few resources for Spanish speakers.”

In addition to the customized course, Rothberg and Morison would like to continue to offer the WSET Level 1 class in Spanish as an option for those interested in formal certification. For Francisco López, co-owner of Bacchus Landing and Aldina Vineyards in Healdsburg, these options fill a critical niche in the community.

“It’s important we create these types of programs to educate people who have been historically overlooked — especially in our community where many Spanish speakers work behind the scenes in the wine industry,” said López. “Hopefully, these classes can help foster a more equitable and inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds can thrive.”

Rothberg is looking forward to this next chapter. “I do this because I feel strongly about wine education and creating access for our community,” said Rothberg. “The more people know about wine, the better. It’s really a labor of love.”

odysseywineacademy.com

This article is a shortened version of a Press Democrat story. Read the full story here.

The post Odyssey Wine Academy Offers Wine Education in Spanish To Meet Community Need appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

For years, Dan Marioni of Marioni Wine and Aaron Brown, co-owner of Bardos Cider, have traveled up and down the West Coast and internationally to campaign for the love of natural wine and cider. It’s been a political movement of sorts for the distinct style, made most often with no added yeast or other inputs and sustainable farming in the vineyard.

But despite all its low-intervention, back-to-the-land ambitions, natural wine can get a bad rap at times.

“The biggest misunderstanding is that natural wine is inherently funky, weird — you know, not wine anymore,” says Marioni. “It doesn’t mean that your Chardonnay all of a sudden turns into kombucha.”

On one of their tours, it dawned on Brown and Marioni that, coming from the wine-loving community of Sonoma, they shouldn’t need to travel to New York and Europe and Mexico to campaign for their labors. So now they have their very own campaign headquarters: Dos’ Bar. Dos’ started as a renegade pop-up and moveable feast around Sonoma. Now it has found new life in a brick-and-mortar space just off the Sonoma Plaza.

The term “tasting room” or “salon” isn’t quite right for the vibe this crew is cultivating. Located in a former Odd Fellows Hall, the rustic bar evokes backroad wineries or mythic California roadhouses with dollar bills hanging from low ceilings — think Washoe House with orange wine instead of PBR. The shelves are made of church pews found in a horse stable, repurposed and refinished by hand.

Nearly a dozen collaborators are featured, all part of the new guard of natural winemaking in the region. They include Anne Disabato and Noelle Vandendriessche at Etteilla Wines, Isabella Morano at Isa Wines, David Rothschild at Las Vivas, Caleb Leisure of Caleb Leisure Wines, Jack Sporer at Fres.Co, Matt Neiss at North American Press, and Brent Mayeaux at Stagiaire Wine.

This harvest, Dos’ is the place where these winemakers, who normally live in the cellar for months on end, have a place to lean against the bar — which means wine tasters looking to connect with winemakers during harvest also find refuge.

And since Brown is a storyteller above all else, when you walk into Dos’ Bar you might see shoutouts to anyone from Modoc chief Captain Jack Kintpuash and outlaw Joaquin Murrieta to rapper Mac Dre and organic farmer Amigo Bob Cantisano.

“Dos is like a character,’’ he says. “So, we see ourselves as docents of these stories. We’re not taking credit for the stories, but we’re here to steward and foster and amplify the storytelling.”

Dos’ Bar, 521 Broadway, Sonoma. Open noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Thursday. 707-933-6999, dos-bar.com

The post Dos’ Bar in Sonoma Is a Dream Destination for Natural Winemakers and Their Fans appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Barn owls are the sole vineyard workers to take no note of harvest season. From their perspective up in tree hollows, barn lofts and custom nest boxes mounted on poles, the rows of vines laden with ripe fruit are of little interest.

They’re focused instead on the ground below, where their work is done and their food — rodents — is found. A family of barn owls may eat more than 1,000 in a single season. That translates into a lot of critters that won’t be feasting on the tasty (so we hear) roots of grapevines.

Kelsey Reidinger of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue says that roughly half of the 40 or so new nest boxes installed annually through its 13-year-old Barn Owl Maintenance Program (BOMP), are placed in vineyards.

“Because gophers can cause such issues for winegrape growers, barn owls are attractive to vintners,” she says.

The other half of the group’s owl boxes go into other types of agricultural fields. Either way, the real winner is the region’s overall ecological balance. Barn owls are natural predators of gophers, and our open landscapes are their natural habitat. That’s why they’re called barn owls, after all: They tend to find shelter there, surrounded by farmland.

Barns and fields mimic the tree cavities in grasslands and savannas to which they’re adapted. (Great horned owls, also common countywide, prefer more wooded areas.) Resident owls also forestall the need for rodent poisons, which can be counterproductive by also killing predators.

Though barn owls don’t give a hoot about harvest, late summer and early fall are important for other reasons. This is when juvenile owls, at their own ripe old age of two months, fledge from the nest. And it’s when vacant owl boxes must be thoroughly cleaned, another service that Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue provides.

“After they’re born, these owls are doing all of their business inside of the box, and they do no housekeeping,” Reidinger explains. “Over the 60 days that they’re in the box, it leads to inches of material.”

After all, a clean owl box is a healthy owl box, and a healthy barn owl is worth more than its weight in fine wine.

To learn more about the Barn Owl Maintenance Program or determine if your property is right for a barn owl box, visit scwildliferescue.org/bomp or call 707-992-0274.

The post Barn Owls Are Helping Sonoma County Winegrowers This Harvest, and They Really Don’t Give a Hoot appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Pluck a fat grape from its cluster, pop it into your mouth, and bite down gently — the sweet, smooth juiciness is the taste of early fall. Thin-skinned table grapes, in contrast to their thicker-skinned winemaking cousins, offer bright acidity, few if any seeds, and enchanting names like Perlette, Princess and Flame. Colors range from rosy pink to icy green to deep blue-black.

Table grapes are wonderful on pizza and other flatbreads. And have you ever tried grilling them? Pull them off the bunch, pop them in a grill basket and roast over the grill for a few minutes, then serve with feta cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and crusty bread.

Table grapes play beautifully in this easy white gazpacho, which has been part of early Spanish food culture since long before the tomato arrived in Europe. This version, made with bread, garlic, almonds and peppery olive oil, is finished with sliced table grapes and Marcona almonds — a welcome first course at the fall table.

Ajo Blanco

Serves 4-6

5 to 6 ounces sturdy sourdough bread, a few days old, in chunks

6 plump garlic cloves, peeled

Hot water

1 cup raw almonds, blanched and peeled

4 tbsp. sherry vinegar

1 tsp. hot Spanish paprika

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

6 tbsps. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

3/4 cup sliced seedless table grapes

1/3 cup toasted and salted Marcona almonds

Place the bread in a deep bowl and add room-temperature water to cover. Set aside for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Put the garlic into a small bowl, cover with hot water and set aside for the same amount of time.

When the bread is very soft, squeeze out as much water as possible and put the wet bread into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Drain the garlic and add to the bread, along with the blanched almonds and sherry vinegar. Add 1 cup room-temperature water to the mixture and pulse several times, until the mixture is quite smooth. (Soaking the bread, then squeezing out the water, then adding water back in gives the soup a velvety texture.)

Add the paprika, season generously with salt, and add several turns of pepper. Pulse several more times, then, as the machine is processing, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream.

Taste the soup and adjust to your taste.

Add a bit more vinegar if not tart enough, or a bit more olive oil if too tart. Try a bit more salt or pepper to help the flavors bloom.

