When you live in a place like Sonoma, it’s a given that there are going to be heaps of delicious wines to be shared. But the winemakers themselves—their stories, their backgrounds, their under-the-radar recommendations—are what bring a region alive.

Here’s to 15 of the most fascinating folks on the scene right now, including both established winemakers producing thousands of cases a year and up-and-comers exploring exciting new avenues.

Plus, we’ve polled the entire group for their insider thoughts on inexpensive weeknight wines, interesting travel destinations on the horizon— and how it really feels to zoom around the barrel room on the forklift.

The Rising Star: Justin Trabue

Ward Four Wines

Justin Trabue’s parents may have had a premonition—or a secret plan in mind—when they named her after a California winery. “Unlike a lot of Black families, I grew up with wine on the table,” says Trabue, a native of Washington, D.C.’s Ward Four district. “My parents were always having conversations about food and wine and hospitality.”

Trabue moved to California straight out of high school to study wine, then spent seven years working in production at Lumen Wines in Santa Barbara County and Heitz Cellar in Napa Valley. She founded Ward Four in 2021 with help from the Courier Fresh Fund, which awards cash grants to young Black founders.

Sourcing grapes from vineyard owners who farm sustainably and follow ethical labor practices, Trabue makes her wine at Sonoma’s Obsidian Wine Co. using native yeasts and gentle foot-treading.

“My motto is ‘wines of joy, no fuss,’” says Trabue, whose offerings range from dry Muscat to chillable Mourvèdre. “Ward Four wines are supposed to be enjoyed with friends that give you joy and lift you up to be your highest, happiest self.”

Most proud of: My 2022 Barbera. Savory yet fruitforward, the wine is soft on the palate but so exciting and lifted at the same time. Although it’s light bodied, it holds up beautifully with food.

What I’m drinking in 2024: This year, I’m excited to drink more McCarter Cellars wine, owned by Dennis McCarter. His Sauvignon Blanc is beautiful, and his Pinots truly shine.

wardfourwines.com

A Varietal I’d Love to Work With…

“Xarel- lo; a native white grape from the region of Penedès region of Catalunya in Spain.The grape is very versatile and can make some delicious sparkling wine as well as some more serious white wines.” — Gustavo Sotelo, Orixe Sotelo

“Muscat of any kind, if I could find it around Sonoma Valley— Á Petits Grains, Alexandria, Canelli.”— Coral Wang, Maison des Plaisances

“Pinot Noir. It makes such a sexy wine.” — Joel Burt, Las Jaras

“Malvasia Bianca, I’ve been searching for a source for this beauty for a few years! Let me know if you know anyone!” — Justin Trabue, Ward Four Wines

“Would love to work with some Rhône varietals.” — Henry de Lambert, Roth Estate

“With LaRue and my consulting, I work with 29 different varieties, so I’m good.” — Katy Wilson, LaRue

The Sage of Natural Wine: Joel Burt 

Las Jaras Wines

While Joel Burt’s winery partner is a famous comedian — Eric Wareheim of the “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”—there is serious intention behind Las Jaras Wines. Hailing from a family of organic table grape growers, Burt toiled at corporate wineries for years before launching his brand in 2017. A year later, he ditched his day job to go all in on Las Jaras.

With Burt heading up production and Wareheim handling label art and marketing, the partners share a vision to offer cleanly made, natural wines with energy and vitality—wines of place rather than process. “The current trend has been wines that are more about the process of natural winemaking, and those wines can show a lot of flaws,” Burt says.

“We’re taking our natural approach to the fine wine space.”

These days, the Las Jaras lineup is no small venture, with 20,000 cases produced annually and more than a dozen wines, from Russian River Trousseau Gris to Sweet Berry Wine—named for a “Tim and Eric” show sketch. In 2024, Las Jaras will release its first Oregon Chardonnay.

Most proud of: Our three Chardonnays from wildly diverse areas: Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County, Alder Springs Vineyard in Mendocino, and the Chehalem Mountains in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

What I’m drinking in 2024: I really like the wines from LaRue. Katy Wilson is a really talented winemaker.

lasjaraswines.com

My Winemaker Hero Is…

“Brad Webb, the founding winemaker at Hanzell, singlehandedly invented a good portion of standard winemaking practices in the modern age.” – Cody Rasmussen, Desire Lines

“Jack Sporer [Fresh Wine Co.]. He never falters, with the most unique grace, charm, and sound advice. Whether through harvest, off-season work, or just friendship, this guy’s got everyone’s back.” – Coral Wang, Maison des Plaisances

“Mike Chelini of Stony Hill Vineyards, who passed away in October. He was proof that simplicity works, and he truly let the soil and grapes do the talking.” – Nick Hess, Leghorn Wine Co.

“Michael Lancaster from Tin Barn Vineyards. He still approaches every harvest and every day in the cellar with the same joy and excitement as someone who just started making wine more recently.” – Gustavo Sotelo, Orixe Sotelo

The Seasoned Farmer: Daniel Ricciato 

Marnet Wines

You’d think that managing more than a hundred vineyard sites for winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown would take up all of Daniel Ricciato’s time—yet he still manages to produce his own acclaimed wines under the Marnet label.

Ricciato named Marnet for his German grandmother— a joyous woman with a knack for celebrating simple pleasures—and dedicated it to single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast and Mendocino. With vineyard expression as his goal, Ricciato makes whole-cluster wines with native yeasts, minimal sulfur, and no additives.“A lot of people talk about consistency across their wines, but I don’t want consistency,” says Ricciato. “I want all of my wines to have their own personalities.”

Still working his day job, he intends to keep his brand small. “There are a lot of producers that make 20 or 30 wines, and that would drive me nuts,” he says. “I want my portfolio to be very succinct and to the point.”

Marnet will achieve a new milestone in 2024 when Ricciato takes over farming the well-known McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir vineyard on the Sonoma Coast.

Most proud of: My Chouette Pinot Noir. It’s a site that I’ve had enough time to work with to where I’m starting to make some small adjustments. I’m hoping that’s going to start to pan out and elevate that wine.

What I’m drinking in 2024: The wines that Steve and Catherine Kistler produce at Occidental Wines are superb every year.

marnetwines.com

Mind-Blowing Bottles

“The 2021 Schäfer-Fröhlich GGs: a magical, mysterious, beautifully intense Riesling from the Nahe.” — Cody Rasmussen, Desire Lines

“The 2000 Henri Bonneau Reserve des Celestins Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Each time I have had this wine it has been dazzling and kaleidoscopic.”– Daniel Ricciato, Marnet

“The Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex from the Loire Valley in France. This wine is perfection, a master class in beautifully articulating the expression of terroir and place.” – Katy Wilson, LaRue

“A Carlisle 2019 Rossi Ranch Zinfandel. The fruit and the oak were really well integrated, and I was sad when the bottle was empty”. – Morét Brealynn Chavez, Morét-Brealynn

“A Chardonnay by Albert Grivault from Meursault. I have a tendency to be overly analytical about wine, but in this instance it spoke directly to a more primal part of my brain and I simply enjoyed the wine.” – Eiji Akaboshi, Freeman

The Sweetest Pair: Eglantine Chauffour & Alberto Bianchi

Ena Winemakers

To say that Eglantine Chauffour and her husband Alberto Bianchi bring an international perspective to their winemaking would be an understatement.

Chauffour is from France and Bianchi is from Milan. The couple met while making wine in Western Australia and worked in cellars all over the world before settling in Sonoma County.

By day, Chauffour works as an enologist at a winemaking equipment and supply company, and Bianchi is the winemaker for ADAMVS on Howell Mountain. Together, they launched ENA in Santa Rosa with Pinot Noir as their flagship, along with a carbonic Primitivo called Eurica.

All of their grapes hail from Mariah Vineyards in the Mendocino Ridge AVA—which just became one of the first vineyards to earn “Land to Market” regenerative farming certification.

The winemakers take a low-intervention approach to winemaking, using native yeasts and minimal sulfur dioxide.

“We are very hands-off, but that’s not saying that we just let the wine go,” says Chauffour. “We are very present in terms of tasting the wine every day, and every decision that we make really matters.”

Most proud of: Probably the most “out of the box” wine we make is Eurica , where we experiment with carbonic maceration.

What I’m drinking in 2024: We enjoy Brick & Mortar’s Sweetwater Spring Vineyard Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine—it has a lot of minerality and elegance with beautiful fine bubbles.

enawinemakers.com

Favorite Places to Shop for Wine

• Bottle Barn, Santa Rosa

• Sonoma’s Best, Sonoma

• La Dolce Vita Wine Lounge, Petaluma

• Enoteca Della Santina, Sonoma

• Valley Bar + Bottle, Sonoma

• Wilibees Wine and Spirits, Santa Rosa

• The Wine Vault, Guerneville

The Friend to All: Coral Wang

Maison Des Plaisances 

In less than a decade, Coral Wang pivoted from a career in New York’s fashion industry to making natural wine at Domaine Mamaruta in Provence to launching a wine brand in Sonoma.

