2017 Featured
Vintners & Growers
Signature Sonoma Valley offers unprecedented access to the Vintners & Growers at the forefront of this world-class wine region. Here are some of the legendary taste-makers whose company –and wines– you will be enjoying at this most intimate event.
Richard & Alis Arrowood
Proprietors
Amapola Creek Winery by Richard Arrowood
Richard Arrowood is an iconic winemaster who has been making wine exclusively in Sonoma County for more than for 45 years. From 1974 through 1990, he created the wines for Chateau St. Jean, where he developed some of the first vineyard-designate Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon produced in Sonoma County.
He and his wife, Alis, founded Arrowood Winery with the 1985 vintage. Each year, they made extraordinary small-lot varietals and vineyard designates. Richard was the winemaster at Arrowood Winery until June 2010, when he resigned his position to devote himself full-time to making wines for his estate winery, Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery.
Richard Lee Arrowood was born in San Francisco and raised in Santa Rosa, California, in the heart of Sonoma County. He began his winemaking career in 1965, working at Korbel Champagne Cellars while attending college. He earned a B.A. in organic chemistry at California State University, Sacramento, and completed graduate work in enology at California State University, Fresno.
From Korbel, he moved first to United Vintners and then to Sonoma Vineyards, where he worked for Rodney Strong and further developed his appreciation for the potential of single vineyard sites. In 1974 the founders of Chateau St. Jean chose Richard as their first employee and winemaster.
Within a few years, Richard had gained critical acclaim and a worldwide reputation for his wines. He produced vineyard-designate Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Fumé Blanc, Johannisberg Riesling, and Gewürztraminer bottlings in unprecedented numbers: from the 1980 vintage, the winery marketed nine single-vineyard Chardonnays from within Sonoma County.
By producing numerous small-lot, single-vineyard wines, Richard successfully demonstrated the significance of site—of terroir. Using virtually identical winemaking techniques for a given varietal, he showed that the differences in the resulting wines came from the vineyard, not the cellar. It was a revolutionary accomplishment. Richard received perhaps his greatest accolades for botrytis-affected late harvest wines, which rivaled even the great Trockenbeerenauslesen in richness and intensity.
In 1981 Richard met Alis Demers at the first California Wine Experience in San Francisco. They started dating and were married in 1985. In the same year, they created another partnership and began the plans for building Arrowood Vineyards & Winery.
Richard remained at Chateau St. Jean as executive vice president/winemaster until joining Alis at Arrowood full-time in 1990. Together they created a highly acclaimed prestige brand, which Robert Mondavi Corp. purchased in 2000. Richard and Alis stayed on, but after Constellation Brands purchased Mondavi in 2004 and subsequently sold Arrowood in 2005 to the (now bankrupt) Legacy Estate Group, Richard and Alis began Amapola Creek Winery.
Jackson Family Wines acquired Arrowood Vineyards & Winery through the bankruptcy court in September 2006. Richard continued as winemaster there until June 2010, when he left to devote his energies full-time to Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery.
Richard & Alis Arrowood
Jeff Baker
Winemaker
STONE EDGE FARM ESTATE VINEYARDS & WINERY
Raised on his family’s citrus ranch in Ventura County, Jeff graduated from Stanford University and earned his master’s degree in enology from the University of California at Davis. He served as winemaker during the 1970s at the iconic Mayacamas Vineyards, in the mountains that separate Napa and Sonoma.
Jeff joined a group of partners, which included Mac McQuown, in 1980 to create Carmenet Vineyards (now Repris Wines) on the southwest side of the Mayacamas range. In the late 1990s, both Mac and Jeff planted small Cabernet Sauvignon home vineyards. In 2004 they co-founded Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery.
Jeff Baker
Prema Behan
Chief Operating Officer
THREE STICKS WINES
Look around for photos of Three Sticks Wines’ Chief Operating Officer Prema Behan: you’ll be hard pressed to find one in which she’s not open-mouthed smiling or laughing. To put it mildly, Behan, who’s first name (Prema) translates from Sanskrit to mean “giver of love,” is a joy to be around.
Behan began working for Three Sticks Wines founder Bill Price III in 2000 in an administrative position at Texas Pacific Group (TPG). She soon found herself working closely with Price, his family, and TPG’s Director of Operations. Her work there doubled as business school: she witnessed TPG’s rapid growth and global expansion, as well as from her experience closely assisting Price in his pursuits. Behan became an essential part of Price’s team, and began helping manage his winery operations. She has been involved in Three Sticks Wines from its founding, and has built relationships with every member of the winery’s allocation list as it grew from Price’s friends and family to include a growing number of Pinot-savvy consumers.
“Bill [Price] is one of the most exciting and interesting human beings to be around,” says Behan. “To me, Three Sticks Wines is really the essence of him, from his love of the land to his relentless pursuit of excellence. So it’s an enormous honor to get to run it,” she adds.
While Behan notes that she wouldn’t be in the wine industry if it hadn’t been for Price, hospitality comes naturally to her. Raised in Marin by her mother, a GM of restaurants, and her stepfather, an executive chef, she learned early on that hard work and fun don’t necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.
Behan was involved in the design and creation of Price’s other independent wine brands: Lutum Wines – a boutique Pinot and Chardonnay winery in Santa Barbara with Gavin Chanin and Head High – a lifestyle brand built with Sam Spencer to make delicious wines for adventure lovers.
“I believe in authenticity, in balance, and inspiring those around you to perform to their absolute best,” she says. “It really is my goal to have our team fulfilling their jobs via their skills and talents and loving what they do. That will equal our success,” she adds.
The Sonoma resident and busy mother of two (she has a 19-year-old and a 5-year-old son) is on the board of the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation as the Vice President, and recently completed the California State University Sonoma’s Executive MBA program (with Honors!).