Set a strainer over a deep bowl, pour the soup into it and use a sturdy wooden spoon or pestle to press as much of the liquid through as possible. Discard what is left behind. Cover the soup, and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

To serve, pour the chilled soup into small bowls and add a swirl of olive oil to each portion. Top with sliced grapes and toasted almonds and enjoy right away.

The post Here’s What To Do with That Bag of Grapes appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Dry Creek Valley’s sprawling Preston Farm & Winery is an oasis of fruit and flowers beside a meandering, salmon-spawning stream. Visitors often hear a symphony of birds, singing and chattering and fluttering their joy. Yet on this particular warm day, the birds were taking it easy — probably staying cool in the shade of the olive and apple trees. The only sound, to a careful ear, was the meditative hum of thousands of bees, hanging out by the front entrance to their hives.

Bees are smart, says Sonoma County Bee Company owner Candice Koseba. They increase their population rapidly in late spring and forage for nectar and pollen at warp speed while there are lots of things in bloom. That’s in anticipation of chilly winter, when the bees hunker in their hives, dining on the food they’ve stored in their honeycomb from earlier in the year. A spell of scorching heat is good reason for the bees to chillax for a bit.

Such seasonal sensibilities mean the best time for beekeepers to gently harvest honey is in the fall, when the sweet stuff is especially abundant and beekeepers can be sure to leave enough in reserve to help ensure the hive makes it through winter.

Autumn is the only time you’ll find Koseba deep in what she calls her “honey crush.” She will have spent the previous weeks visiting her hives and collecting heavy, fragrant frames of honeycomb. Then she ever-so-carefully brings them into what she calls her “sugar shack,” a tidy cottage workshop at the entrance to Preston Farm.

A honey crush is an uncommon thing, left to boutique (or some might say, obsessive) specialists. Most commercial honey is extracted by placing saturated honeycombs into a centrifuge machine, which spins and removes the honey en masse. In contrast, Koseba works like a masseuse, placing her frame bins atop a strainer tub, then carving out the honeycomb by hand with a 3-inch paring knife. She reaches into the tub with both hands, gently crushing the combs, in a sticky ritual that releases more nutrients.

“When you do it in a spinner, it pulls the honey out — but when you crush by hand, the honey sinks down through all that beautiful comb,” she says. “The wax is covered in pollen, and the comb is laced with propolis, so crushed honey keeps a lot more of all the good things.”

Bee pollen, which is gathered from plants and stored in the honeycomb along with the honey, is rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and antioxidants.

Koseba leaves her messy work to let it rest a while, with the amber-hued syrup leisurely dripping into a tap bucket, then does a final pass through a fine strainer.

“When we pour it out, there’s still a lot of wax in it, and there might be bee parts in there, or pieces of wood frame that came from when we were scraping. But this strainer catches all of that,” she says. “Then we bottle it — no heat.”

Regular honey is pasteurized for smoother texture and longer shelf life, but that heat can often destroy some of honey’s healthiest compounds, like the bee pollen and antioxidants, she notes. “Regular” honey can also contain added sweeteners like sugar or corn syrup (though in that case, it must be labeled a blend).

Aficionados can taste the difference. Sonoma County Bee Company honey beckons with a more dynamic but delicate flavor, enchanting with complex notes instead of just sweet through and through.

For all her expertise, every day is a learning experience, Koseba admits. Though she’d trained as an herbalist and chef, she’d never thought much about bees before opening her company in 2019. Back then, she was working with SingleThread owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton as a culinary liaison. She and her husband, chef Aaron Koseba, had first met the Connaughtons after hosting them at a coastal foraging dinner in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

After learning the SingleThread folks wanted to keep bees on the 5-acre Healdsburg farm that feeds their restaurant, Candice Koseba joined the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association and took courses at Santa Rosa Junior College with local bee expert Serge Labesque. Apiarist Rob Keller of Napa Valley Bee Company taught Koseba the theories of sustainable beekeeping, which emphasize strong, locally adapted genetics.

Koseba quickly realized that the happiest bees are Sonoma County’s own wild bees, who are never fed artificial food or antibiotics, evolving to be strong enough to make it on their own. Or, as Keller famously calls them, “bionic bees.”

“They know where the nectar sources are, where the water is, what the weather’s like — they’re adapted, and they’re just better,” Koseba explains.

Soon, she began keeping bees at her house near Dry Creek in a heritage-style log hive, which is as it sounds: a hive from a log with a large hole bored through the center for the bees to make their home.

At first, Koseba harvested honey in her kitchen, but she soon needed more space. She thought of the relationship she’d built with Preston Farm owner Lou Preston while working with SingleThread. Preston had an empty workshop — previously used as a “vinegar shack” — and happily rented it to her. She installed 50 hives nearby and started catching local swarms that area people wanted relocated each spring.

She also learned to steel herself for some hives to dwindle down in winter, as nature takes its course.

“It’s just natural that not every colony is going to survive,” she says. “There are so many environmental factors affecting the bees that are out of our control, but I used to really beat myself up and cry when a colony would die out. It’s like getting a pet, except a lot of them.”

Sonoma County Bee Company is still in its nascent stage, with honey sales limited to 3- or 9-ounce, hand-labeled jars.

There’s no wholesale, because as she explains, “We only harvest honey when there is a surplus, in order to preserve our magnificent honeybee population. When we have honey we have it. When we don’t, we don’t.”

That’s why she waits until October to start her honey crush.

“In August, I’ll start looking at hives, saying, OK, this one looks like we could take soon, this one we have to wait, or this one, no — we can’t take any at all.”

Harvest time is special to Koseba because it’s when she reflects on the partnerships she’s developed with the bees. It’s bonding season with her colonies, in a sense, as she makes the rounds of their hives.

Koseba salutes their labor even after their honey is gently removed, melting the spent wax in a solar heater next to her shack. She handcrafts the wax into gorgeous, honeycomb-patterned candles and honey storage boxes.

“People love that they can serve their honey from the wax cells it came from,” Koseba says.

Now, she is expanding her hives into other areas, to see how they produce. One group that’s doing exceptionally well is in downtown Healdsburg, surrounded by luxurious residential gardens lush with flowers and fruit trees.

“It’s so fun to see my rural bees are the tough nuts, and then my downtown girls are more posh,” she says. “So we can split the bees up for more hives, and keep more of them generating in the areas they like.”

If some people think her raw honey is pricey, Koseba cheerfully shrugs.

“I think honey is an ingredient that needs to be more expensive — like truffles — so people value it more,” she says. “Especially real, raw honey that comes from hives that are treated in the right way. We’re not here to strip their honey, we’re here to celebrate and honor the bees.”

To learn more: Candice Koseba’s annual honey crush happens in October. Her Sonoma County Bee Company offers small-batch raw and creamed wildflower honey, herbal skincare and beeswax home accessories, plus apiary consulting and hive management services.

707-756-6010, sonomacountybeecompany.com

The post Sonoma Beekeeper Dives Into the Fall Season’s Other Crush appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

For the September/October 2024 issue of Sonoma Magazine, our wine team compiled 22 of Sonoma County’s most iconic vineyards, with recommendations of wines to try from each. To get a closer look beyond the vines, meet four winegrowers behind some of the renowned local vineyards.

Everardo Robledo

This year will be the 36th harvest for viticulturist Everardo Robledo, who comes from a family of master grapegrowers in Napa and the Carneros. Alongside David Hirsch and David’s daughter, Jasmine Hirsch, Robledo has farmed this spot vine by vine, dialing in the right combination of cover crop and water and trellising to bring out the essence of place.

“We keep our own philosophy, the Hirsch philosophy. We never go for high yield, no. We have to follow our own way.”