Wang debuted Maison des Plaisances (“house of pleasures”) in 2021 with Cuvee No. 1, a semi-carbonic Grenache blend from a regeneratively farmed vineyard in Cloverdale. The following year, she took over farming a vineyard in Napa’s Lovall Valley and introduced her Carbonic Cab—a light, playful take on Cabernet Sauvignon. For the 2023 vintage, Wang made a skin-contact Sauvignon Blanc fermented in amphora.

“I’ve taken on this mission to make California noble grapes appealing again and bring a fresh, new perspective,” says Wang, who also works at Magnolia Wine Services and Valley Bar + Bottle in Sonoma. “Every vintage, every wine, is a new experiment.”

She has also embraced a mission to open wine industry doors for people in the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities by donating a portion of her sales to pro-equity organizations like the Two Eighty Project and Co-Fermented.

Most proud of: A Sauvignon Blanc from the Denmark Street vineyard, farmed by my dear friends Holly and Eric Clouse. I am so glad I pushed and didn’t take no for an answer when it came down to borrowing amphora for this cuvée. The wine is balanced and bursting with tropical character. Brightness, salty orange peel, and for some wild reason, this site gives us a touch of coconut.

What I’m drinking in 2024: I’m always excited to taste through the Ryme Cellars lineup.

maisondesplaisances.com

Easy to Find, Under-$20 Favorites

“The best under-$20 wine in the world is Domaine de la Pépière La Pépie Muscadet for $16 at Bottle Barn.” – Joel Burt, Las Jaras

“La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.” – Morét Brealynn Chavez, Morét-Brealynn

“Segura Viudas Cava.” — Adolfo Hernandez, Monroy Wines

“Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc.” – Henry de Lambert, Roth Estate

“The sparkling wines from Une Femme (at Target!) or the very popular La Marca Prosecco.” –Katrina Laemmerhirt, Social Creatures

“Husch Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley.” – Nick Hess, Leghorn Wine Company

Cody Rasmussen

Desire Lines Wine Co. 

Cody Rasmussen thought he was headed for a career in economics when an overseas study program in South Africa—tasting local wines on the side— changed his trajectory. Months after graduation, he and his wife Emily moved to Sonoma to pursue a life among the vines.

The leap led him to Bedrock Wine Co., where he works with Morgan Twain-Peterson as associate winemaker. Since launching Desire Lines in 2015 with a single ton of Syrah, the label has grown from 45 to 1,000 cases, with single-vineyard dry Riesling as its calling card.

“When we picked up Cole Ranch in Mendocino I told Emily, ‘There’s no way we can sell this. We’ll do 50 cases and I’ll drink it myself for the next 20 years,” says Rasmussen. “But now we cannot find enough Riesling.”

Rasmussen describes Desire Lines wines as “distinctly not natty,” yet many of his practices share commonalities with natural winemaking. “Our focus is on having that great vineyard speak through the glass,” he says, “and our winemaking practices line up around that.”

Most proud of: Our Cole Ranch Riesling. The wine is still only halfway through fermentation, but the flavors leap out of the glass already and are so precise, pure, and intense.

What I’m drinking in 2024: Tidings Wine Moonridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon . It’s a beautiful expression of Moon Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from the very top of the Mayacamas.

desirelineswines.com

Gustavo Sotelo

Orixe Sotelo 

Many know Gustavo Sotelo as the head winemaker at Scribe, yet his personal label is creating a buzz all its own. Born in Mexico City, Sotelo began exploring Spanish wines after tracing his family name back to Galicia. The journey inspired him to create Orixe Sotelo, focusing on Tempranillo, Garnacha, Godello, and other Spanish grape varieties.

“There’s so much focus on French varieties and French winemaking techniques in California, yet as a New World wine region, we have the potential to do whatever we want,” Sotelo says. “So why aren’t more people playing around with Spanish grape varieties?”

Taking that concept a step further, Sotelo uses a traditional Sherry-making technique to create his Rosé en Flor, which involves growing a film on the wine’s surface after primary fermentation. Along with giving the Grenache- Tempranillo blend a bone-dry character, the process contributes savory and nutty elements, and enhances texture.

“I do like to make very classical wine in some ways, but I also like experimenting,” he says. “I’m just trying to broaden the conversation about what California wine can be.”

Most proud of: The Rosé en Flor. It is a unique winemaking style rarely seen in California and it requires a lot of care and patience to create the right kind of flor.

What I’m drinking in 2024: The Birdhorse Wines Cinsault from Preston Vineyard. Katie Rouse and Corinne Rich are making some phenomenal wines.

sotelowines.com

Most Useful Winemaking Tool

• A flashlight

• My nose

• A notebook

• My phone

• My own palate

• Sanitizer

• An air pump

• A refractometer

• A wineglass

The Barrel Fermenter: Adolfo Hernandez

Monroy Wines

Adolfo Hernandez— full name Aldolfo Hernandez de Monroy—grew up in the dry country of Saudi Arabia, but that didn’t stop his Guatemalan father from making his own wine in the family’s bathtub and recruiting 7-year-old Adolfo as his apprentice. It wasn’t until years later, when the family moved to California, that he decided to go legit as a winemaker.

Hernandez worked at high-end wineries in Napa Valley before landing at Benovia Winery in Santa Rosa as associate winemaker, and in 2020, he released his first Monroy Cabernet Sauvignon. The idea, he says, was to create a more restrained style of Cabernet through early picking and barrel fermentation. “Something that’s more savory, more floral—that’s what I want to make,” he says.

To enhance texture, he uses a labor-intensive, closed-barrel fermentation process that involves opening the heads to add the Cabernet berries, then rolling the barrels to work the skins and caps. “I like to describe it as changing the oil in your car while it’s running,” says Hernandez. “It takes some skill to get it right.”

Most proud of: My Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s the raison d’être for the brand, and the approach of closed-head rolling fermentations along with early picks makes for distinct wines.

What I’m drinking in 2024: I like the white Pinot Noir that my friends at Dot Wine make. It’s bright, light, and still complex with green melon and floral tones.

monroywines.com

Winery Pets

“Our golden retriever, Maya, is named for the mountains of the Mayacamas. She came to the winery every day as a puppy but now mostly stays home to clean up after our two young boys.” — Cody Rasmussen, Desire Lines

“Nico is a brown lab/pitbull mix that I adopted right before the harvest of 2019. The winery and vineyard are his happy places, and his favorite toy is a barrel bung.” – Gustavo Sotelo, Orixe Sotelo

“I have two pet rats, Dolcetto and Gris. They don’t come to the winery but are the sweetest ladies ever!” – Justin Trabue, Ward Four Wines

“Our Morkie is a regular fixture at the winery and can also be found running quality control with me in the vineyards during harvest.” – Katy Wilson, LaRue

“Honey Bee the beagle is great for pest control but doesn’t like the loud crush equipment!” – Nick Hess, Leghorn Wine Co.

The Trend Setter: Katy Wilson

LaRue Wines 

With a new label launching this spring, longtime talent Katy Wilson has a new reason to shine. The much-lauded winemaker began her career at Flowers Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg before launching her LaRue label—inspired by her rebel great-grandmother Veona LaRue Newell—at just 26 years old. Since then, Wilson has built a reputation as a sought-after consultant, working with buzzy wineries such as Anaba Wines, BloodRoot Wines, Reeve Wines, and Smith Story Wine Cellars.

While LaRue focuses on small-production, site-specific Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Sonoma Coast vineyards, her new brand, Charlie LaRue, developed with husband David Meneses and named for their young daughter, indulges the couple’s passion for cellar-worthy Bordeaux wines. It will showcase organically farmed Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc from celebrated vineyards such as Monte Rosso and Bedrock.

“Similar to our Pinots, we’re not making wines to just open up and they’re gone,” Wilson says. “They are beautiful and fresh and lively when they’re young, but they can also age.”

Most proud of: An organically farmed, barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc from the Pigasus Vineyard on Sonoma Mountain. We’ll be releasing it in the fall of 2024.

What I’m drinking in 2024: Wines from Under the Wire and Bedrock. Both are independently owned and produced by a pair of friends with great experience in this industry and whose passion for creativity and well-crafted, quality wine really shines.

laruewines.com

A Fermentation Vessel I’d Like to Experiment With…

“Stockinger oval casks from Austria.” — Cody Rasmussen, Desire Lines

“The Egginox, a stainless steel egg from Bouchard.” — Henry de Lambert, Roth Estate 

“I enjoy working with milk tanks and concrete eggs and more recently have begun working with bottle ferments for pét-nats and traditional Champagne method sparkling wines.” — Nick Hess, Leghorn Wine Co.