Prema Behan
Nate Belden
Cheif Proprietor
BELDEN BARNS
Raised on a horse farm in Colorado, agriculture has always played an important part in Nate’s life. With one grandfather operating a cattle ranch in Montana and the other farming dairy and corn in Nebraska, it isn’t surprising that Nate developed a deep passion for the land, fantasizing about tractors and livestock the way his friends dreamed of fast cars and high tech gadgets.
After graduating University of Colorado, Boulder, Nate put his rural dreams on hold in the name of a very urban finance career that led him to New York City and then to San Francisco. But the farming bug never left him. In fact, the further away he got from an agrarian life, the more he missed it.
In 2004, while still toiling away at his city job, Nate spent a holiday weekend with friends in wine country, and decided to steal away to look at an available farm in Sonoma. Despite the fact that the property was both well beyond his budget and his time available to operate a working vineyard, it was love at first sight. The visit fueled an entire year of monthly drives to Sonoma Mountain Road, where he would park in front of the property’s mailbox and fantasize about becoming a wine grower.
On one such pilgrimage to Sonoma in early summer 2005, the “For Sale” sign had been pulled, bringing his fantasy to an abrupt halt. After a few weeks of deep disappointment, Nate called the realtor to see if any similar properties were available, only to learn that the sale had fallen through. This time, he leapt at the opportunity to plant a flag on the site we now call Belden Barns.
These days, when Nate’s not immersed in planning this year’s crops or next year’s harvest and bottling, he is most likely adventuring around the Bay Area with Lauren and their two small children, Olivia and Milo. Active volunteers, Nate and Lauren also focus their efforts on improving the lives of orphans near Arusha, Tanzania, and put a portion of wine sales towards this cause.
Nate Belden
Eva Bertran
Vice President of Marketing
GLORIA FERRER CAVES & VINEYARDS
Eva Bertran brings a captivating blend of Spanish style and California charisma to Gloria Ferrer Caves &
Vineyards. Complemented by her impressive wine expertise and deep understanding of the Sonoma
Carneros region, Bertran is an ideal leader at Gloria Ferrer. Having left her native Spain in 1986 — where her own family was in the wine business — she is a member of the original team that launched Gloria Ferrer, and continues to oversee the winery as devotedly as if it were her own family business.
Bertran holds a master’s degree in international management from Spain’s top business school, Escuela
Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas University (ESADE). Armed with this education, she has lent her astute intelligence and dynamic energy to every job she undertakes. She is instrumental in fostering the Catalonian traditions through every facet of Gloria Ferrer, infusing the company culture with her own casual elegance, quick wit,and enthusiasm.
A passionate wine educator, Bertran embraces her role as international ambassador for Gloria Ferrer,
leading sparkling wine and food pairings for consumers,trade, and media. She is relentless in her
understanding of sparkling wine as much more than a celebratory beverage. The cooking skills that Bertran has cultivated throughout a lifetime have led to a dynamic understanding of sparkling wine and its versatility with food. Her presentations at the winery and throughout the world are insightful and
profoundly persuasive.
Bertran is equally involved in her local wine community. A past-president of the Sonoma County Vintners, she remains an active member in the association. She also served as president of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Board of Directors and for many years on the Board of Carneros Wine Alliance. Away from work, Bertran complements her love of food and wine with her zeal for skiing, biking, yoga, and swimming.Having studied with the famous Catalan Chef Montserrat Segui,she enjoys preparing traditional Catalan dishes inspired by her grandmother,Teresa,for her husband, David, and their sons, Paul and Jack.
Eva Bertran
Jean-Charles Boisset
Proprieter
BUENA VISTA WINERY
Jean-Charles Boisset was born into the world of wine in the village of Vougeot, Burgundy, France. His lifelong passion for wine began as a child, growing up above the cellars and within view of the centuries-old vineyards of Château du Clos Vougeot, the epicenter and birthplace of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
His parents, Jean-Claude and Claudine, founded the family winery in 1961 with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in one of the most traditional winegrowing regions in the world. Today, the family collection includes wineries that share more than 18 centuries of combined winemaking heritage and tradition in some of the world’s most prestigious terroirs, from Burgundy to the South of France, to California’s Napa Valley and Russian River Valley.
Jean-Charles leads the family firm with passionate commitment to fine wine, history, quality and a deep respect for the environment. He implemented organic and Biodynamic farming at all of the family’s estate vineyards in Burgundy and California. Together with his sister Nathalie, he created Domaine de la Vougeraie, uniting the family’s Burgundy vineyards, including prestigious monopoles such as the Vougeot 1er Cru Clos Blanc de Vougeot – planted in 1110 by the Cistercian monks, into one of Burgundy’s leading domaines. He instituted the concept of “viniculteur”, redefining the company’s traditional role to encompass a close and active interest in all aspects of winegrowing to ensure premium quality and sustainable farming practices. He refashioned and elevated the family’s founding winery bearing his father’s name – Jean-Claude Boisset – into a premier boutique vigneron in the Cotes de Nuits.
In 2003 Jean-Charles brought DeLoach Vineyards, a pioneering producer of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, into the family collection. He immediately recognized the similarities to Burgundy: each boast a confluence of river, mountains, and soil that is perfect for growing world-class Pinot Noir. He began a mission, inspired by his Burgundian heritage to produce terroir-driven wines with the same commitment to terroir and organic and Biodynamic farming he had instituted in Burgundy. In 2009 Jean-Charles’ quest for California wineries with a sense of history, heritage and a pioneering spirit, led him to Raymond Vineyards in the Napa Valley, where five generations of family winemaking anchors it to the earliest days of the Napa Valley. Under his vision, Raymond has become a leading producer of luxury fine wines, implemented organic and Biodynamic farming on its 100 acre Rutherford estate, and become among the most dynamic winery destinations in California, earning “Winery of the Year” honors from Wine Enthusiast magazine. In 2011, Jean-Charles’ dream of championing California wine history became a reality when Buena Vista Winery, California’s first premium winery, founded in 1857, became a part of the Boisset Collection. From this great foundation of historical, pioneering wineries in France and California, Jean-Charles’ sets forth a vision of the wine world centered on family, passion, history, innovation, a commitment to fine wines, and a dedication to sustainable winegrowing.