Robledo and his wife raised four children in a redwood-shaded home adjacent to the vineyards that are his life’s work (the kids took one of the longest bus rides in the state to get to school, winding inland for nearly two hours — after a 20-minute drive down from the ridge to the bus stop). Robledo’s youngest son, 17-year-old Ricky, now works at Hirsch alongside his father.

“Sometimes I feel tired,” says Robledo. “But I have in my mind that we have to keep going, to continue to do what we have to do… Burt Williams told me if you have a problem in the vineyard, just think it through. It’s not the same problem every time. You can have a lot of experience, but you’re always learning.”

Steve Dutton

Dutton Ranch

Fifth-generation farmer Steve Dutton has a special bond with the Dutton Ranch vineyard; his dad planted it on the family ranch the same year he was born, in 1967. For more than 35 years, Dutton has farmed his “brother” vineyard, plus more than 60 additional Sonoma County sites. He attributes the vineyard’s distinctive character to its location on an eroded hillside in Green Valley.

“The soil is typical Goldridge sandy loam,” he says, with a clay layer at the bottom. “The Chardonnay gets lots of green apple and high acidity.”

While some growers say they feel anxious at harvest time, Dutton looks forward to the season.

“It is the best time of year, by far, and the most exciting,” he says. “It’s satisfying to make a product that starts out in our field. Then I love to bring people back to the vineyard and say, ‘You’re drinking wine from this field right here.’ Wine is one of the few things that you can trace all the way back to the land.”

Katey Bacigalupi Row

Bacigalupi Vineyards

Katey Bacigalupi Row grew up on her family’s Goddard Ranch, home to the “Paris Tasting” Chardonnay block that helped Chateau Montelena beat its French counterparts in the famous 1976 showdown. Now, as co-manager of Bacigalupi Vineyards with her twin sister Nicole Bacigalupi Dericco, she is involved with everything from daily growing operations to managing the Bacigalupi wine brand.

What makes Goddard Ranch special, she says, is its longevity. “You don’t get old vine Chardonnay very often,” says Row. “It’s not planted in the ideal setting — it’s in a rocky volcanic clay, so the vines struggle a lot.”

While emotions run high at harvest time, Row says it’s worth the effort to see the culmination of the year’s work. “It’s an incredible privilege to [be part of] what my parents and grandparents have worked for.”

Zureal Bernier

Bernier Zinyard

Sometimes, what defines a great vineyard isn’t what the grower does in the field, but what they don’t do.

“We’re not watering and we’re not fertigating. We are not coddling these vines,” says Bernier, who helped plant and develop Bernier Zinyard in Dry Creek Valley with his father, Paul, a longtime practitioner of dry-farming. “They express exactly what they are, which are vines growing from the land in almost a semi-wild manner.”

Born and raised on Bernier Farms, he says the most important thing he’s learned from his dad is to trust in nature.

“We are living in a changing climate, but these vines are strong and resilient,” says Bernier. “It’s easy to worry when it’s 100-plus degrees, but it doesn’t do me any good. It’s better to accept the season as it progresses.”

The post Meet the Growers Behind the Most Iconic Sonoma County Vineyards appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Any winemaker worth their boots will tell you that great wines are made in the field. To work with grapes that have been grown with integrity, and to allow that fruit to express the ineffable qualities of soil and sun and weather, is what winemaking is all about.

If you’re new to wines from Sonoma County, think of this feature as an interesting cross-section of what the county is known for, at all price ranges — a shortcut to worthwhile sites and bottles to try. When you come across one of these vineyards or producers at a local bottle shop or on a restaurant’s wine list, you’re in for an interesting adventure.

Level up by using individual listings to seek out different expressions of a single vineyard from two or more different producers. Open the wines side-by-side, and see what you can taste in the way each winemaker has interpreted those grapes. Wines made from these celebrated sites “wear their dirt,” as we like to say — they bring our region to life.

Hirsch Vineyards

Fort Ross-Seaview AVA, 6 miles northeast of Jenner

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay

Producers: Hirsch Vineyards, Williams Selyem, Twomey

This renowned vineyard wouldn’t exist without the vision of David Hirsch, who bought a former sheep ranch on a remote, windswept ridgetop with a view of the Pacific in 1978 and planted his first vines two years later. As the story goes, Hirsch, who had worked in the fashion business, didn’t necessarily have grapegrowing in mind for the second chapter of his life. A winemaker friend visiting from Santa Cruz told Hirsch that if he planted grapes, the wines could be world-class. The “geologic jumble” of a site, a mile from the San Andreas fault, with 72 planted acres across dozens of different soil types, has been farmed biodynamically since 2011.

“Viticulture is a multi-generational endeavor. My father is going to be 80 next month, and he’s planting new vineyards, and replanting vineyards — and, you know, he’s not doing it for himself. It’s something that you do for the future, not knowing when the peak expression of that vineyard will emerge. Maybe somebody else will make those wines. It’s about getting to be a part of something that is so much bigger than us, and has such a long timescale.” – Jasmine Hirsch, winemaker, Hirsch Vineyards

Three to Try:

Hirsch Vineyards 2021 “San Andreas Fault” Estate Pinot Noir, $65. hirschvineyards.com

Williams Selyem 2021 Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir, $100. williamsselyem.com

Twomey 2021 Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir, $95. twomey.com

Monte Rosso

Moon Mountain AVA, in Sonoma Valley, about 2.5 miles northeast of Agua Caliente

Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillon

Producers: Louis M. Martini, Scribe Winery, Robert Biale Vineyards, Turley Wine Cellars

This storied vineyard — originally called Mount Pisgah — dates back to 1886, when San Francisco grocers Emmanuel Goldstein and Benjamin Dreyfus planted Zinfandel and Sémillon at the site. Some of their original vines are still in production today, and the Sémillon plantings are among the world’s oldest. Louis M. Martini bought the vineyard in 1938 and renamed it Monte Rosso (“red mountain”) for its red volcanic soils. He added Cabernet Sauvignon in 1940 — also still in production — then expanded plantings to include Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Rhône varieties. Gallo bought the 250-acre vineyard in 2022 along with Louis M. Martini Winery.

“Cabernet Sauvignon from Monte Rosso has this beautiful blue fruit quality and floral aspect. The tannins are usually what you expect with mountain fruit or very high elevation fruit — very rustic — but they are much more supple at lower Brix levels. For the style of wines we like to make, which are a little bit lower in alcohol and higher acidity, that’s a perfect match for us.” – Gustavo Sotelo, director of winemaking, Scribe Winery

Three to Try:

Louis M. Martini Winery 2021 Monte Rosso Vineyard Gnarly Vine Zinfandel, $100. louismartini.com

Scribe Winery 2021 Monte Rosso Cabernet Sauvignon, $88. scribewinery.com

Robert Biale Vineyards 2022 Monte Rosso Zinfandel, $85. biale.com

Gap’s Crown

Petaluma Gap AVA, 3.5 miles northeast of Penngrove

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay

Producers: Three Sticks Wines, Sojourn Cellars, Blue Farm Wines, Patz & Hall Winery, Trombetta Family Wines

Many winemakers view this 137-acre hillside vineyard as the crown jewel of the Petaluma Gap appellation. Sitting at an elevation of 300-900 feet, the rocky site is heavily impacted by cooling afternoon winds and fog that flow from the Pacific Ocean through a gap in the coastal mountain range, through the town of Petaluma and south to San Pablo Bay.