“A submerged-cap tank.” — Joel Burt, Las Jaras

“A steel barrel with detachable wooden heads.” — Adolfo Hernandez, Monroy Wines

“I would love to do a huge foudre. I’ve seen that in South Africa, and the wines are so lovely when they come out of there. It’s like five barrels in one.” — Katrina Laemmerhirt, Social Creatures

Erik Miller

Breaking Bread Wines

Best known as the founder and winemaker at Kokomo Winery in Dry Creek Valley, Erik Miller launched Breaking Bread as an experimental side project that would allow him to express his artistic side. “The natural category had a lot of intrigue for me, not just in making low-alcohol wines, but making a different style using ancient techniques,” says Miller. His Breaking Bread lineup includes Zinfandel- based pét-nat and rosé, along with a Muscat orange wine and a chillable Mourvèdre-Zinfandel blend called Al Dente. Now, he’s adding Italian varieties to the mix.

Making the Breaking Bread wines has not only taught Miller that native fermentations are the way to go—including for his Kokomo brand—but also that making successful low-intervention wines is not for amateurs. “I tell people that you do not want to mess with making natural wine unless you’re a seasoned winemaker,” he says. “It’s very easy to get burned.”

Most proud of: Our Pét-Nat, because it’s made with old vine Dry Creek Zinfandel and done in an ancient style.

What I’m drinking in 2024: Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah!’s Marvelous Mourvèdre , because I have always been inspired by Hardy Wallace’s work and how he makes Mourvèdre.

breakingbreadwines.com

Eiji Daniel Akaboshi

Freeman Winery

When Eiji Akaboshi set out to become a winemaker, he thought he would be the first in his family to do so. But as he later learned, a Japanese ancestor had beaten him to the punch by more than a century. Pioneering winemaker Kanaye Nagasawa, a distant relative of Akaboshi, ran the Fountain Grove Winery in Santa Rosa at the turn of the 19 th century and was known to the locals as the “Wine King of California.” “There are so many coincidences that you start wondering if things are connected,” says Akaboshi, who joined Freeman Winery in Sebastopol as associate winemaker this past spring.

“Maybe it’s in my DNA or my blood that I had a tendency toward wine that somehow came from my ancestors.”

By another remarkable coincidence, Akaboshi now works alongside another Japanese winemaker, Akiko Freeman, making Russian River and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Though he once dabbled in launching his own Pinot Noir label, Akaboshi says he’s happy to remain part of an in-house team.

“I have a terrible affliction that when I make something delicious, I just want to give it to people,” he says. “I’m more of a craftsman than a businessperson.”

Most proud of: This was my first harvest at Freeman Winery, and the most exciting wines that I worked with were the Estate Pinot Noirs that came in from our Gloria Estate and Yu-Ki Estate vineyards. Even before the fermentation started in the open top tanks, it already had substance and depth.

More Sonoma standouts: The Tempranillo from our neighbor, Marimar Estate. I tasted it this year before harvest and it was lovely— very balanced with a mineral character and depth. I would like to revisit it in 2024 to see how it is developing. It will definitely keep getting better.

freemanwinery.com

The One with The Palate: Morét Brealynn Chavez

Morét-Brealynn Wines

Morét Brealynn Chavez worked in winery hospitality and marketing before her fascination with winemaking lured her into the cellar. Though she’d long taken an interest in production— peppering cellar teams with questions after her workday ended—the early morning schedule of a typical winemaker kept her from making the switch. After meeting winemaker Adam Lee and becoming his general manager, Chavez overcame her aversion to sunrises.

“When it was just Adam and me, I didn’t have the choice to sleep in or let someone else do things,” says Chavez. “As my confidence in my own palate and my passion for being out in the vineyards grew, I just couldn’t not do it.”

She made her first Morét-Brealynn Pinot Noir in 2021 with Lee as consulting winemaker. Now in its third vintage, with a Heintz Vineyard Pinot Noir in the works, the brand specializes in Russian River Pinot Noir, plus Muscadelle under the Stray Cats label, which donates proceeds to local animal shelters.

Chavez says she likes her Pinots on the intense, full-bodied side—a style she achieves through meticulous attention in the vineyard to a Taylor Swift soundtrack.

Most proud of: My 2022 Russian River Pinot. It has a deeper concentration that’s reflective of the vintage and my barrel selections. There’s a silkiness on the palate that comes with darker red fruits, cinnamon, and some chocolate on the finish.

What I’m drinking in 2024: Due to the late harvest, we were able to squeeze in a visit to Dehlinger. The fruit on their estate property tasted so delicious, I wished it was my fruit.

moretbrealynnwines.com

Dream Wine Destination in 2024

“I am going to Greece and am so excited!” — Joel Burt, Las Jaras

“Galicia. My wife Jackie and I are planning to travel there this winter to learn from the Old World producers.” — Gustavo Sotelo, Orixe Sotelo

“The Etna region of Sicily. My grandfather was born in Siracusa and I’ve never been there, so that’s very high on my list.” — Daniel Ricciato, Marnet

“I need to get back to the Roussillon and pick up the rest of my stuff!” — Coral Wang, Maison des Plaisances

“The wine culture of South Africa is so welcoming, and for new wine drinkers their entry level wines are well priced and delicious! The Hemel-en-Aarde and Elgin wine regions are incredible.” — Justin Trabue, Ward Four Wines

The World Traveler: Katrina Laemmerhirt

Social Creatures

In 2019, Katrina Laemmerhirt quit her job in Chicago and set off on a one-year backpacking trip to weave together her love of travel and wine, beginning in France at harvest, then hiking through Greece, Italy, and Egypt (where she was stranded for three months during lockdown).

Since moving to California in the fall of 2020, she’s arranged her life around her two loves, working in South Africa and Chile while obtaining her formative winemaking education from pioneering natural winemaker William Allen of Two Shepherds. “He was the first one to give me some cellar space and some barrels to start Social Creatures,” she says. “I just became so obsessed, and there’s such a great community here.”

Laemmerhirt now keeps a day job in marketing at Medlock Ames while growing her small label, made at a custom crush in Santa Rosa. ‘Egon,’ a low-intervention Cabernet Franc named for her German grandfather, is already on the wine lists at The Matheson and Little Saint, and she’s released two different Chenin Blancs.

Next up is exploring her interest in viticulture—not surprising for someone who’s been known to pitch a tent and sleep in the vineyard. “I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do that,” she says. “It’s just so beautiful.”

Most proud of: My Hannah Chenin Blanc, named for my cousin Hannah—so bright and bursting with honey and apricot aromatics and the acidity is so refreshing. It’s a really serious wine, and then it can also be fun and fresh.

What I’m drinking in 2024: I am excited to try the hybrid grape wines and co-ferments of my friend Marreya Bailey at Mad Marvlus. She crafts bubbly pét-nats and even sometimes forages her own fruit.

socialcreatureswine.com

In One Word, Driving a Forklift Is…

“Precision.” – Eglantine Chauffour, ENA Wines

“Essential.” – Erik Miller, Breaking Bread Wines

“Artful.” – Katy Wilson, LaRue Wines

“Inconceivable.” – Morét Brealynn Chavez, Morét-Brealynn

“Gratifying.” – Henry de Lambert, Roth Estate

“Empowering. You feel like such a badass.” – Katrina Laemmerhirt, Social Creatures

Nick Hess

Leghorn Wine Company

Nick Hess discovered his passion for wine while waiting tables as a college student in Santa Barbara. Once the match was lit, he worked at wineries from the Central Coast to the Southern Hemisphere, and eventually returned to his native Sonoma County to make wine in his own backyard. He launched the Leghorn label in 2015 as a showcase for Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir—years before the region officially became an AVA. While getting his brand off the ground, he also worked for several years as associate winemaker and production manager at Meadowcroft Wines in Sonoma.

Last spring, Hess joined Schramsberg Vineyards in Napa Valley as the winery’s production manager. The move immediately inspired him to start thinking about adding a sparkling wine to the expanded Leghorn portfolio.

“I’m going to try and learn how to do it on a smaller scale, more by hand,” says Hess, who describes his low-impact winemaking style as “natural-adjacent” and inspired by the Slow Food movement. “I already have a few trials going for that.”

Most proud of: My Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir – it’s a challenge to continuously try to raise the bar and showcase our AVA. Also, my Petaluma Gap Sauvignon Blanc gives me a chance to work with a varietal that’s rare to the Gap and distinguish it from the Sauvignon Blanc grown in warmer regions of the county.

What I’m drinking in 2024: I have really been enjoying the wines from Garry Brooks at Brooks Note. Their new winery project in Petaluma is exactly what our local wine community needs more of, and they are the kindest, most genuine people.

leghornwine.com

Henry de Lambert

Roth Estate

When Henry de Lambert  joined Roth Estate as winemaker in 2023, he had some pretty big shoes to fill. The previous year, Roth’s 2019 Heritage Red— made by veteran winemaker Michael Beaulac—took the top prize at the Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge.

The Windsor native originally set out to earn a bioengineering degree before a foray into brewing showed de Lambert the wonders of fermentation.