Decanter magazine has included him on its “Power List” of the fifty most important people in the wine world each year of its publication since 2007; in March 2008, he received the Meininger’s International Wine Entrepreneur of the Year; and in December 2008, he was named “Innovator of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. The French America Foundation awarded him their first-ever French-American Partnership Award in 2013, bestowed upon an extraordinary individual or organization that has contributed to creating a strong and enduring French-American partnership in business, government, or academia. Haute Living Magazine named him to the Haute List San Francisco, recognizing the 100 most influential people in the San Francisco Bay Area. JFK University in Concord, CA named he and his wife, Gina Gallo-Boisset, their 2014 “Entrepreneur’s of the Year” in an awards ceremony on May 16, 2014. He was honored with the 2014 Jefferson Award by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, which celebrates the museum’s historical connection with Thomas Jefferson and his renowned love of fine wine.
Jean-Charles Boisset
Erich Bradley
Winemaker
PANGLOSS CELLARS-SOJOURN CELLARS
A native of Palo Alto, California, Erich became interested in wine while helping his family develop their vineyard on a small ranch in Sonoma Valley. Prior to that, Erich studied Bio-chemistry at the University of Chicago and Philosophy and Modern European Intellectual History at the University of California at Irvine. This led him to an initial career as high school teacher and tennis coach. Since moving to Sonoma in 1998, he has studied winemaking at the University of California at Davis and viticulture at Santa Rosa College. He has also benefited greatly from the mentoring of winemakers Richard Arrowood and David Ramey.
In 1999, Erich worked as a harvest lab technician at Arrowood Vineyards and Winery, a position that extended into Assistant Enologist through 2002. Erich left Arrowood in January of 2003 to become the Winemaker for Audelssa Estate Winery in Glen Ellen, a position he continues to hold today. Erich also spent two vintages as Winemaker for Hop Kiln Winery and has consulted on various winery projects in Sonoma and Mendocino throughout his winemaking career.
When Erich takes time away from winemaking and the vineyards, you can usually find him on the golf course or in his kitchen cooking up French and Italian country classics for his friends and family.
Erich Bradley
Bill Canihan
Proprieter
Canihan Family Wines
Bill Canihan works closely with consulting winemaker Alajandro Beloz to craft his small allotments of premium Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet Franc from his small family vineyards in Sonoma Valley. His methods showcase the extraordinary fruit from his cool-climate site and the response his wines continue to receive is nothing short of impressive.
Canihan studied business while at UOP and in his free time enjoyed ski racing (he actually almost made the Olympic Team and for three seasons raced on the Pro Circuit). After college, Canihan joined two San Francisco-based wine tasting groups, the Vintners Club, and Friends of the Grape (FOG) where he focused on the details of his favorite producers, such as Rochioli and Williams Selyem, and used them as guides in his own production.
Today, Canihan is thrilled to share his wines with others and currently offers his wines in two tasting room facilities – one being a winery collective with a group of boutique wineries in San Francisco and the other being a small barn on his vineyard property in Sonoma Valley. “Bring your boots!” Canihan laughs. “It may be a little muddy out there, but it definitely gives people the real experience.”
Bill Canihan
PHIL COTURRI
Viticulturist / Proprietor
ENTERPRISE VINEYARDS / KAMEN ESTATE VINEYARD / WINERY SIXTEEN 600
Phil Coturri, a pioneer of organic viticulture, has been overseeing the Kamen Estate vineyards since Robert Kamen purchased the property in l980. Phil is a highly regarded Viticulturist with over thirty-five years experience with top quality northern California vineyards.
If you ask him, Phil Coturri might quote a Levon Helm song and describe himself as a “poor old dirt farmer”. However, after 35 years pioneering organic and biodynamic winegrowing in California descriptions range from “famed organic viticulturalist” by the Hollywood Reporter to “the ubiquitous wizard of sustainable winemaking” by Sonoma Magazine. He was born with the cultural palate of Italian immigrants, weaned on the music and ethos of San Francisco in the 1960’s and planted deep into the rocky hillsides of Sonoma Valley.
Phil Coturri
Michael Cox
Winemaker
SCHUG CARNEROS ESTATE
A Northern California native, Winemaker Michael Cox grew up in Sonoma and spent time in both the Sonoma and Napa wine producing regions as a student. His local head start gave him an enviable background that most young winemakers find very difficult to achieve.
Mike first attended the University of California at Los Angeles, studying chemical engineering and working in a wine cellar during the summer. It was then that his love for wine surfaced and took him down another road. In order to become a member of the wine industry, he transferred to the U.C. Davis campus and graduated with a degree in Enology in 1991. Mike also took advantage of coming home from school each summer to work at Sonoma area wineries, gaining good solid experience every step of the way. He worked his way up through the cellars of two prestigious wineries, Hacienda and Dry Creek Vineyards, during and after he finished school. His first full Winemaker position was at DeMoor Winery in 1992. Mike likes to work closely with growers and prefers small production vineyards that contribute unique qualities to his blends. The Carneros grapes Mike works with at Schug offer unrivaled wine-making opportunities due to their unique diversity and complex, well-developed flavor characteristics.
In the cellar, his focus is on staying abreast of current winemaking developments. He favors progressive use of the newer technologies available to winemakers today, such as the Voll Tauchers, hydraulic punch-down fermenters that automate the process of gently punching down the cap during fermentation. Mike also has the impressive ability to manage the hundreds of separate lots stored in the cellars before blending, including the judicious adaptation of specific barrel coopers to specific vineyard lots, in order to emphasize the terroir.
As Winemaker, an important member of the Schug family team, Mike works closely with Sales & Marketing Director Axel Schug. Together their winemaking talents create the premium Carneros and Sonoma wines with the European flair that Schug is famous for.