Premier Pacific Vineyards developed Gap’s Crown in 2002-2005, and in 2012, Bill Price III of Three Sticks Wines purchased the vineyard. Maritime influence, diverse soils and a range of elevations all contribute to the concentration and balance of Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

“I work with two Pinot Noir clones, Dijon 667 and Dijon 777, and Gap’s Crown showcases them beautifully. The constant breeze helps drive the deep fruit and spicy profile of the wine. What I love about the vineyard is that it always delivers. Even with the fluctuating weather each year, the vines are always balanced and can handle the changes in weather. My Gap’s Crown bottling has a distinct voice and adds a great, full-bodied, slightly more coastal element to my lineup of Pinot Noir.” – Anne Moller-Racke, winegrower and proprietor, Blue Farm Wines

Three to Try:

Three Sticks Wines 2021 Gap’s Crown Chardonnay, $75. threestickswines.com 

Blue Farm Wines 2021 Gap’s Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir, $85. bluefarmwines.com

Sojourn Cellars 2022 Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir, $75. sojourncellars.com

Ritchie Vineyard

Russian River Valley AVA, Eastside Road, 3 miles northeast of Forestville

Chardonnay, Pinot Noir

Producers: DeLoach Vineyards, Arista Winery, DuMOL, Domaine de la Rivière, Woodenhead Vintners, Ramey Wine Cellars

Planted in 1972, Kent Ritchie’s property is iconic for its ancient seabed of sandy Goldridge soil laced with volcanic ash and pockets of tufa rocks. Original vines still thrive here, draping gnarled trunks on rock dappled grounds following the downslope of a volcanic vent jutting up through the sandstone — a rare terroir for Russian River Valley. Winemakers consistently sign up on a wish list to buy more fruit.

“Like all great vineyards, Ritchie has a factor limiting its vigor — in this case, the layer of tuff prevents vine roots from growing too deep (in search of water). Our 20 rows of vines happen to be an alluring field blend of Old Wente and Musqué selections — part of the original 1972 planting — giving the wine structure, balance and aromatic complexity.” – David Ramey, winemaker, Ramey Wine Cellars

Three to Try:

Ramey Wine Cellars 2021 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay, $85. rameywine.com

Woodenhead 2019 Ritchie Vineyard Pinot Noir, $56. woodenheadwine.com

Domaine de la Rivière 2021 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay, $85. domaineriviere.com

Montecillo Vineyard

Moon Mountain AVA, at the top of Nelligan Road, near Glen Ellen

Cabernet Sauvignon

Producers: Stewart Cellars, Bedrock Wine Co., Turley Wine Cellars, Arnot-Roberts, Di Costanzo, Beta Wines, DuMOL

At the top of the Mayacamas Mountains that separate Sonoma from Napa, and topping out at 1,800-2,200 feet, Montecillo has views across the entire northern Sonoma Valley. The site was originally planted in the late 1850s, which invites a sense of awe at the fortitude it took to look up and imagine planting a vineyard at the wild, rocky, windswept mountain summit — entirely by hand. These days, Montecillo’s highly prized mountaintop Cabernet Sauvignon comes from dry-farmed vines that date to the 1960s. Blair Guthrie, winemaker at Stewart Cellars, which purchased Montecillo in 2022, has traced Montecillo’s history and believes his family is only the fourth owner in over 160 years.

“It’s definitely a very magic site. We believe it was planted in 1857, which always blows my mind because California was barely a state. And it blows my mind that people were up on the mountain that early on — viticulture wasn’t really anything back then, and what was existing was all on the valley floor… The other thing is that the vineyard just does really well — it’s a very low-input vineyard. It seems to have this magic terroir where the soil is so rich and giving that the vineyard is just super healthy. Even in difficult years it still produces magic wine.” – Blair Guthrie, winemaker, Stewart Cellars

Three to Try:

Bedrock Wine Co. 2021 Montecillo Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon. bedrockwineco.com

Beta Wines 2018 Montecillo Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. beta-wines.com

DuMOL 2021 Montecillo Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. dumol.com

Las Brisas

Carneros AVA, off Ramal Road in Sonoma

Pinot Noir, Vermentino, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Albariño, Riesling

Producers: Mahoney Family Vineyards, Carneros Ranch, Ryme Cellars, Marine Layer Wines, Bouchaine Vineyards

Francis Mahoney, a champion of Carneros as a prime growing region for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since the 1970s, planted Las Brisas in 1997 at the site of a former dairy farm. Its name pays tribute to the winds that drive morning fog from the vineyards and deliver cooling marine breezes in the late afternoon. These conditions help the grapes mature slowly, with plenty of hang time, resulting in a bright and juicy profile across varieties. Still owned by Mahoney’s Carneros Wine Company, Las Brisas is planted to 91 acres, including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Vermentino, Pinot Blanc, Albariño and Riesling.

“I’ve been a longtime admirer of Francis Mahoney and his willingness to plant alternative white varieties. Being at the southern end of Sonoma County brings a great cooling effect to the vineyard that buffers the warmer temperatures in areas to the north. There’s a great natural acidity in these varieties at this vineyard, and distinct freshness and vibrancy that weaves really well into the Marine Layer style of wines.” – Rob Fischer, winemaker, Marine Layer Wines

Three to Try:

Bouchaine Vineyards 2022 Las Brisas Vineyard Pinot Blanc, $46. bouchaine.com

Mahoney Family Vineyards 2023 Las Brisas Vineyard Albariño, $26. carneroswinecompany.com

Marine Layer Wines 2023 Las Brisas Vineyard Vermentino, $35. marinelayerwines.com

Roberts Road Vineyard

Sonoma Coast and Petaluma Gap AVAs, 10 miles north of Petaluma

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay

Producers: Montagne Russe, Saintsbury Winery, Anaba Wines

The Sangiacomo family farms 1,600 acres across multiple Sonoma County sites, yet Roberts Road stands out as the growers’ most sought-after vineyard. Planted in 1999 to 130 acres of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the Roberts Road site boasts the uncommon feature of having two watersheds. The vineyard is distinguished by its marine influence and fog that hangs in the vineyard from morning until mid-day. These conditions foster a long, slow ripening process — Roberts Road is typically the last Sangiacomo vineyard to be harvested each year — and exceptionally balanced grapes.

“Roberts Road is one of our latest-ripening Pinots. More coastal vineyards have that bright fruit right off the bat, whereas this also has a lot of other layers going on. It plays well into that nice blend of beautiful fruit, but it has a lot more rustic character as well. The Sangiacomos really care about their land and the people who work for them, and they want everybody to make great wine.” – Katy Wilson, winemaker, Anaba Wines

Three to Try:

Anaba Wines 2021 Pinot Noir, Sangiacomo Roberts Road, $74. anabawines.com

Montagne Russe 2021 Roberts Road Chardonnay, $50. russewines.com

Saintsbury Winery 2022 Roberts Road Pinot Noir, $80. saintsbury.com

Dutton Ranch

Green Valley AVA, about 6 miles northwest of Sebastopol

Chardonnay, Pinot Noir

Producers: The Calling, Patz & Hall Winery, Dutton-Goldfield Winery, Kistler Vineyards, Martin Ray Vineyard & Winery

Legendary in Sonoma County grapegrowing circles, the Dutton family farms 1,400 acres of winegrapes and organic apples in the Russian River Valley, Green Valley and Sonoma Coast. The family’s winery property and ranch near Sebastopol is home to the Dutton Ranch vineyard — the grower’s main fruit source and a vineyard designate since 1979.

Warren Dutton planted the original 35-acre plot to Chardonnay in 1967 and it has since grown to include 30 acres of Chardonnay and 10 acres of Pinot Noir. Aside from meticulous farming by Warren’s son Steve Dutton, the vineyard’s special sauce is its location in Green Valley, which runs cooler than other parts of Russian River Valley.