After working in the labs and cellars at Mauritson Wines and Trinchero Family Estates, he became associate winemaker and then director of operations for PreVail, a sub-brand of Ferrari-Carano devoted to Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon.

Now, at Roth, he crafts Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with a minimalist touch. “For me, less is more,” says de Lambert. “My job as a winemaker is to let the fruit do the talking.”

He’s also hoping that the wines will elevate Sonoma County’s reputation as a Cabernet Sauvignon region. “When it comes to Cabernet,” he says, “there is no doubt in my mind that Sonoma County can complete at the highest level.”

Most proud of: My 2022 Heritage Sonoma County Red Blend, a great combination of tradition and creativity. This ready-to-drink Bordeaux blend allows for an artistic twist from a “left brain” winemaker.

What I’m drinking in 2024: Try the Hartford Court Jennifer’s Vineyard Pinot Noir. It’s grown on the same ranch where my great-grandparents Henry and Mary once raised dairy cows and grew potatoes in the 1920s.

rothwinery.com

Favorite Harvest Meal

“A Cubano sandwich from Jackson’s Bar and Oven.” — Erik Miller, Breaking Bread

“Turkey-sweet potato chili made with black beans and chipotle peppers in adobo.” — Daniel Ricciato, Marnet Wines

“Cheesy pasta of every sort.” — Coral Wang, Maison des Plaisances

“Peanut butter!” — Katrina Laemmerhirt, Social Creatures

“Tortas de carnitas from Healdsburg’s Downtown Bakery.” — Henry de Lambert, Roth Estate

“In-N-Out paired with an ice-cold Modelo.” — Katy Wilson, LaRue

“Who doesn’t love a breakfast burrito?” — Adolfo Hernandez, Monroy Wines

The post 15 Sonoma Winemakers You Need to Know in 2024 appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Click through the above gallery to explore the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

When rain falls anywhere in Santa Rosa, Windsor, Rohnert Park, Cotati, or Sebastopol, the water will make its way to the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Sitting at the bottom of the greater Santa Rosa plain, the Laguna is the largest freshwater wetlands complex on the northern California coast. In 2011, it was designated a Wetland of International Importance. Yet how many locals could find it on a map?

To be fair, parts of the Laguna have been altered and obscured by decades of development. Sebastopol dumped its sewage there until 1978. Restoration work has been underway since the 1990s, and December 2023 saw the release of the first-ever comprehensive restoration plan for the entire Laguna, designed to guide its continued recovery.

The Laguna system is also naturally heterogeneous and ephemeral, “a collective mix of different wetland habitat types that blend and merge or shrink depending on the season,” says Anne Morkill, executive director of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, a nonprofit that works to protect and improve what’s left of the Laguna. “It’s a whole ecosystem.”

This includes oak savannas, low-lying vineyards and pastures, seasonal and year-round ponds, and various creeks, including Mark West, Santa Rosa, and Copeland, all of which feed into the Laguna’s main waterway– somewhat confusingly also named Laguna de Santa Rosa– which spills into the Russian River near Forestville, its single largest tributary.

When full, the entire complex can transform into a long, slender lake. The Laguna’s ability to slow and retain so much water in turn reduces flooding on the Russian River. “Within a couple of days of those heavier atmospheric river storms, we can see the floodplain taking shape,” Morkill says. “The water levels come up under the bridges, and out in the open fields.”

Such complexity translates to rich habitat for native species. Endangered California tiger salamanders breed in vernal pools each spring; bald eagles and osprey hunt salmon, steelhead, and other fish on the flooded Laguna; and migratory waterfowl traveling the Pacific Flyway announce their arrival in January and February, in sync with the rain. All who depend on the Laguna, including humans, await its transformation every winter.

Winter walks along the Laguna

Southern Laguna Discovery Trail: Trailhead located west of the intersection of Rohnert Park Expressway and Stony Point Road in Rohnert Park. Sonoma County Water Agency, sonomawater.org

Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail: Trailheads located off Occidental Road and Highway 12 in Santa Rosa. Sonoma County Regional Parks, parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov

Laguna Wetlands Preserve: Trailheads off Morris Street in Sebastopol. City of Sebastopol, cityofsebastopol.gov

Laguna Uplands Preserve: Located at the end of Palm Avenue in Sebastopol. Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, lagunafoundation.org

The post Discover Santa Rosa’s Peaceful Waterway On These Winter Walks appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Sonoma County native Ana Prado of Blooming Coast inherited her beloved grandmother’s extensive collection of orchids and other indoor plants in early 2020, just before pandemic lockdowns.

“The plants were my connection to her, a living piece of her, and I just thought, well, I’d better learn to take care of them,” says Prado.

Turning that new love into a business wasn’t initially top of mind. Prado, who joined the Marine Corps after high school, started her Instagram account simply to share plant tips and photos. Soon, though, it evolved into a business, becoming a fixture at farmers markets and eventually expanding to craft fairs throughout the Bay Area.

“People will come into my booth and joke that they’ve got a black thumb,” she says. “But I believe anyone can keep plants alive and get the benefit of becoming closer to nature.”

Here are some of Prado’s favorite spots in Sonoma County.

Prado scans the racks for national park and nature-themed T-shirts at Holee Vintage in downtown Santa Rosa. Just a few doors away is Ooh La Luxe, where the vibe is that of a fun girls’ getaway and the salespeople are always ready to “hype you up.” Holee Vintage, 529 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-919-0995, holeevintage.com. Ooh La Luxe, 517 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-521-9090, oohlaluxe.com.

Wandering the shady, tree-lined paths at Sebastopol’s Hidden Forest Nursery is a magical experience, says Prado. She also recommends its classes on mushrooming and how to harvest and roast bay nuts. 3970 Azalea Lane, Sebastopol. 707-823-6832, hiddenforestnursery.com 

The mole enchiladas at Quiote are some of the best Prado has ever had. “Like, did my mom make this? Is she hiding in the back?” she jokes. 121 Kentucky St., Petaluma. 707-7746130, quiotemx.com 

Prado loves the work by muralist MJ Lindo-Lawyer near Mitote Food Park in Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood. “I’m a Latina and a veteran, and to see that young girl stand up and show her power speaks to me. There’s strength in knowing who you are and where you come from.” Near the corner of West Ave. and Sebastopol Rd., Santa Rosa. mjlindoart.com 

Find Blooming Coast at the weekly Wednesday farmers market and some of the Saturday markets at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa. For updates, check facebook.com/BloomingCoast or Instagram @blooming_coast.

The post Blooming Coast’s Ana Prado Shares Her Favorite Sonoma County Spots appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

In matching navy tuxes, Chris Sarli and Aramis Alvarez stood in front of family and friends on a sunny May day to share their love. It was the first time a few of their family members had met, but the mood was joyful and relaxed. “I thought I was going to be anxious,” remembers Chris. “But it was pretty easy for us; I was invested in the moment.”

His husband Aramis agrees. “And then the ceremony came, and that’s when your heart beats the fastest. That’s when a lot of the tears were flowing.”

The couple, both hardware engineers at Apple (Aramis works on the iPhone and Chris on virtual reality headsets), first met as electrical engineering students at the University of Florida. For their loved ones, especially their young nieces and nephews, they wanted their wedding to be emblematic of the knowledge that love is love.

“This was the first gay wedding that we’ve ever been to—our own wedding. We wanted it to be a really memorable event,” explains Chris.

The couple chose music from a classical cellist and violinist and served a beautiful meal of halibut and rack of lamb, plus a gelato bar with Port and other dessert wines—Aramis’s special request. To bring in elements of pride, the couple wore bow ties and socks with subtle patterns of rainbows and hearts, then cut into an elaborate rainbow cake for dessert as their friends whooped and cheered.

“Sometimes it still feels like a blur, because there’s so much emotion, in a good way,” says Aramis. The couple left for a honeymoon in Bora Bora the very next day. “It was ‘Wedding. Boom. Honeymoon.’ We wanted to keep it on that high.”

Resources

Planner: Katrina Reed, Bravo Weddings & Events

Photographer: Lily Rose Photography

Location and wine: Jacuzzi Family Vineyards

Catering: Park Avenue Catering

Floral designer: Succulents SF

Cake: Jill Habansky, Sweet Cake Sonoma

Music: AMS Entertainment

Custom tuxedos: Indochino

The post College Sweethearts Surrounded by Love at Sunny Wedding in Sonoma appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Artist Rose Hill uses targeted examples of historically racist Black imagery to spark conversation and start the healing process.

“I think the universe picked me, as a Black woman, to express art this way,” Hill says. “Because a space needs to be made for this. It’s a part of our history. And it can be done in a palatable way. And the only way I think it would be accepted is if it was a Black artist doing it. Because Black folks will never trust anyone else to do it.”