Mike Cox
Dan Fishman
Winemaker
DONUM ESTATE
Dan is the winemaker at Donum Estate where he started as an intern under former winemaker, Kenneth Juhasz in 2007. After working on five vintages, Dan became very familiar with the winemaking style of the Donum Estate and was named winemaker in June 2012.
Prior to becoming Donum’s winemaker, Dan spent time working a harvest at Wither Hills in New Zealand. His formal studies are in Philosophy and Psychology. His love for wine was sparked at an undergraduate course at Cornell University, Wine Appreciation 101. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Cornell University and a MA in Social Psychology from the University of British Columbia. In addition, he has worked at wine shops in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
Dan Fishman
Squire & Suzy Fridell
Proprietors
GLENLYON VINEYARDS & WINERY
Squire Fridell
Squire may look like a Vintner, Winemaker and Vineyard Manager, but he also holds the possible distinction of being the only actor in history to have never drawn unemployment benefits. He graduated from University of Pacific and holds a Master’s Degree in Acting/Directing from Occidental College.
If Squire’s face looks vaguely familiar, it’s because he was one of the most successful actors ever in television commercials. Since 1970, he performed as principal on-camera talent in over 3,400 television commercials and about twice that many television and radio voice-overs. No matter where you might be living in the USofA, he was most likely in your living room more than once trying to sell you something. He was the on-camera spokesman for Toyota (1978-2012) and from 1984 until 1991 you might have spotted him on TV wearing a funny yellow and red outfit chasing “The Hamburglar” around McDonaldland!
Squire began his professional acting career on stage in Southern California with South Coast Repertory in 1968 and was one of the last “Contract Players” at Universal Studios. He has starred in twelve television pilots (mostly short lived), five big screen features (mostly unmemorable films), and starred/guest-starred in a whole bunch of TV shows over the years. He has been on the cover of TV GUIDE, was once “#1 Across” in the crossword puzzle of Daily Variety, and was photo-featured in NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE.
Squire is also the author of four published plays, a screenplay (that was almost made into a movie) and wrote the definitive commercial acting text, ACTING IN TELEVISION COMMERCIALS FOR FUN AND PROFIT, now in its Fourth Edition, Harmony books. Go to Amazon and get a copy! If you’re a Clan Member, Squire would be glad to sign your copy next time you drop by to pick up your wine at GlenLyon!
Squire made the segue from actor/director to winemaker/vineyard manager gradually over the years, oft times wearing more than one hat, but it was a very smooth transition. “Same Greek God” as Squire is wont to say…
Suzy Fridell
Suzy McDermaid was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in Whittier. She holds a BA in Dance from UCLA where she taught, choreographed and performed with the UCLA Dance Company for three years.
In 1969 she moved to New York City to study dance with Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis and three months later, packed her bags to leave for her first European tour with the Nikolais Dance Theatre Company. She stayed with Nik for nine years, performing in twelve foreign tours and over forty US tours.
Suzy married Squire Fridell in 1977 and the newlyweds settled on a bi-coastal life. After a couple of years of frequent flying from NYC to LA and LA to NYC, they decided to give up Suzy’s cherished (rent-controlled) loft in Manhattan and take up “permanent” residence in their new home in Sunset Beach, California. After Suzy “retired” from the world of professional modern dance, she and Squire became proud parents of their daughter, Alexandra McDermaid Fridell, in 1982.
In 1986, Suzy and Squire decided that Sonoma Valley might be a wonderful place to raise their three-year old daughter.
Since their move to Glen Ellen, Suzy spent a zillion hours campaigning for school bonds, fund raising for schools, and volunteered for the schools and a myriad of community events. She and Squire were responsible for the construction of both an outdoor and an indoor theatre for two public schools in our Valley and they produced, choreographed, and directed plays in each for years. Suzy and Squire were both recognized and awarded “Volunteers of the Year in Education” for all of Sonoma County and when Suzy’s not at GlenLyon, you could find her somewhere in the middle of a gaggle of fellow vintner gals, choreographing and performing “Magnum Force” at each year’s annual Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Wine Auction. Suzy and Squire were honored to be co-chairs of the Auction a few years back.
Squire & Suzy Fridell
Jeff Gaffner
Winemaker
RAM’S GATE WINERY
A grower at heart, Ram’s Gate Winemaker Jeff Gaffner is most content in the vineyard. He believes that wine is made there and focuses a great deal of his energy in the vineyards during the growing season to ensure balance and flavor, bringing the best possible fruit to cellar.
With more than 30-years of experience as both a grower and winemaker in Sonoma, Gaffner has developed longstanding relationships and recognition as a highly sought-after consulting winemaker. His first collaboration with Ram’s Gate Proprietor Jeff O’Neill began 15-years ago, and O’Neill, impressed by Gaffner’s depth of knowledge and belief that only great vineyards produce truly great wines, knew Gaffner was the obvious choice to lead Ram’s Gate’s mission: to produce the region’s finest single vineyard designate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.
Jeff Gaffner
Bart Hansen
Proprietor-Winemaker
DANE CELLARS
My career in the wine industry began as a summer job. During that first harvest, my job was to deliver five tons of grapes at a time, down the mountain, in a one-ton truck. It was from that experience that I knew I wanted to be a winemaker. I began my professional career with Kenwood Vineyards in 1986, where we specialized in vineyard-designated Zinfandels and Cabernets grown in Sonoma Valley.
In 1998, I left my position as Cellarmaster for Kenwood and joined the wine-making team at Benziger Family Winery, just down the road in Glen Ellen. My focus was the production of wines for the Benziger Family Ranch including Tribute, Imagery Estate and Benziger vineyard designates, and in particular the Zinfandel wines for Benziger and Imagery Estate. It was at Benziger that I was introduced to biodynamics and organic farming. At the time, both practices were new to the industry and we developed winemaking methods to go along with the farming practices.