“The distinctiveness of the vineyard is the personality of the site itself. Our Dutton Chardonnay is like our other wines from the neighborhood, but there is an uncanny apple-like sense to the finished wine. It’s as much about the texture, like the snap of biting into a just-ripe Gravenstein apple, as the flavors. With the Pinot Noirs the Duttons grow for us, they have a sense of effortlessness and precision. Working with them is a true partnership and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that it makes the wines better.” – Jason Kesner, winemaker, Kistler Vineyards

Three to Try:

The Calling 2022 Roberts Road Chardonnay, $35. thecallingwine.com 

Dutton-Goldfield Winery 2022 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir, $50. duttongoldfield.com

Martin Ray 2023 Concrete Chardonnay, $43. martinraywinery.com

Durell Vineyard

Sonoma Coast AVA, off Arnold Drive, Sonoma

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Syrah

Producers: Three Sticks Wines, DeLoach Vineyards, Kistler Vineyards, Sojourn Cellars, Scribe Winery, Dunstan Wines, La Crema Winery, Banshee Wines, Auteur Wines

This landmark 600-acre ranch with 160 acres of vines lies in a unique setting at the intersection of three different grapegrowing regions, offering elements of each — the cool and foggy coast, the moderating bay influence from the Carneros, and the warmer temperatures of the Sonoma Valley. Nearly every afternoon, a stiff wind blows in, which slows down the ripening of the grapes and helps develop fruit of a nuanced, complex character. It’s a pioneering site in the county, first planted in the 1970s and spawning dozens of top wines from different producers over the years, including its own widely propagated clone of Syrah. The vineyard is owned by vintner Bill Price of Three Sticks Wines, which offers a guided hike through the vineyard on Sundays — an experience worth seeking out.

“I always feel when I’m at Durell that I’m at the confluence of great forces and powers. As you go into the different areas, you see that in the soil, too — you see the ancient riverbeds, you see the sandy, silty soil up top and you see the volcanic pumice stones. You see all this difference and you just know that things are swirling around that one spot. It feels like a sort of nexus.” – Ryan Prichard, director of winemaking, Three Sticks Wines

Three to Try:

Three Sticks Wine 2022 Durell Vineyard Origin Chardonnay, $70. threestickswines.com

Dunstan Wines 2021 Durell Vineyard Pinot Noir, $75. dunstanwines.com

Banshee Winery 2019 Durell Vineyard Pinot Noir, $70. bansheewines.com

Charles Heintz Vineyard

Sonoma Coast AVA, 1.5 miles northeast of Occidental

Chardonnay

Producers: DuMOL, The Calling, Williams Selyem, DeLoach Vineyards, Littorai Wines

Grower Charlie Heintz’s grandparents bought this ridgetop property in Russian River Valley more than a century ago and planted Zinfandel — among other crops — at the site. During Prohibition, they replaced the vines with apple orchards. The family reentered the wine realm in 1982, replacing most of the apple trees with Chardonnay. That turned out to be a pivotal decision; sitting at an elevation of nearly 1,000 feet and caressed by coastal fog as it flows through the vines, the 50-acre Charles Heintz vineyard is considered one of the Sonoma Coast’s finest, prized by winemakers for its structured, high-acid Chardonnay.

“We’ve crafted so many memorable wines from these magical vines since I first set foot in the vineyard way back in 1998. The wines are incredibly distinctive, unlike anything else in Sonoma or California as a whole, and that’s down to the special vineyard site itself. High elevation, close to the ocean, long-lingering fog influence, late-season ripening, and precise farming combine to give the fruit striking intensity and style.” – Andy Smith, winemaker, DuMOL

Three to Try:

Williams Selyem 2022 Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay, $68. williamsselyem.com

DuMOL 2021 Charles Heintz Vineyard Isobel Chardonnay, $89. dumol.com

The Calling 2021 Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay, $70. thecallingwine.com

Bedrock Vineyard

Sonoma Valley AVA, 3 miles northwest of Boyes Hot Springs

Zinfandel and “mixed blacks,” including Carignane, Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah and more

Producers: Bedrock Wine Co., Robert Biale Vineyards, Reeve Wines

This 152-acre vineyard has a surprising Civil War connection. Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Joseph Hooker founded the site, then known as Madrone Ranch, in 1854 and planted the first vines. Senator George Hearst, father of publisher William Randolph Hearst, replanted the vineyard in the 1880s, and it changed hands many times before winemaker Joel Peterson bought it in 2005 and renamed it Bedrock. Today, Peterson’s son Morgan Twain-Peterson of Bedrock Wine Co. farms the historic site, which recently became the world’s first old-vine vineyard to achieve regenerative and organic certification.

“Between the site, the age of the vines and farming practices, fruit from Bedrock shows an intensity that is special in the world of old vine Zinfandel. The concentrated flavors of bramble fruits, violet and dried herbs serve as a foundation, along with the notable Bedrock structure, for our wine that really showcases the vineyard’s identity. The concentration and complexity of the fruit we get from Bedrock is rare and something we always enjoy seeing evolve in barrel and bottle.” – David Natali, winemaker, Robert Biale Vineyards

Three to Try:

Reeve 2021 Bedrock Vineyard Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon, $52. reevewines.com

Bedrock Wine Co. 2022 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon, $40. bedrockwineco.com

Robert Biale Vineyards 2022 Bedrock Vineyard Zinfandel, $65. biale.com

Teldeschi Vineyards

Dry Creek Valley AVA, Dry Creek Road, outside Healdsburg

Zinfandel

Producers: Bedrock Wine Co., Once and Future Wine, Carlisle Winery & Vineyards, F. Teldeschi Winery, Del Carlo Winery 

Two branches of the Teldeschi family are synonymous with Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, one of Sonoma County’s signature varieties. In the 1970s and ’80s, Frank and Mike Teldeschi were brothers who shared a driveway but rarely talked. Both brothers and their descendants grow landmark Zinfandel — Ray Teldeschi, son of Mike, now farms four sites in Dry Creek Valley, including his father’s historic home ranch, and sells fruit to Carlisle Winery. And John Teldeschi, son of Frank, farms his father’s ranch and has had a decades-long relationship with pioneering winemaker Joel Peterson of Ravenswood (and now Once and Future Wine), who has called the Zinfandel from Teldeschi a wine that “sings of place.”

“Those are vines that are truly farmed the way they have been for 70 or 80 years, and all dry-farmed. They’re the most beautiful head-trained vines you’ll ever see, because it’s literally one generation that trained the next to prune, which is just so rare to see.” – Morgan Twain-Peterson, winemaker, Bedrock Wine Co.

Three to Try:

Bedrock Wine Co. 2021 Teldeschi Ranch Heritage. bedrockwineco.com

Once and Future 2022 Teldeschi Vineyard “Frank’s Block.” onceandfuturewine.com

Carlisle Winery 2021 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, $58. carlislewinery.com

Kick Ranch Vineyard

Fountaingrove District AVA, off Calistoga Road outside Santa Rosa

Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Viognier, Zinfandel

Producers: Shared Notes Wine, Ram’s Gate Winery, Tom Eddy Winery, Valette Wines 

Sprawled on the western slope of Spring Mountain in the Mayacamas, the 43.5-acre site is relatively young — planted between 2000 and 2002 — but the Fountaingrove AVA is new, too, established in 2015, and is finally earning well-deserved respect for standout terroir and detailed microclimates. This Certified California Sustainable site is revered for its rolling hills of rich, boulder-strewn soils spun from ancient bedrock and volcanics, concentrated in an alluvial fan that all works together to make vines dig deep roots and focus their energy on rich fruit. The site was purchased by Windsor’s Bricoleur Vineyards in 2018. Acclaimed winemaker Bob Cabral, of Williams Selyem and Three Sticks fame, joined the team in 2023.