The Rose Hill Art Gallery, located near Sonoma on Fremont Drive in Schellville, pops with color, whether it’s the bright, playful figures in Hill’s “Little Colored Girls” ceramic plate series, made famous by Oprah Winfrey, or the clever use of fabric in her “Spooks” series of ancestor portraits. Her sensitive pieces work to ensure we never forget a time when images of intolerance and pain for Black Americans were commonplace—and challenges viewers to look at themselves in the mirror, both literally and figuratively, and learn from what they see.

Moment of inspiration

When I first started, it was with magic markers on paper plates. I would paint the whole thing with magic markers. I’d draw women with head rags and all kinds of faces. Everywhere I went, I had my bag with blank paper plates. At outdoor festivals, I would have them with me, and people would say, “Can I have it?” And I started signing them and acting like they were something. And then I thought, I’m gonna get me a kiln and really make some plates. And that’s what I started doing.

The Oprah experience 

My sister Maxine Jones and her band En Vogue were on the ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ several times. One time, Maxine took her a teacup I made as a gift, and Oprah fell in love. Then Gayle [King] called and commissioned me to do a dinner service for 12 people. It was so overwhelming, because I wasn’t even good at what I was doing yet. I could paint, but I was just teaching myself how to fire and glaze. After I was on her show in 1999, around 5 million people came to my website, and I got physically ill. I tried to block it out. It was wild.

Learning from bigotry 

We all have baggage associated with this imagery. We’re Americans. What we choose to do with that is something else. Because we all have to work through whatever we have to work through. But I think what I’m doing is medicine. We are supposed to talk to each other. That’s how we heal, by talking about things. If it goes away completely, we won’t talk about this stuff.

Rose Hill Art Studio, 75 Fremont Drive, Sonoma, rosehillart.com

The post Sonoma Artist, Featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Sparks Conversations About Race and Racism appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

The evergreen wonderland of the Russian River Valley formed a lush backdrop to Kate and Alex Fishman’s July wedding. The couple, who at the time were living in Oakland and working at tech companies (Kate in HR and Alex in sales), both grew up in New York and met through good friends. At their wedding, they wanted their loved ones, many traveling from the East Coast, to experience the natural beauty of California.

“We really fell for the type of nature here, the redwoods and the rough coastlines,” explains Kate.

The couple and many of their guests stayed at The Stavrand for the weekend, allowing for a series of gatherings, including an epic jam session with their very musical families the night before the wedding.

“The Stavrand was a new venue at the time, so we did some of the heavy lifting, but the result was that it was a really unique wedding,” says Kate. She found inspiration there for her dress, with its delicate leaf embroidery, and for her flowers, which took their palette from the hotel’s colorful, hand-painted Talavera tile.

For the ceremony, the couple stood inside a rustic semicircle of blooms set close to the ground, overlooking a sweeping view of redwoods. Afterward, guests toasted with pink sparkling wine, then moved to two long tables set up on a lawn surrounded by fruit trees for an elegant reception dinner.

For Kate and Alex, the setting was where all the elements of the day came together.

“The place where it happened was exactly what we would have dreamed of, in front of this majestic background of forest, with the sun shining and this beautiful blue sky,” says Kate. “It just feels like we were surrounded both by the love of our family and friends, and by the beauty of nature.”

Resources

Planner: Marissa Giacomo, Hometown Gatherings

Photography: Annamae Photo

Location and wedding dinner: The Stavrand

Welcome dinner: Park Avenue Catering

Wine: Banshee Wines

Beer: HenHouse Brewing Co.

Floral designer: Tumbleweed

Floral rentals: Encore Events Rentals

Hair and makeup: Rachel Lusk

Wedding dress: Nouvelle Amsale

Cake: Your Sweet Expectations

The post A Wine Country Wedding Inspired by Nature appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Concealed behind a gate just steps from Highway 1 in Bodega Bay is is a jewel box of a Japanese garden, filled with meticulously sculpted cypress and pine trees, a flowering cherry, a dry stone river—even a tiny teahouse. It’s the result of owner and gallerist Ren Brown’s lifelong passion for the art and culture of Japan.

Brown and his late husband, Robert DeVee, moved to Bodega Bay in 1989 to open a gallery dedicated to Japanese art. The couple quickly found a location—a well-lit space with frontage along Highway 1 to capture coastal visitor traffic. Fortunately, just behind the gallery was a sturdily built, though rather dated, cottage.

Realizing their luck, the couple bought the property and made plans to remodel the home. Both home and garden now incorporate Japanese design principles and aesthetics. Outside, that means a restful, peaceful garden with such hallmarks as a rock garden, carefully trimmed evergreens, bonsai, and wabi-sabi stone footbridges. Inside, the Japanese touches include shoji screens, tatami mats, and antique tansu chests of every size to display Brown’s collection of Japanese ceramics.

“It’s what I love,” says Brown.

Though Brown grew up in the East Bay, his childhood was steeped in the culture of Japan. His mother had been born and raised there, the daughter of a Presbyterian missionary who traveled throughout Japan’s smallest island on horseback to convert the locals. As a young college graduate, Brown’s father traveled to Japan during the Depression, looking for teaching work. His father later earned a doctorate in Japanese history and taught the subject at UC Berkeley for many years.

“I was always surrounded by Japanese visitors coming to the house, Japanese art and ceramics,”says Brown.

From the mundane to the sacred

His tranquil courtyard garden, completely enclosed by a wooden fence, feels worlds away from the highway just beyond. One enters through a traditional torii gate, a gate commonly found at the entrance to or within a Shinto shrine, symbolically marking the transitional step from the mundane world to the sacred one.

The torii at the entrance to Brown’s garden was made by Sonoma County sculptor Bruce Johnson. Brown first became familiar with Johnson’s piece when he was curating an exhibit at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. The exhibit was meant to allow the local Japanese American community to show appreciation for those who supported them while they were incarcerated during World War II.

The torii, which features hammered metal and redwood and a sculpted juniper tree growing in the middle, is angled to frame a view of the garden. It centers on the pond, where shimmering koi glide peacefully through the water and the gentle sound of a small waterfall echoes peacefully among the stones.

In the jewel box space, serpentine stone pathways lead past water features and plantings of Japanese maples, now mostly bare in the winter season.

There’s a small dry-gravel garden, much like ones seen in Japanese homes and temples in Kyoto. The raking of the gravel around the islands of stone is a meditative, cleansing ritual, particularly after a winter rain.

Masterly sculpted evergreens

Precisely sculpted evergreens are a fundamental feature of traditional Japanese gardens. To shape his trees, Brown sought out Michael Alliger, a master aesthetic pruner who for many years has also maintained the exquisite garden at Osmosis Day Spa in Freestone.

Alliger says that while Brown’s garden is smaller than the one at Osmosis, it is very authentic in both hardscape and in the palette of plants and koi. Standout specimen trees, winding paths that reveal new views around each small bend, and the innovative use of stone are all hallmarks of traditional Japanese garden design, explains Alliger.

Japanese black pines and other specimen trees are carefully trimmed to open up the branches and showcase the trunk and branching structure. The pruning isn’t hard, says Alliger, but it does take a lot of focus, concentration, and timing.

Each season has its own beauty

Winter reveals details that might be missed at other times of the year: the shape of branches bare of leaves, delicate catkins cascading down from the twisted walking-stick tree. Even the borrowed scenery: a reflection of sky and hillside on water, or a glimpse of the coast over the garden wall, seems more vivid in winter. Brown says that the garden receives less moisture than gardens do in Japan, so the moss isn’t as lush as it might be, but there are softened edges of green that might not be as apparent in summertime.

“The garden has beauty every month of the year,” says Brown. “There are different things that bloom, new views revealed. But the strength and power of the shaped tree is what holds everything together and makes it unified.”

Brown often reminds himself to slow down and take time to enjoy the serenity of the space.

“Too often, gardeners find themselves focusing on all the things to do—the deadheading and the weeding. They don’t spend time just enjoying,” he says. “Japanese garden styles are meant to make you slow down—to take the sharply angled path, to follow around the corner, to take in that next view. You’re compelled to breathe it in.”

Visiting the gallery and garden

Gallery owner Ren Brown will happily share his garden with gallery guests who would like share in the space’s serenity.

“The whole point of a gallery is to offer beauty, and the garden is another way of doing that,” says Brown. “We often find that people who come to visit the gallery can enjoy the art even more after spending a few minutes in the garden.”

Ren Brown’s gallery of Japanese art features rotating exhibits of ceramics, works on paper, and other finds and is open year-round, 10 a.m.5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The Ren Brown Collection, 1781 Highway 1, Bodega Bay. 707-875-2922, renbrown.com

The post This Secret Sanctuary in Bodega Bay Has a Jewel Box of a Japanese Garden appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Life is like a box of chocolates. Eat the ones you like with abandon and pawn off the ones with nuts—at least, that’s my motto. Whether your preference is dark, milk or white, Sonoma County has a whole lotta cacao going on.