I loved the idea of bringing cutting-edge techniques to age-old winemaking processes. With a passion for creating small-lot, distinctive wines, I was thrilled to join the Lasseter Family Vineyards in 2007 and to have the opportunity to create premium vintages of Rhone and Bordeaux-inspired blends from organically-grown grapes. It was also in 2007 that our son, Dane was born, becoming the inspiration and namesake for the opening of Dane Cellars, that same year.
Bart Hansen
Rob Harris
Director of Vineyard Operations
PRICE FAMILY VINEYARDS & ESTATES – THREE STICKS WINES
Rob utilizes more than a dozen years of experience in multiple wine growing areas of California as he not only directs day-to-day vineyard activities, but also strategizes and long-term plans for Price Family Vineyards.
“It’s awesome to work in a place where I can truly focus on quality. The history and success of Durell is something I wish to cultivate and establish for all our vineyard locations. I consider myself a lucky guy to be entrusted with caring for these vineyards and to be surrounded and supported by those around me who share the desire and passion.”
Rob Harris
Price Family Vineyards & Estates
Three Sticks Wines
MARK HEROLD
Winemaker
KAMEN ESTATE WINES
Mark Herold has a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine and a Doctorate in Ecology from the University of California, Davis and is highly regarded for his relentless and uncompromising pursuit of excellence in winemaking. As a winegrower, his conservationist approach is one in which the vineyard is the single most important factor influencing wine quality. His goal at Kamen Estate is to fully express the character of the vineyard while producing intense, complex and balanced terroir-driven wines.
MARK HEROLD
Kevin Holt
Winemaker
BELTANE RANCH
Kevin Holt crafts Beltane Ranch’s Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel to reflect the property’s authenticity and rustic elegance. Under his supervision, the grapes are allowed to mature until they develop the desired flavors, then are whole cluster pressed and cold soaked in stainless tanks to protect the juice. Holt uses a combination of new and neutral oak barrels to add a hint of spiciness to the bright, intensely flavored wine. Holt honed his skills at MacRostie Vineyards in Sonoma, Artesa in Napa, Testarossa Vineyards in Los Gatos, Quivira Vineyards in Healdsburg and before joining Beltane Ranch.
Kevin Holt
Richard and Susan Idell
Proprietors
IDELL FAMILY VINEYARDS
Idell Family Vineyards, founded in 2005 by Richard Idell and Susan Kornblatt Idell, is well-known for producing Sonoma Valley premium grapes and wines. The vineyards are located within both Sonoma Valley and Sonoma Coast AVA’s. Idell Family Vineyards has partnered with viticulturist and vintner Steve Matthiasson of Napa to develop an ultra-premium Chardonnay vineyard, the Michael Mara Vineyard®. In addition to producing our own Chardonnay wine, from the Michael Mara Vineyard, grapes from this world class vineyard are currently sold to Kesner Wines, Scholium Project, Broc Cellars and Iconic Wines as well as Matthiasson Family Wines. These producers are all small premium wineries making hand-crafted wine. Six producers produce Chardonnay with a vineyard designate. The soil of this vineyard is similar to the rocky lower sections of the Durell Vineyard, which is, as the crow flies, a mile or so away. From the planting of the first vines, Steve Matthiasson, our partner along with his wife Jill, has continued to oversee vineyard operations for the Chardonnay Vineyard and additional red-wine plantings for our Oscar® line of red wines, Syrah and our traditional dry-farmed field blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mourvedre and Grenache, all harvested and co-fermented as our Oscar® Mixed Blacks.
Richard & Susan Idell
Kenneth Juhasz
Winemaker
AUTEUR WINES
My father arrived in the United States as a refugee from the Hungarian revolution. His story of survival and freedom taught me early to never let anything stand in the way of my pursuits and to live with depth and conviction. Financing my college education I worked in fine wine shops and restaurants, and when I saved enough I backpacked around the globe with my twin brother, John. Each experience further fueled my passion for wine and my visits to Burgundy were life-altering. The pursuit of Burgundian style wines brought me to Oregon’s Willamette Valley where I first started making Pinot Noir. After a few years in Willamette, followed by several in New Zealand, I eventually joined the esteemed wine team at The Donum Estate in Sonoma and began Auteur.
As a winemaker I extract all of what each grape gives me and begin to build a wine of character and complexity. Happiness for me is harnessing fear and understanding its delicate balance within me. Wine can be celebratory, but also have moments of solitude. I am very grateful knowing that I can bring pleasure and peace to family, friends, and to those I may never meet.
BEYOND AUTEUR Kenneth’s consulting clients include: The Donum Estate in Carneros (Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2013), Dunstan Wines (Durell Estate Vineyard), Pali Wines (Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2014) and newcomers, Blue Farm and Attune. He has also worked with Gary Farrell Winery and Semper.
Kenneth Juhasz
Robert Kamen
PROPRIETOR
KAMEN ESTATE WINES
Growing up in a city housing project in the Bronx and earning a Ph.D in American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, Robert believes everything happens for a reason, and yet nothing in his life was ever planned. His screenwriting career started quickly with the unexpected sale of his first screenplay. While visiting friends in Sonoma to celebrate this success, he happened upon the 280 acre property. After falling in love with the view, he purchased what is now his vineyard estate and the muse for his bottled screenplay – Kamen Estate Wines.
Robert has enjoyed an uninterrupted film career with over twenty of his screenplays becoming major motion pictures, among them: Taps, The Karate Kid series, Fifth Element, The Professional, Transporter series, A Walk in the Clouds, Lethal Weapon III, Taken and Taken II. When he is not occupying seat 6A of American Airlines travelling for his films or the wines he produces, visitors often find him at his desk in Sonoma working on future film scripts or worrying about the weather.