“The cool, coastal climate is dictated by Pacific winds racing through the nearby Petaluma Gap, with south-facing vine rows attracting optimal sun exposure. Since the estate’s inaugural vintage in 2004, there have been 82 Kick Ranch wines that have received reviews of 90 points or higher from leading critics. We consistently receive waiting list inquiries for Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Grenache in particular.” – Bob Cabral, winemaker, Bricoleur Vineyards

Three to Try:

Bricoleur Vineyards 2022 Kick Ranch Sauvignon Blanc, $36. bricoleurvineyards.com

Shared Notes 2023 Les Leçons des Maîtres Sauvignon Blanc, $85. sharednoteswine.com

Valette 2022 Kick Ranch Sauvignon Blanc, $37. valettewines.com

Rossi Ranch

Sonoma Valley AVA, Lawndale Rd., Kenwood

Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Zinfandel, Grenache Blanc

Producers: Carlisle Winery & Vineyards, Winery Sixteen 600, Sosie Wines, Loxton Cellars, Dane Cellars, Mayo Family Winery, Jeff Cohn Cellars

Set between two ridges near the back entrance to Trione-Annadel State Park, Rossi Ranch has layered views all the way across the valley to the Mayacamas. The site was originally planted by the Rossi family around 1910 and was farmed by the legendary Val Rossi well into his 80s. Many of the 1910 blocks, including a Zinfandel-forward field blend, were later replanted to Rhône varietals. It’s 42 acres of highly prized, hard-to-come-by fruit, and has earned the nickname the “To Kalon of Grenache” from winemaker Tony Biagi. Fun fact: You can see this vineyard up close on public roads. In Kenwood, Lawndale Road bisects the site, about a half-mile west of the junction with Warm Springs Road.

“The thing that’s so beautiful about Rossi is it sits on this uplift of land, and wherever you look, east or west, there’s an incredible view. When you walk through the vineyard, you have a real sense of the terroir and the history there — I’ll be walking through, just picking up golf-ball-sized pieces of obsidian. It’s surrounded by oak forest on all sides, and I think some of that implants into the vineyard, in a slight sense of herbalness in the fruit.” – Bart Hansen, owner and winemaker, Dane Cellars

Three to Try:

Winery Sixteen 600 2018 Val Rossi Hommage, $67. winerysixteen600.com

Dane Cellars 2019 Valeria Blend Rossi Ranch, $60. danecellars.com

Mayo Family Winery 2022 “Josephine’s Cuvée” Grenache Blanc Rossi Ranch, $45. mayofamilywinery.com

Stuhlmuller Vineyard

Alexander Valley and Chalk Hill AVA, near Healdsburg

Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Malbec

Producers: Stuhlmuller Vineyards, Silver Oak, Aperture Cellars, Overshine Wine Co., Dutcher Crossing Winery, Mazzocco Sonoma, DeLorimier Winery, Bannister Wines, Williamson Wines

This diverse family-owned vineyard with 155 planted acres is at the cooler, southern end of the Alexander Valley near where it meets the Russian River and Chalk Hill valleys. The site was first planted in the 1980s and for years, the family were growers only, selling their fruit to high-end labels like Silver Oak.

The Stuhlmuller family built a small winery in a historic red barn on the property in the early 2000s, where standout winemaker Leo Steen oversaw winemaking for years. (Steen’s protégé, Zac Childers, now heads up the program.) Stuhlmuller’s 30-year-old Chardonnay is highly prized as is the 30-year-old hillside Cabernet Sauvignon, some of which is snapped up by Jesse Katz at Aperture.

“I began here as an intern in 2011 — this place just spoke to me. It was definitely where I saw myself; where I wanted to land. My office looks due east towards Mount Saint Helena, and when I’m up on the catwalk above the tanks, I can follow the treeline down to the Russian River and then up towards Fitch Mountain. We’ve got cattle on the property in the upper hillside, and stands of redwood, Douglas fir, oaks and manzanitas, plus jackrabbits, egrets — a very idyllic setting… One year, we had a bear get into the top block of Chardonnay. It’s a tiny little block and the yields are very low up there with the volcanic soils — but that bear ate really well.” – Zac Childers, winemaker, Stuhlmuller Vineyards

Three to Try:

Stuhlmuller Vineyards 2020 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, $45. stuhlmullervineyards.com

Dutcher Crossing 2021 Stuhlmuller Vineyard Chardonnay, $45. dutchercrossing.com

Bannister 2018 Chardonnay, $34. bannisterwines.com

Las Cimas

Russian River Valley AVA, off Westside Road, near Healdsburg

Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Nebbiolo, Grignolino, Ribolla Gialla, Erbaluce, Favorita, Falanghina, Fiano, and more

Producers: Idlewild Wines, Comunità, Arnot-Roberts, Ryme Cellars, Jolie-Laide

Beyond Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this is a site that showcases the diversity of grape varieties that grow beautifully in Sonoma County and in Russian River Valley. The ranch has undergone a recent transformation under Healdsburg winemaker Sam Bilbro and owner David Drummond, who bought the 500-acre, high-elevation site in 2018. Bilbro and Drummond knew there was a greater purpose to this site and changed over roughly 50 out of the site’s 70-plus planted acres to unusual, difficult-to-source Italian varieties — 46 different ones. The site has views that stretch across wide swaths of the county, and the grapes are now grown with organic and regenerative farming practices.

“From when I first got there, and this was basically a conventionally farmed production vineyard, to now — it’s vibrant, there’s a diverse clover-based cover crop, and every spring there is crimson clover that is just booming, and you see bees buzzing all over the vineyard, you see other insect life, good predatory insect life. The place is just alive now. It’s alive in the soil, it’s alive in the general ecology you can see, and then it’s alive in the diversity of the plantings. It’s all of that at once.” – Sam Bilbro, winemaker, Idlewild Wines, Comunità

Three to Try:

Idlewild Wines 2023 Freisa Las Cimas Vineyard, $42. idlewildwines.com

Arnot-Roberts 2023 Falanghina Las Cimas Vineyard. arnotroberts.com

Jolie-Laide 2022 Mondeuse Noire Las Cimas Vineyard, $42. jolielaidewines.com

Bacigalupi Vineyard

Russian River Valley AVA, on Westside Rd., near Healdsburg

Chardonnay, Pinot Noir

Producers: Williams Selyem, Russian River Vineyards, Vaughn Duffy Wines

The 120-acre homestead Goddard Ranch was established in 1956 by the late Charles Bacigalupi, along with wife Helen. Today, the winery is still run by several generations of the same family and has expanded to several other nearby vineyards, all flourishing with natural tributaries and springs encouraging distinctive cool-climate character. Goddard is most famous for its Chardonnay block that went into the legendary 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won the 1976 Judgment of Paris and helped put the California wine industry on the global map. Lesser-known lore is that Charles Bacigalupi coaxed luminary vintner Karl Wente to give him some French Pinot Noir budwood, one of the first well-documented plantings of the variety in the Russian River Valley.