Best for Birthdays

Mocha Cuatro Leches Cake from Tía María Bakery

This dairy-laden cake has four types of milk—condensed, evaporated, heavy cream, and coffee-infused—to create a creamy, decadent, and, most importantly, moist cake that will make you an instant convert to the Mexican-style treat. From $45.

44 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa. 707-540-9864, tiamaria.world

Best frozen treat

Chocolate Orange Glacée from Goguette Bread

The Santa Rosa bread bakers have added French custard ice cream to their lineup, and it’s like nothing else. Made with cream, sugar, and egg yolks, it has billionaire richness studded with just a hint of citrus. $5-$15.

59 Montgomery Dr., Santa Rosa. goguettebread.com

Best in a cup

European Drinking Chocolate from Sonoma Chocolatiers & Tea House

This isn’t even in the same universe as Swiss Miss. Made with chocolate shavings and hot milk (plus optional chile or almond milk), it’s a liquid candy bar made for sipping slowly and paging through Proust on a rainy day. $6.95.

6988 McKinley St., Sebastopol. 707829-1181, sonomachocolatiers.com

Best bar

Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberries and Graham Crackers from Volo Chocolate

Inspired by Mexican chocolate while living in Baja, these chef-chocolatiers are bean-to-bar producers who like to have a little fun with their flavors. This 61% bar is a sweet kiss of cream and fruit. $9.

At Oliver’s Markets or order at volochocolate.com.

Best bonbons

Candy Cap Mushroom Caramel from Fleur Sauvage

Mushroom chocolate might sound odd, but sweet candy caps impart a maple syrup flavor that infuses the buttery caramel. The barely-there snap of the chocolate coating gives way to a unique wintry flavor. Four for $12.

370 Windsor River Rd., Windsor. 707-892-2162, fleursauvagechocolates.com

Best restaurant dessert 

The Princess Cake from 19Ten Bar & Provisions

Though the best part of this gooey, messy dessert is the cake slathered with warm chocolate ganache, the deal-closer is the edible glitter. Fit for royalty. $11.

115 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-7917494, 19ten.com

Best sweet treat 

Dark chocolate brownie from Marla Bakery

A marriage of dark chocolate and fairy dust, this thick, dense brownie is almost fudge-like in consistency. You should share it—but no. $4.50.

208 Davis St., Santa Rosa. 707-852-4098, marlabakery.com

Best vending machine 

Truffle assortment from Eye Candy Chocolatier

It’s late, it’s your anniversary, and you need something fast. This high-end chocolate shop has a serve-yourself vending machine open daily until 7 p.m. Win. Starting at $12.

6761 Sebastopol Ave., Suite 400, Sebastopol. 707-888-0568, eyecandychocolatier.com

The post The Best Chocolate Treats in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

You’d think that a guy who works on Ferraris and Lamborghinis would occasionally get to take one out on the road for a test drive. But Jim Simpson rarely even sees such fancy cars or their owners.

Instead, he’s the last resort—the fixer, the old-world machinist, the Geppetto of exotic cars—the one collectors from around the world seek out when an old, discontinued part breaks down on their vintage Rolls-Royce or Duesenberg or Avions Voisin.

In an age of mass production, Simpson makes precious one-offs. Most of the time, he’ll receive the broken part in the mail. Other times, he works from blueprints, photos, and sketches.

His job is to replicate that lost piece, often making it better than the original.

“We’re putting braces on the ‘Mona Lisa,’” he says, standing in the middle of a shop filled with so many gadgets—turn signals, wheel covers, lock cylinders, horn buttons—it’s hard to know where to look.

A gearhead’s museum of lost treasures

Working out of a refurbished chicken coop west of Sonoma, Simpson named his business O.D.D. Parts Fabrication as a tribute to all that is Obsolete, Discontinued, and Difficult-to-Obtain in the automotive world.

His shop and warehouse is an amazingly well-organized gearhead’s museum of lost treasures.

There’s a pedal-powered lathe he converted to run on electricity. An electroplating operation, hooked up to a car battery, that involves melting down pennies for zinc. And a wheel to spin and shine new wheel covers.

His trusty team is hard at work. In one corner, Steve Clark is busy building Ferrari license plate holders. Across from him, Matt Loftus is making a diaphragm for a carburetor in a Jaguar XJ6.

When a new customer walks in to pick up a metal rod he ordered, his eyes light up, seeing the shop for the first time. “It’s kind of a candy store,” Simpson says, midway through explaining how he can bend, cut, fuse, and bevel glass, and cast both metal alloys and plastic.

“If you’re looking for a weird item, keep us in mind,” Simpson tells the customer. It could be the company motto.

Later, a machinist with a thick Ukrainian accent calls to talk through pricing for a 1936 Rolls-Royce restoration project. Good-natured and quick to laugh through a bushy moustache, the polymath Simpson hardly ever stops talking, going on about almost anything—politics, 3D printers, Russian vloggers, Italian shoes, steampunk style, recumbent bikes.

In the niche world of elite vintage car restoration, Simpson has earned the reputation as a maker of missing puzzle pieces. “He makes what they call the ‘unobtainium’ parts—the stuff you can’t find anymore,” explains one client.

From fine arts to fine cars

Simpson likes to say he was born “when a pickle was a penny.” Growing up in Orange County in the 1960s, his family garage was the neighborhood hangout. It’s where Simpson built tricked-out soap-box cars and later a fiberglass Devin kit car. A hippie with hair down to the middle of his back, he rode the rails across the country and into Canada and Mexico as a teenager.

A few years later, after earning a fine arts degree, his first job was repairing washing machines and refrigerators at an appliance store. Migrating north to the Bay Area, Simpson worked at several car parts shops, before eventually going into business on his own in 1990.

Today, at 73, he’s still an old hippie at heart. He worked out of his home garage until about eight years ago, when his wife busted him for carrying a cauldron of molten aluminum through the kitchen.

The maker of missing puzzle pieces

For Simpson, it’s all about the chase and the thrill of solving a puzzle. Along the way, he wants to make the client happy and make a buck at the same time. But ask him if he’s a good businessman and he shakes his head.

“I’m way too friendly,” he says. “Nice guys finish last.”

Hearing this, Loftus leans his head into the room to add, “You’re a very good salesman, but not necessarily a good businessman.”

Simpson can’t help but agree. “We never have anybody complain about price, so we must be doing something wrong.”

But word of mouth among super-wealthy rare car collectors keeps him in business. In the niche world of elite, vintage car restoration, Simpson has earned a reputation as the maker of missing puzzle pieces— a tricky endeavor when said puzzle company probably went out of business 75 or 100 years ago.

“He makes what they call the ‘unobtainium’ parts, the stuff you can’t find anymore,” says Elliot Siegel, a retired Chicago commercial real estate developer who hired Simpson to replicate parts for two Maseratis and an Alfa Romeo. “Sometimes people will send him drawings, and he has to create something from scratch. He’s an Old World craftsman. Instead of making fine jewelry, he’s making parts for vintage cars.”

An award-winning automobile 

Reno collector Steve Hamilton, who owns more than 80 exotic cars, including Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, Duesenbergs, and Delahayes, first hired Simpson to restore a Ferrari 400i electric side mirror that no one else could fix.

When it came back in perfect working condition, he challenged Simpson with an almost trivial pursuit—replicating a matching tortoise-shell-covered perfume bottle that was included among the vanities in the backseat of a hand-cranked 1907 Renault.

Back then, cars came with vanity collections, like you might see in a limousine, including ashtrays, clocks, and in this case, left and right perfume bottles for the ladies. Missing one bottle, Hamilton sent Simpson the original for reference.

“To tell you the truth, when he sent them back, you could not tell the original from the replica,” says Hamilton.

In 2021, the 1907 Renault with the now-perfect perfume bottles won first place in the preservation category at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, widely considered one of the most prestigious car shows anywhere. “There’s nobody else who could have done what he did,” says Hamilton— before rattling off the next round of cars he plans to bring into Simpson’s world.

O.D.D. Parts Fabrication. 707-738-9661, oddparts.net

The post This Local Machinist Makes Custom Parts for Some of the Most Expensive Cars in the World appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Mike McGuire is standing in a choir room at Ukiah High School, pushing to high school student government members the presently disputed belief that the political process can, does, and will improve the lives of everyday people. The state senator from Sonoma County also trades fist bumps and jokes with the young student leaders.

“Am I right, party people?” he says to punctuate his points. He greets each tardy student, despite their best efforts to slink in unnoticed. “Hey! Come on in. Nice to see you. I’m Mike,” he says. They nod and slip into the closest empty chair.

McGuire was once one of those students during his own time at Healdsburg High, where he graduated as student body president in 1997. That was just a year before he stormed into Sonoma County politics, winning a seat on the Healdsburg school board at age 19 and then rising along an unbroken line from city council member to county supervisor, state senator, Senate majority leader, and, as of Monday, president of the California state Senate.