ROBERT KAMEN
Jason Kesner
Winemaker
KISTLER VINEYARDS
I have approached winemaking from a very strong foundation in the vineyard. I grew up in the vineyards here in California, learning to prune, drive tractors and turn on wind machines to ward of frost, at an early age. I think more winemakers should own a well worn pair of pruning shears. Winemaking is at its core, an extension of farming. In 2008 I left Hudson Vineyards and the Napa Valley, and moved to northern Sonoma county to join Kistler Vineyards as assistant winemaker where my time is split between the vineyards and the winery. In the summer of 2014 I was named winemaker there.
Jason Kesner
Martin Mackenzie
Winemaker
PETRONI VINEYARDS
Born and raised in New Zealand, Martin Mackenzie found his passion for wines and destiny to be a winemaker in his late twenties. Convinced that his future lay in wine production, he shut down his carpentry business and moved from Auckland to Hawkes Bay where he was able to study Viticulture and Oenology at the Eastern Institute of Technology. Martin completed his first year as the top student and served his year-end internship at Stonyridge Vineyard, the iconic, organic red wine producer of New Zealand, based on beautiful Waiheke Island. At the end of his internship he was offered the position of Assistant Winemaker. Martin worked at Stonyridge from 1999 through to late 2008 quickly assuming responsibility for all aspects of wine production, having become Winemaker in 2002, and finally Winemaker/General Manager in 2007.
In his ten years at Stonyridge, Martin carved a reputation of consistent excellence producing world-renowned Bordeaux blends, most notably Stonyridge Larose, as well as some of the country’s best Syrah and Malbec. The 2008 vintage, Martins last at Stonyridge, resulted in a 95 point wine in Wine Advocate, a stunning result for a New Zealand Cabernet.
While at Stonyridge, Martin met his future wife, a California sweet heart who proved to be the catalyst for their move to California. Martin had long considered California to be the most exciting red wine region in the world. Having now completed three vintages at Petroni Vineyards, his passion and commitment to quality are ideally suited to the continued production and improvement of the outstanding red wines of Petroni Vineyards.
Martin Mackenzie
Korbin Ming
General Manager
KORBIN KAMERON
Korbin graduated from Boston University with a BS in Hospitality Administration and is now a Masters candidate at UC Davis for Viticulture & Enology. He originally took a couple of wine courses at BU as a way to bond with his father, but soon realized that it was his true passion. He joined the Korbin Kameron team the summer after he graduated and has been growing the company since. He wears a lot of hats, doing everything from working in the vineyard and cellar, national and international sales. In 2012 he promoted himself to General Manager and now bosses his father around.
Korbin Ming
David Oliver
Managing Director
RAM’S GATE WINERY
Director of all Ram’s Gate operations since our launch in 2011, David has a passion for wine and a penchant for detail. He comes to Ram’s Gate with a wealth of hospitality experience, having begun his restaurant tenure at the ripe age of 13. His knack for delivering gracious service led him to manage some of the best hotels and resorts across the United States, including The Lodge at Pebble Beach, Inn at Spanish Bay and Hualalai Resort.
Even before mastering the art of management, David was surrounded by wine. First gaining a reverential appreciation for the vins de pays of the South of France, he and his wife began crafting their own wines at home, and have continued to do so for years. Meanwhile, David spends his days honing every element of Ram’s Gate Winery to create a delightful experience for each and every guest.
David Oliver
Jeff O’neill
Managing Owner
RAM’S GATE WINERY
“It is a rare privilege to pursue in adult life your childhood dream.”
What would four friends who are passionate about wine, architecture, design and food do with prime real estate right at the gateway to the Sonoma Valley? Ram’s Gate is the answer.
Owner of O’Neill Vintners & Distillers and one of the industry’s most successful entrepreneurs, Jeff has worked in wine for most of his life and is a former Chair of the California Wine Institute. Naturally charming and gracious with an impeccable eye for design, O’Neill is blessed with an eagle’s eye for detail and an instinctive flair for design, and he believes that the setting in which you enjoy exceptional wines should equal the quality of the wine in the glass.
Those traits, combined with his passion for the very best in wine, food and hospitality, make him the perfect individual to realize every single aspect of this project, from the ground up.
Jeff O’Neill
Joel Peterson
Founder-Winemaker
RAVENSWOOD WINERY
Always a vino-revolutionary, Joel Peterson took his first big steps toward personal independence in 1976. Educated as a clinical laboratory scientist with a degree in microbiology, the Oregon State University grad was working full-time in cancer immunology research at a San Francisco hospital and dabbling with wine on the side. The two single-vineyard Zins the longhaired winemaker made from the 1976 vintage would be the first he unveiled to the world.
The son of two chemists, Joel grew up on Point Richmond on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. Mom was a nuclear chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project; she used her scientific training to become an excellent cook who tested recipes and helped edit Alice Waters’ first cookbook. Dad was a physical chemist specializing in high-temperature lubricants used in industrial machinery.
Walter Peterson also was a wine lover and serious student of the grape who organized twice-weekly gatherings of the San Francisco Wine Sampling Club (today’s San Francisco Vintners Club) at the family home. Joel’s oeno-education began at the age of ten when he sat in on his first tasting session, with stern instructions to “Shut up and spit.” (Afterward, his father carefully measured the wine in the boy’s glass and in his spittoon to make sure everything was expectorated.)
Back then, California had a dearth of fine wines; most of the bottles the club tasted were from France, Italy and Spain. By the time he was a teenager, Joel had a working knowledge of European vineyards and vintages. He not only learned how to judge wine, he learned how to talk about it (to the delight and consternation of everyone’s who’s met him since).
During his early career as a medical researcher, Joel made extra money through wine writing and consulting. Eventually it dawned on him that he had the background (not to mention strong opinions and the confidence to stick by them) to be an actual winemaker. He apprenticed with Joseph Swan — one of California’s outstanding craftsmen of fine Zinfandel — to learn the art of traditional winemaking as practiced in Bordeaux and Burgundy. “From Joe, I learned to pick grapes by taste and to farm for less fruit, not more. That using wild yeasts may be tricky, but makes for more interesting wines. To ferment long and warm, and age in French oak.” Ravenswood still uses these same basic techniques to make its wines today.