“Goddard Ranch still boasts some of the original Paris Chardonnay blocks thriving with vines from the 1960s. It’s also home to a massive, ancient oak tree that I love — I visit it when I’m out in the vineyard to admire how beautiful the whole property is.” – Ashley Herzberg, winemaker, Bacigalupi Vineyards

Three to Try:

Bacigalupi 2022 Goddard Ranch Chardonnay, $65. bacigalupivineyards.com

Vaughn Duffy 2022 Bacigalupi Vineyards Pinot Noir, $75. vaughnduffywines.com

Russian River Vineyards 2022 Bacigalupi Vineyards Chardonnay, $67. russianrivervineyards.com

Florence Vineyard

Rockpile AVA, near Lake Sonoma

Zinfandel, Petite Sirah

Producers: Florence Vineyard, Rockpile Vineyards, Calafia Cellars, Mazzocco Sonoma, Pezzi King Vineyards, Carol Shelton Wines

On a high ridgetop bordering the far northwest corner of Dry Creek, overlooking the two long arms of Lake Sonoma, is the Rockpile AVA, one of the most unforgiving, out-there places to grow grapes in Sonoma County. Wildfire and drought are constant concerns, as is the nearby presence of the Rodgers Creek fault. In 1994, Jack Florence Jr. planted the first blocks of the now-legendary Rockpile Zin, bringing over budwood from Cloverdale’s tiny, hundred-year-old St. Peter’s Church Vineyard. His family is one of the pioneers here, along with the Gloeckners of Westphall Ranch, the Park family of Rockpile Vineyards (now owned by Wilson Artisan Wines), and the Mauritsons of Mauritson Wines. At 1,200 feet in elevation, Florence’s 12-acre vineyard is a rocky, northward-facing site that yields fruit with intense flavors and a distinct minerality. Florence has sold the fruit for decades and began making his own wine in 2020.

“It’s just the sheer ruggedness of it, the closeness with nature. It’s quiet enough that you really feel like you’re in another world. So much of Sonoma County is close into towns now, but this is one of those places that is still way out there. The way the fog rolls in over the hills and comes up from Lake Sonoma, gives that surreal feel to it and puts you at one with nature.” – Jack Florence Jr., Florence Vineyard

Three to Try:

Rockpile Vineyards 2021 Florence Zinfandel, $63. rockpilevineyards.com

Florence Vineyard 2021 Rockpile Petite Sirah, $60. florencevineyard.com

Mazzocco Sonoma 2021 Rockpile Florence Reserve Zinfandel, $65. mazzocco.com

Terra de Promissio

Petaluma Gap AVA, about 4 miles east of downtown Petaluma

Pinot Noir

Producers: Williams Selyem, The Calling, Gary Farrell Winery

Gently rolling hills overlook the Petaluma River, spanning 50 acres kissed by wind and fog flowing from the Sonoma Coast and San Pablo Bay. As the name says, this is “the land of promise.” The first 32 acres were planted in 2002, with every row farmed as it is today, customized to each client winemaker’s meticulous instructions. The property’s Dijon clones produce smaller berries and clusters, but that’s what makes the fruit so coveted for its concentrated flavors and mischievous nature that ambitious winemakers love to pamper. Terra de Promissio’s own wines are so valued that they are allocated almost exclusively to its members.

“We get just 5 tons from two blocks from this gem of a property, but I love its ideal terroir for its balance of earth and fruit characteristics. The soil, sun exposure, hill elevation, vine density, and the wind and fog of the Petaluma Gap all contribute to the grapes developing a slow maturation and extended hang time. This results in intensely flavored grapes and a chemistry for age-worthy wines.” – James MacPhail, winemaker, The Calling

Three to Try:

The Calling 2021 Terra de Promissio Pinot Noir, $80. thecallingwine.com

Gary Farrell 2019 Terra de Promissio Pinot Noir, $90. garyfarrellwinery.com

Williams Selyem 2022 Terra de Promissio Pinot Noir, $78. williamsselyem.com

Mancini Ranch

Russian River Valley AVA, near the corner of Olivet & Piner roads in Santa Rosa

Zinfandel, Carignane, mixed field blend

Producers: Ridge Vineyards, Carlisle Winery & Vineyards, Reichwage Winery

The historic 16-acre vineyard is a very rare, dry-farmed field blend of some 21 varieties, planted between 1922 and 1924 by Italian immigrant Luca Mancini amid still-existing ancient oak, walnut, apple, pear and plum trees. While lots of Zin and a good amount of Carignane dominate, the site is a wonderland of so many obscure grapes that it becomes a magical adventure exploring them all. Abouriou, Blauer Portugeiser and Elbling are just a few of the delights. In 2018, current vineyard owner Max Reichwage grafted even more marvels like Mondeuse, Plavac Mali and Clairette Blanche. Reichwage is working diligently to restore the previously neglected property’s soil and vine health, honoring a truly unique salute to Sonoma County’s winemaking roots.

“The old vines tend to produce very little fruit (about 1 ton per acre) and are very fragile — many of the trunks would topple over if we didn’t manage them so carefully. But I bought this vineyard to satisfy my own curiosity about the plantings, and also as a way to evaluate more heat-tolerant varieties due to our warming climate and drought. There is even one unknown variety of teinturier (rare, red-flesh grapes) that UC Davis does not have in their DNA database, so I jokingly refer to it as ‘Mancini Bouschet.’” – Max Reichwage, winemaker, Reichwage Winery

Three to Try:

Ridge Vineyards 2022 Mancini Ranch Blend, $42. ridgewine.com

Carlisle 2022 Mancini Ranch Zinfandel, $56. carlislewinery.com

Reichwage Winery 2021 Mancini Ranch White Wine, $35. reichwage.com

Rochioli Vineyard

Russian River Valley AVA, on Westside Road, near Healdsburg

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah

Producers: J. Rochioli Vineyard & Winery, Gary Farrell Winery, Ramey Wine Cellars, Williams Selyem, Castalia Wines, Holdredge Wines, Longboard Vineyards

When visionary winegrower Joe Rochioli Jr. died in 2022 at the age of 88, his obituary noted that he was survived by his family — and the 900,000 vines he lovingly cared for on his family’s ranch. Rochioli Jr. was considered the founding father of Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Back in 1968, he was likely the first to plant Pinot Noir in the valley, and his son, Tom Rochioli, and grandchildren still oversee the family’s 130 planted acres today. Rochioli was also one of the first to divide their plantings into blocks based on terroir and to make wines separately from those blocks. In addition to the classic Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Rochioli is known for some of the oldest plantings of Sauvignon Blanc in the state.

“When I walk through those old vineyards, I do think about the past… I remember my grandfather walking through the Sauvignon Blanc vineyard right before he died, looking at those massive vines. If you knew my father — I think I’m much like him. Especially when I was a young guy, finding my way, doing the work, really seeing every vine over and over — you get to know them. You see a plant that was trained a certain way, or grew a certain way, and you recognize it. You get to know their growth patterns. It just really gets in your blood. I think when you love what you do so much, that is all a part of it.” – Tom Rochioli, winemaker, J. Rochioli Vineyard & Winery 

Three to Try:

J. Rochioli Vineyard & Winery 2022 Estate Pinot Noir, $72. rochioliwinery.com

Gary Farrell Winery 2020 Rochioli Vineyard Pinot Noir, $90. garyfarrell.com

Longboard Vineyards 2023 Rochioli Vineyard Chardonnay, $56. longboardvineyards.com

Bernier Zinyard

Dry Creek Valley AVA, off Canyon Road, just west of Geyserville

Zinfandel, Petite Sirah

Producers: Peterson Winery, Dutcher Crossing Winery, Quivira Vineyards, Sbragia Family Vineyards

Zinfandel isn’t the only crop that Bernier Farms grows on the rugged, dusty hillsides of the Dry Creek and Alexander valleys — the Bernier family also cultivates 14 varieties of garlic — but it’s definitely the most celebrated. Founding grower Paul Bernier learned the secrets of dry farming grapes in the 1970s from “old Italians” who came before him and built a reputation for producing great Zinfandel on marginal land. With help from his son Zureal, Bernier planted Zinfandel on the family’s home ranch in the early 1990s and added Petite Sirah in 2003. The resulting Bernier Zinyard, covering just 2.5 acres and entirely dry-farmed, is the family’s longest-running vineyard designate and a winemaker favorite.