McGuire this week takes over as Senate leader in a Legislature that governs the nation’s most populated state and the world’s fifth largest economy. In order of succession, he will be third in line behind Gov. Gavin Newsom, and one of the few lawmakers in the room during the biggest negotiations of the new legislative session. He is the first person from north of Marin County to hold the position in 147 years. And he is only 44 years old.

“Look,” he says, “I will state the obvious. I’m probably one of the most unlikely individuals in the state to be assuming this role.” But the political prodigy from Healdsburg has been preparing for this moment most of his life.

First elected to the Senate in 2014, McGuire will lead a Legislature confronting a more than $22 billion dollar budget deficit, vexing rates of homelessness, and a housing affordability crisis. Though last winter eased drought concerns, more severe wildfire seasons and water issues driven by climate change lurk around the corner. Substance abuse and mental health woes and their attendant public safety concerns have put California cities in the crosshairs of Republicans nationwide, who seek to use struggling liberal bastions as national campaign fodder. And McGuire will be at the table with a governor who one day wants to be president, not to mention plenty of other state leaders who want to be the next governor.

Because of term limits, McGuire himself faces the end of his time in the Legislature in 2026 and must consider what comes next — even as he reaches this new career peak. He’s dominated every race he’s entered over the past two decades but will face far stiffer competition from fellow Democrats if he makes a run for statewide office. In preparation for the new leadership role, he’s recently been taking meetings that offer the kind of exposure and connections that anyone needs to rise in a state of 22 million voters — 35 times the number in his North Coast district, which runs from Marin County to the Oregon border.

McGuire has carved out a reputation in his district as the ever-ready emcee at public events and charity auctions, rattling off lots and hollering at bidders who are more often than not his constituents. At the moment, however, he’s making inroads with the high schoolers in Ukiah. After a half hour of policy talk and answering student questions, he urges the kids out of their seats, cajoling them into dance moves he leads. There is pushing the shopping cart (in McGuire’s version it is a wheelbarrow), plucking a pear off the tree — all performed without any music.

Remarkably, the high schoolers are into it. They surround him and join in. So on this morning in late November, California’s next state Senate president is wholly absorbed in stomping his feet leading an impromptu dance troupe of teenagers: “Can I get a ‘heck to the yeah?’ Come on everybody, let’s roll, come on party people, let’s roll. We’re going with the wheelbarrow. Everybody stop. Look at that pear tree. Grab that pear, put it in there. How about that?”

How about that, indeed.

Making inroads

High schoolers, of course, are new voters, or soon to be. But McGuire’s stops on campus also stem from a deeply rooted belief in education, and especially, the value of public schools. They are, he says, “the great equalizer.”

His home life growing up in Sonoma County, he tells people often, was not always easy. In Ukiah, he tells the students there was a “pretty dang bad divorce” when he was young. He was raised by his mother, who worked as a bank teller for 21 years, and his grandmother, a farmer whose financial support kept the family out of poverty.

Only in rare moments does he yield to delving deeper into this back story in public. More often, he is relentlessly on message, combing through notes he crams into yellow legal pads and file folders. Flip the page on the yellow pad — new issue to tackle, new resolution to seek. If thorny policy questions are his wheelhouse, ringmaster at public events his jam, then his own biography is more of a footnote. It runs all of 144 words on his Senate website.

And many of those words are devoted to the women in his life: his mother, Sherry, his grandmother, Martha, and his wife Erika, a public school principal in Healdsburg. The couple and their young son live in Geyserville, with a flock of chickens, including one named Martha for his grandmother.

When asked about his upbringing, McGuire signals his father was not around much. “I haven’t had a lot of great male role models in my life and my family,” he says. He was a poor student who, when he started at Santa Rosa Junior College, was still reading at a middle school level and battling through pre-algebra, he says. At Healdsburg High, he was no good as a football player and wound up the school mascot. A photograph in his senior yearbook captures him flashing a wide, toothy grin in a black wig with a colorful tie around his neck. “A typical look from Mike McGuire,” reads the caption. “It was a really long four years,” McGuire quips.

But he loved public school, a place where a kid whose family had no money could operate on an equal footing. Winning over others on campus is good practice for the rigors of political campaigning, and McGuire impressed. The same senior yearbook shows his classmates voted McGuire “most likely to become president.”

Sonoma County Democratic Party Chairperson Pat Sabo has known McGuire for 30 years, since she was his eighth grade teacher. In that classroom, he was “incredibly hyperactive,” Sabo says. Sometimes she sent him to take a lap around the track, hoping he’d burn off enough restlessness to come back inside and sit still. That energy — errant at the time — is the undercurrent of his political life now, fueling a work ethic famed among colleagues in the Capitol, who refer to him in interviews, nearly without fail, as “the Energizer Bunny.”

He’s hitched that work ethic to his political aspirations for more than two decades with unbroken success. As the youngest person to run and win a seat on the Healdsburg school board in 1998, McGuire may have met every voter in town, Sabo says. Still, it was hard to shake the image of a former class clown. “He’s doing this as a joke,” she thought at the time.

She likely wasn’t the only one. At his first board meeting, McGuire recalls, one of his new colleagues patted the young man on the head. But he quickly convinced Sabo he was far from joking about politics. At the time, she was president of the local teachers union and locked in a tough contract negotiation with the school district. McGuire spent considerable time meeting with her and other teachers, seeking to learn their perspective.

After Sabo’s retirement, and after McGuire’s six years on the school board, six years on the Healdsburg City Council, and four years on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, she worked with him on his first Senate campaign, in 2014. He then asked her to join his staff in Sacramento, working through his first term. That term was shadowed by some of the worst wildfires to ever hit California, and McGuire’s district experienced many of them: the 2015 Valley Fire in Lake County, the 2017 North Bay firestorm, and the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire.

McGuire was a whirlwind of action after the firestorm. Working off a model he first used after the Valley Fire, he partnered with Santa Rosa-based Redwood Credit Union and The Press Democrat to raise $32 million for 2017 fire victims. He’s spearheaded fights to hold local governments, telecom companies, and utilities accountable for their roles in the disaster.

Surrounding him then and through the ensuing two terms has been an evolving but fiercely loyal staff, several of them older women who exhibit a motherly pride in their hard-charging boss. Donna Zapata, who works in his district office in Santa Rosa and is a former head of the county’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is one of them. “The mother in me, the grandmother in me, I’m very proud of him,” she says. In her view, McGuire’s hard work and pragmatism has improved Northern California and will go on to serve the entire state. “He helps a lot of people,” she says. “It ripples out.”

Stepping into huge shoes

McGuire’s predecessor in the Senate’s top job, Toni Atkins, is an ally and public champion of his who appointed him Senate majority leader in early 2022. Atkins wrote at the time that McGuire was stepping into the “huge shoes” of the outgoing majority leader. “But knowing Sen. McGuire and his energy, he will work to fill them, shine them, put in new laces, and resole them, all within two and a half minutes,” Atkins said.

His fellow North Bay representatives say that reputation is well-earned. “There is nobody harder working in either chamber than Mike McGuire, and that’s not to put anybody else down, but he is nonstop,” says state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa. “It means getting up real early and starting his day and then I’ve been on calls with him at 9, 10, 11 at night. He’s not going to stop until the job is done.”

McGuire’s standing as a workhorse legislator, consensus builder, and as someone who keeps his word earned him the job. “He made no commitments — none — to get this vote,” says Dodd. “He stood on his personality, his record of accomplishments supporting (Atkins) and his position as the majority leader. There was just a lot of trust there.”

“ Look, I have always been the underdog. And I like it… Again, I don’t come from a political family. We don’t have any damn money. And it’s all about grit, being scrappy and working hard.”

McGuire shrugs off any suggestion he’s an exception at the Capitol. Instead, he ticks off the importance of the work, how much needs to be done, and the values handed down by his grandmother. McGuire describes her as a woman in the male-dominated world of agriculture, “a hard-nosed prune rancher and grape grower,” who worked, worked, and worked some more for what she achieved. “Every time my feet hit the ground in the morning, I think about my grandma,” and the lessons she imparted, he says. “Work hard. Work together. Don’t take no for an answer.”

McGuire got his first full-time job as a junior in high school. Until he became a county supervisor, which is a paid position, he had stints as a radio host and a TV news producer. “It’s no different than the majority of Californians,” he explains. “Many have two or three jobs just to be able to pay the bills. And that’s what inspires me now is to provide a better life for those who are struggling, and to be able to provide a voice to those who don’t have one and who are underrepresented in this state… I think when you see struggle as a kid, you want to be able to change that as an adult.

McGuire entered the school board race, he told the students in Ukiah, after growing frustrated with the state of his school. There were buckets around his classroom to catch water leaking through the roofs and students had to cross the campus to use the bathroom.

“I feel really frustrated when those who represent us as leaders kinda don’t listen to those who are impacted by their decisions. Am I right?” he says to a silent room. (No party people this time.)