In 1976 Joel founded Ravenswood in partnership with fellow wine lover Reed Foster, a Harvard MBA who handled the green stuff while Joel oversaw the red stuff. In the ensuing years, Joel had dual careers, working nights and weekends in the lab as he built the winery during the daylight hours. In 1977, he’d left his job in San Francisco and moved to Sonoma to work in the clinical lab at Sonoma Valley Hospital. He didn’t quit that job until 1992, a few years after the winery turned its first profit and Robert Parker pronounced Ravenswood wines “first class – bold, dramatic and complex.”
Today, Joel works with 100+ northern California growers who provide grapes for Ravenswood, consulting on irrigation methods, cultivation practices, cropping levels and a slew of other vineyard management issues. This attention in the field, coupled with the fact that Ravenswood is one of the few wineries that has had the philosophical and winemaking skill of one winemaker for over 30 years, contributes to a consistency of quality and style rarely found in California.
Joel is a current member and former president of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance (S.V.V.G.A.) and is on the Board of Directors for the Sonoma County Vintners. He is a founding Board member and former two-time President of Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (Z.A.P.). Joel is also a Senior Vice President with Constellation Wines US.
A rakish raconteur (and provocateur) whose erudition and down-to-earth enthusiasm make him an articulate spokesman for the winery (and sometime-heckler of the wine industry), Joel is a stylistic trendsetter who helped make Zinfandel the runaway phenomenon it is today.
Along the way, the raven maven (dubbed “the Godfather of Zin” by one media wag) has built a legacy of enjoying wine with grins and gusto.
JOEL PETERSON
Bill Price
Principal
PRICE FAMILY VINEYARDS – THREE STICKS WINES
“Three Sticks” refers to the three Roman numerals that follow Founder and Principal Bill Price’s written name. He was known as “Billy Three Sticks” growing up surfing in Hawaii, where the young Price attended high school. As he describes his path from seawater to wine in a calm, steady voice, it’s hard to guess that this is the same man who spent much of the last 30 years in corporate board rooms. Rather, it seems only natural that Price would trade in a thriving business career for a life among the vines, and that the father of three would wax poetic on the importance of leaving the world a better place for generations to come—whether through sustainable vineyard and winery practices, or through his nonprofit work.
Born in Los Angeles, Price was introduced to wine at an early age by his father, who was born in France, and would give him thimble-sized tastes of wine mixed into a glass of water. Price remembers playing ball against the wall of the Louis M. Martini Winery in St. Helena, bored and impatient, while his father, who often brought his son along on sojourns to Napa and Sonoma wine country, tasted wine inside the winery.
Price attended high school in Hawaii before returning to California to study at Stanford University. He earned his law degree from the University of California Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, and following 10 years practicing law and also consulting at Bain & Company, he was hired to work for Jack Welch at GE Capital.
In 1992, Price co-founded Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a private equity firm, with two partners. TPG invested in companies as large and diverse as J. Crew, Burger King, Continental Airlines, and Petco. In 1995, TPG purchased Beringer. “That’s when I was really introduced to the wine business,” says Price.
The company continued to invest in wineries, including Chateau St. Jean., which sourced grapes for some of its wines from the Durell Vineyard in Sonoma. It was then that Price began to take a more active interest not just in the business of wine, but in vineyards as well. He purchased the Durell Vineyard in 1998, and launched Three Sticks Wines in 2002. In 2007, he sold his share of TPG back to his partners, and entered the wine business full-stop. He was soon approached by Steve Kistler to partner with him in his vineyards, and Price’s role as a farmer began to grow.
“I realized I’d made all the money I needed to make in my career, and I longed to return to something that brought me back in touch with the natural world on a more regular basis,” says Price.
Price is the proprietor of Classic Wines, LLC and Price Family Vineyards, LLC—including ownership and management of Sonoma Coast vineyards including Durell, 111 Wilson Vineyard, DuPont Vineyard, One Sky Vineyard and Gap’s Crown Vineyard. Classic Wines also has ownership interests in Kistler Vineyards, Buccella, Three Sticks, Lutum and Head High. Price is chairman of Gary Farrell Winery.
Price’s business strategy is to work with winemakers who have their own individual style of winemaking and who maintain that vision with each vintage and with each piece of land. He believes that this commitment to a specific style lets one perfect their identity as a winemaker while also allowing them to stand out in the marketplace.
Price sees his family vineyards and winery investments as something he can share with his children someday. Already, his two eldest children, both now following his footsteps at Stanford, have wines named for them: “The James” from Three Sticks, and a “Natalie” Cuvee from Kistler. Soon, Price says, he’ll introduce a wine in honor of his youngest daughter, Alana.
Price is also an active philanthropist, and holds positions as Chairman of the Gladstone Foundation, which serves as the fundraising arm of the Gladstone Institutes, a leading organization in the research and development of solutions to widespread disease; and as Chair of Common Sense Media, which rates, advocates and educates families and schools on media and technology for kids.
Price resides in Marin County with his family, and strives to get in at least 30 days of surfing per year.
Ryan Prichard
Winemaker
THREE STICKS WINES
Growing up in Northern California, it isn’t too hard to understand why Ryan fell in love with wine. But it was while he was 3,000 miles away while in college at Cornell University that his passion took off. While in his senior year, Ryan took a class, HADM 430 – Introduction to Wines, where every week he would learn about and taste wines from different regions from around the world. Needless to say this was an eye-opening experience. After graduating from Cornell, Ryan spent some years working at the management consulting firm, Accenture, and then at the luxury destination club, Exclusive Resorts. During this time, Ryan was able to build his appreciation for wine and travel to many of the best wine regions of the world.