“The soil on their hillside is unique, with a nice mix of sand and loam. The Berniers practice dry-farming, organic composting and use cover crops, all of which make for strongly established but balanced vines. The resulting grapes and wine are always tasty and picked at a lower sugar (content) than many other Zin vineyards to retain their acid and sugar balance. The wine usually finishes in the low 13 percents [in ABV] and has a more delicate, perfumed character than darker, jammier Zinfandels.” – Jamie Peterson, winemaker and general manager, Peterson Winery

Three to Try:

Peterson Winery 2019 Bernier Zinyard Zinfandel, $36. petersonwinery.com

Dutcher Crossing 2019 Bernier-Sibary Vineyard Zinfandel, $52. dutchercrossingwinery.com

Quivira Vineyards 2018 Pillsbury Vineyard Zinfandel, $50. quivirawine.com

The post These Are the Most Iconic Vineyards in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Take a trip through most small towns and you’ll find the usual public amenities: A park, a library, maybe even a pool — but a city vineyard?

Welcome to Tex Juen Park and Vineyard in Sonoma, where about an acre of Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon is meticulously maintained and harvested by a devoted crew of hobby enologists called the Sonoma Home Winemakers.

“It was a big lot of weeds when the city took over,” says Doug Ghiselin, who helped establish the tiny, unassuming vineyard on Leveroni Road near downtown Sonoma in the 1990s, along with namesake Henry “Tex” Juen, better known as a prolific stonemason who built many Sonoma Valley wineries.

“Somebody called it a vineyard. But the only vines that were there at the time were the big, heavy, thick ones — the Sauvignon Blanc at the end of the rows.”

Originally calling themselves “The Valley of the Moon Dilettante Enological Society,” the group planted new vines donated by local wineries and grapegrowers. Where once there was a mink farm, and later an artist colony, now there is a “teaching vineyard.” If you want to learn printmaking or ceramics, you go to the local community center. For budding viticulturists and winemakers, there is Tex Juen vineyard.

On a recent morning, midway through another heat wave, Ghiselin and six other members set up a table in the shade alongside the vineyard. They’re part of “the Leveroni Group,” a subgroup within Sonoma Home Winemakers who do most of the care and harvesting. Within minutes, they’re popping a 2019 Merlot, aged in Ghiselin’s makeshift wine cellar, aka a crawlspace beneath his house.

The Merlot tastes like any moderately priced bottle you might pull off the shelf at a local wine shop. To the bikers, joggers and walkers that pass by frequently along the adjacent Fryer Creek Trail, it seems perfectly normal that the group are standing around drinking wine at 11 in the morning.

In 2023, the Leveroni Group filled two barrels each of Chardonnay and Merlot from around 1,000 vines on just over an acre. Other members farm a few additional rows of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Some of the wine will go to the city of Sonoma, for pouring and auctioning off at fundraisers and events. But most is split between members.

Over the years, member Bob Brindley catalogued the most common reactions he gets after pouring homemade wine for the uninitiated. They range from “I’ve had worse” and “it’s drinkable” to “not bad” and “this is really good” — the last comment uttered almost in shock.

Dressing up the morning work party’s picnic table with a tablecloth and a spread of gourmet cheeses and almonds is member Rebecca Kreeger, who joined the group in 2019 after she and her husband bought a home with 63 Cabernet Sauvignon vines that needed caring for. Kreeger’s block was too small to hire a professional vineyard company, so she came to a monthly meeting looking for pruning tips. Before long, she was out in the vineyard with Ghiselin and the gang.

The group has around 50 devoted members, many who have small vineyards at their homes. They regularly attend monthly meetings, where wine industry guest speakers often share their expertise and year-round vineyard work parties. At the parties they do jobs like pruning, suckering, weeding and sulfur dusting.

Many volunteer at harvest, collecting grapes in truckloads of 5-gallon buckets. Some are retired or semi-retired, while others are near the end of their careers. Vocations include salumi salesman, travel industry executive, fabricator of large-scale art installations, savings and loan asset manager, and newspaper ad rep. One member, Joseph Daniel, made a documentary called “Tiny Vineyards,” and now makes wine professionally.

They all have a similar dream — to make the best possible wine on what is often the smallest scale possible, with the least amount of expensive tools.

Without professional resources, sometimes basic winemaking needs like temperature control can be a challenge. Over the years, there have been plenty of mistakes and lessons learned. About a decade ago, the city cut off the water. The group has been learning to dry-farm ever since, except for new plantings.

One year, they were fermenting Chardonnay in aluminum beer kegs when a newbie filled them too high and all of the kegs bubbled over. Another year, they didn’t have the technology to determine if the wine had gone through malolactic fermentation. They bottled it — and corks started popping when warm weather hit.

“We’re always trying to find ways to make what we do better, or make the wine better, and so a lot of that is learning from experience,” Brindley says. “We’ve had situations where something didn’t work out and was a big disappointment. And other times we’ve seen really, really big improvement.”

In 2020, the Chardonnay was loaded with too much residual sugar, which led to super-high alcohol content. “It was totally oxidized,” says Brindley. “It tasted like a bad sherry, which you don’t want in a Chardonnay.” Most of it went down the drain, but some people distilled it into rubbing alcohol. Kreeger bottled it in plastic spray cans she uses to clean around the house.

In a way, it’s nothing new. “The Chardonnay never really came out that good back in the day,” says Ghiselin. The reason? “We didn’t have a lot of wine snobs in the group back then,” he says with a dry laugh. After working 30 years in the Vallejo shipyards, he enjoys poking some good-natured fun at some of the less blue-collar winemakers who have joined the ranks over the years.

At an open house in January, part of the mission was to actively recruit the next wave of home winemakers. Paz Del Rascate and Jesse Castro, both in their 30s, were immediately hooked. The friends were already working locally in wine production but wanted to branch out from their day jobs. At their first meeting, a member offered them 100 Chardonnay vines to maintain, harvest and turn into wine. Soon after, someone else offered them 86 Merlot vines. And the offers kept coming. This harvest, they’ll be making wine from nearly 1,400 vines they’ve adopted.

“It’s been crazy,” says Del Rescate, who used to ferment cheap wine in a bag back in his dorm room at Texas A&M. “And in exchange, all they want is a little bit of finished wine.”

Overwhelmed with the amount of pruning, they reached out last winter to Kreeger for help. “She sent out a post, and all of a sudden eight members came out to help us prune,” says Castro. “They had only met us like once or twice. I was like, ‘Wow, is this for real?’ The fact that they came out to support us just speaks volumes.”

When harvest rolls around, “I know if we need more help, they’ll be there,” says Del Rescate. “You can’t do this alone — it takes a community.”

Sonoma Home Winemakers hosts monthly educational talks and group events at the Sonoma Community Center. There are also twice-monthly Saturday morning work parties at the Tex Juen Park and Vineyard in Sonoma. New members are always welcome. For more information, visit sonomahomewine.org.

The post This Sonoma County Town Owns a Vineyard appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.