“And I think that is a growing frustration, whether it is a school board or the president of the United States,” he adds.

Energizer bunny

McGuire keeps a schedule that would shatter most.

“Working with people gives me energy,” he says.

Watch McGuire dance with high school students, work a room at a ribbon cutting, or engage in his side gig as charity auctioneer — a whooping, pointing, shouting performance that is legendary along the North Coast — and the symbiosis is palpable. When pushing the wheelbarrow and plucking the pear, McGuire is feeding off the spontaneity and joy he sparked for the students.

One morning in early November, just after 10 a.m., McGuire is seated at the corner of a table in a meeting room in Santa Rosa. His day started with an 8 a.m. fundraiser for a long-awaited public library in Roseland. Now he is meeting with 17 mayors and council members from Sonoma County’s nine cities. The agenda is extensive and complex. Next, he and many of the other officials rush to Petaluma for a groundbreaking ceremony at the new station for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit — complete with the requisite golden shovels. By 5 p.m., he is back in auctioneer mode, cheering on donors at a fundraiser for a new charity to support public schools.

But at the 10 a.m. meeting, out of the public eye and in the company of fellow elected officials, McGuire is more listener than showman. He faces a wave of concerns about rampant homeless encampments, increasing episodes of hateful speech dominating public comment periods of local government meetings, and caps on leaders’ ability to raise revenues through sales taxes.

The central topic of discussion, however, is Pacific Gas and Electric Co., a perennial foe for North Coast politicians after a decade-long string of utility-sparked wildfires killed more than 100 people and destroyed thousands of homes. McGuire has long cast himself as a foil to PG&E, which he blames for putting shareholder profits over safety in the run-up to years of catastrophic wildfires linked to its aging electrical grid. The local municipal leaders at the meeting are worried the utility’s pace of electrifying new housing developments isn’t keeping up with the rapid pace of building, among a litany of other complaints. As Senate president, McGuire will have a much bigger cudgel.

“You’re going to see increased scrutiny on them,” McGuire promises the group of lawmakers. “We need to remind them that there are consequences for inaction.”

Once he’s Senate president, though, a dominant player like PG&E, the nation’s largest electric utility, will need and expect to be heard. And each of the 40 senators he leads are duly elected and hold their own agenda. Caucus leaders govern by reputation, cajoling, and consensus building. They cannot dictate support, and McGuire is in charge of only the Senate. The Assembly and governor are another matter.

“It’s a three-headed monster there,” says Steve Maviglio, a longtime statehouse operative who today works as a political consultant. In the power halls of Sacramento McGuire is known as pragmatic, press-savvy, and careful. “He’s got a very healthy reputation of being able to get things done,” Maviglio says. “The most overlooked role of a Senate leader is cat herding. You’re dealing with 40 people with the enormous personalities you need to be in politics in the first place. To get everybody on the same page and rowing in the same direction is no easy feat.”

At this point, it’s still impossible to know what will define the coming two years of legislating. There is always the chance of fresh crisis, whether real or political. McGuire is telling people he’s focused on results for voters, not political drama or infighting. “I’m not going to be big on political debates,” he says. “The culture war issues are a distraction and it’s a rabbit hole I will not go down. We are going to focus on policies that impact the greater good of Californians.”

Political patchwork

The nearly 1 million constituents of the 2nd Senate District where McGuire has made his mark over the past decade are now about to share him with the state. The district encompasses 10,000 square miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, rimmed by a rugged coast. Much of the territory is mountainous and sparsely populated. It includes one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, Marin, and three of the poorest counties in California—Del Norte, Lake, and Trinity. It contains more than a third of the state’s 840 miles of coastline, five national forests, and a complex patchwork of rural, urban, small town, and agricultural zones.

And it is as diverse politically as it is geographically.

Del Norte and Trinity counties both went for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, with Del Norte voting Republican by more than 15 percentage points. To the south in Marin County, however, more than 82% of voters went for Biden, along with close to 75% of voters in Sonoma County. Northern California counties are struggling, and have been for decades. Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Trinity, and Del Norte counties may not be making national news like Sacramento, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, but they are statistically more deeply plagued by social ills, McGuire says.

On that front he has tough words for his own party. Democrats have unilateral control in Sacramento and have not lost an election for state office in 18 years. “If you look per capita at the highest rates of poverty, opioid addiction, homelessness, it’s not in urban centers,” he says. “It’s in communities like Eureka and Crescent City, and Weaverville and Hayfork, Ukiah and Clear Lake.”

McGuire, like other Democratic politicians that represent the area — Assemblyman Jim Wood of Healdsburg, or Congressman Jared Huffman of San Rafael — has not come out ahead in those areas in general elections.

Like many economists, McGuire sees a connection between despairing statistics and the election results up north. “One of the reasons why I believe that Donald Trump was president is because Democrats have forgotten about rural California,” he says. “And we’ve forgotten about rural America.”

Wood, who announced this year will be his last in the Legislature, thinks McGuire’s leadership will help more of those places. His district and McGuire’s nearly mirror each other. “From my perspective, it will be very good for the district,” Wood says. “I would think that whatever I want I’m going to be able to get. Mike’s responsibility will be to the entire state of California. Will he look at rural California a little bit more? Yes, I believe he will.”

Under its canopy of redwood trees, the far northern part of the state is in many ways a microcosm of the nation. McGuire makes laps through that part of the district relentlessly.

Want to know just how relentless? Make a call up to the Trinity Alps Unified School District in Weaverville, a five-hour drive north of Santa Rosa, and ask Superintendent Jaime Green about Mike McGuire.

“The best politician in all the United States of America, that guy?” he’ll say. Other politicians that can help his district, and do, are also very good people, he adds diplomatically.

But McGuire’s special place in the district’s heart is set in concrete. In 2018, school staff discovered dangerous levels of mold at the high school and junior high school. Overnight, Green says, they had to shutter the buildings entirely. In the impoverished county, a school bond was a nonstarter. District officials were looking at busing students to a school three hours away. Desperate, they contacted McGuire.

“We called and he came running,” Green said. McGuire secured state funding for temporary housing and eventually, to replace the mold. “He walked with us from the beginning all the way until the end.” Three years later, Green said, the district had finished building two modern, “absolutely gorgeous” new campuses.

Green is a registered Republican. McGuire has “damn near made me a Democrat,” he says. “He’s got me rolling over. My wife is like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” It will take state investment for Trinity County to improve, Green says. And so it’s no surprise that McGuire, who delivered for the school district, has won him over. They share the same view on public schooling. “We are their shot, bud,” Green says. “Public education in an impoverished area — we are what they have. I think that’s what Mr. McGuire recognizes, and that’s why he helps us.”

What lies ahead

The office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction comes up for election in 2026, just as McGuire terms out of the Legislature. So does state insurance commissioner. In 2023, McGuire opened a campaign committee for the latter office. But despite the glaring title “McGuire for Insurance Commissioner 2026,” the political cognoscenti say that at this early stage, the campaign is likely mostly a way to store political donations.

So far, it’s hardly worth asking McGuire himself.

“There’s an eternity between now and the 2026 election cycle and my priority is to work my tail off tackling our toughest challenges here in Northern California and helping to lead the state Senate as Majority Leader,“ McGuire said in a statement to The Press Democrat in August, when the newspaper reported on his new campaign committee. In September, he gave nearly the same answer to a different reporter after he was named incoming Senate president: “There is an eternity between now and the 2026 election cycle. My priority between now and then is to work my tail off…”

Runs for statewide office are daunting prospects for politicians from north of the Golden Gate Bridge. There is no massive urban population center to anchor a voting bloc. Elections are most often decided by voters in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, neither of which offers McGuire a firm base.

Leading the Senate will help him build name recognition, but his path to becoming a statewide figure in two short years is narrow, some observers say. “Being a leader of the Legislature really doesn’t give you a statewide platform or recognition,” says Maviglio, the lobbyist. “You can make your mark,” but, he says, “it’s pretty limited.”

But McGuire has been running hard his whole life. Late last year, his several trips to Southern California included meetings with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the L.A. city council president, Los Angeles County supervisors, and the head of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center. Connecting with big-city leaders has been illuminating and head spinning. “I don’t blame them, but they think, ‘What does someone from Healdsburg know about a city of 10 million?’” McGuire says.

“I approach this as I’ve always…” He stops for a moment, then shifts gears. “Look, I have always been the underdog. And I like it… And again, I don’t come from a political family. We don’t have any damn money. And it’s all about grit, being scrappy, and working hard.”

He and Erika were childhood friends. They married in 2010. Now both in their 40s, they struggled for years to have a child. Their son, Connor, turns three this year. “Having a kid has changed my life,” McGuire says, and then he chokes up and takes a long, long pause. “I don’t take this gift lightly.”

Of his son he says, “The damn kid doesn’t sleep. And he is opinionated as all get-out. He has energy — he is bouncing off the walls.”

Go figure.

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