But Ryan’s interest was not satisfied by just tasting great wines. He wanted to make them. While still working full time, he worked with family friends in Anderson Valley during crush and then after moving to Boulder, CO, he worked harvests at Boulder Creek Winery. Also while in Colorado, Ryan enrolled in and completed the UC Davis Certificate Program in Winemaking. It was during this course when Ryan decided for good that he would pursue winemaking as a career. Ryan and his wife moved back to California and Ryan joined on to work with Bob Cabral at Williams Selyem making world-class Pinot noir and Chardonnay. At Williams Selyem, Ryan was able to see how working with great vineyards along with a meticulous winemaking style can produce inspiring results. Next, Ryan worked at Copain Custom Crush (now called Punchdown Cellars) where he had the opportunity to work directly with dozens of winemakers of high-end boutique brands. Most recently, Ryan was the Assistant Winemaker at Medlock Ames winery where he worked to craft artisanal and sustainably-farmed wines in Healdsburg, CA.
As Associate Winemaker of Three Sticks Wines, Ryan is excited about crafting wines with character and finesse that showcase our unique vineyard sites.
“With iconic vineyards such as Durell and Gaps Crown, we are given the best ingredients to make truly spectacular wines. This and getting to work with such a talented and passionate team of people makes making wine at Three Sticks an incredible opportunity”
Ryan Prichard
Steve Sangiacomo
Partner
SANGIACOMO FAMILY VINEYARDS
Steve Sangiacomo is a third generation partner at Sangiacomo Family Vineyards, located in Sonoma, California where his family has farmed since 1927. He grew up on the ranch and began learning the ropes from his father and extended family at a young age. As far back as he can remember, he clamored to tag along with his father and uncles during early morning frost protection after which he enjoyed a special treat — doughnuts. He took to the fields early and recalls jumping off a tractor to race to seventh grade orientation. In his early 20s he began learning the family business from the ground up and in his 30s he and his brother Mike took over the reins.
Today Steve shares responsibility with his brother for managing the family’s 1600 acres of vineyards as well as grape sales to more than 70 premium wineries, many of whom vineyard-designate their wines with the Sangiacomo name. He flat out loves his job, particularly the wide variety of responsibilities spanning the agricultural, strategic, and operational aspects of the business.
He has lived his entire life in Sonoma Valley with the exception of his college years at St. Mary’s where he studied business and economics and an internship at the Xerox Corporation. He never wavered, however, in his desire to return to the ranch.
Steve is a board member and former chair of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission where he has taken a lead role in its sustainability initiative. He is a former chair and board member of the Carneros Wine Alliance and also serves on the Development Committee of the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. He was selected as a North Bay Business Journal “Forty under 40” award recipient in 2013.
A natural athlete, he calls upon his earlier experience as a high school basketball, football and baseball player as well as college football to serve as a volunteer coach. He was an Assistant Football coach at Sonoma Valley High School for fifteen years and today coaches Little League baseball and CYO basketball.
Steve lives in Sonoma with his wife, Connie, and their sons Drew and Sam. When not in the vineyards or spending time with his family, he enjoys playing golf and basketball.
Steve Sangiacomo
Greg Stach
Winemaker
LANDMARK VINEYARDS
Greg Stach is renowned for crafting elegant, world-class vintages. Stach’s winemaking approach combines traditional techniques with a “less is more” philosophy. Believing that great wine begins in the vineyard, he intervenes only to ensure consistency and quality, relying more on the fruit’s intense flavors and distinct vineyard characteristics.
Greg Stach
John Sweazey
Founder & Proprietor
ANABA WINES
John Sweazey created Anaba Wines because, quite simply, he just loves the wine business. “I never personally wanted to be a winemaker,” John explains. “My desire to get into the business was fueled by my long-time interest in production — making the best possible wine from the finest grapes, then marketing and selling it. To me, that’s the romance of wine.”
A native of Chicago, John headed west to Stanford University for college, where he earned a degree in economics. While at Stanford, John and his Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers decided one year to extend the annual “Big Game Weekend” between Stanford and Cal, and headed north to Napa Valley for a fraternity party at the iconic El Bonita Motel in St. Helena. With the sun setting over the Mayacamas Mountains, John offered a toast with a memorable glass of Charles Krug Vin Rosé — and his journey to the world of wine officially began.
He continued his wine research during the 70s while earning a living in San Francisco. This research included becoming a home winemaker, attending numerous classes on wine and food, and visiting the French wine regions to learn more about the wine production methods of France. Over the years, he became enamored with the Sonoma Wine Country because it reminded him of his experiences in France. “Sonoma is more attuned to my personality — and is the best place to grow the Rhône blends and Burgundian varietals that I love.”
In 2003 he was finally able to begin his search for a premium winegrowing property in Sonoma, finding a serendipitous spot in Western Carneros, where cool winds temper the summer heat, allowing for a longer growing season for his chosen grape varieties. Inspired by the unique upward anabatic wind patterns that prevail, he decided to name it Anaba.
In shaping Anaba, John relies on his proven track record as a team builder, creating an environment where people are excited about their work and share their passion for wine. He prides himself on bringing together different personalities to build an esprit de corps — just as a winemaker works with different grapes to craft a harmonious blend.
John Sweazy
Chris Towt – Ellie Phipps Price
Proprietors
DUNSTAN WINES
CHRIS TOWT
Chris began working with Durell Vineyard in 2006 and partnered with Ellie in the launch of Dunstan Wines in 2008, with a focus on direct-to-consumer and national sales. After completing the Winemaker’s certificate course at UC Davis, he has worked closely with winemaker Kenneth Juhasz to craft exceptional wines for Dunstan.
Chris’ love of wine and technology joined together in 2011 with the launch of VineSpring, which provides affordable eCommerce solutions for wineries. DunstanWines.com runs on the VineSpring platform.
ELLIE PHIPPS PRICE
Ellie is a California native with a love for fine wines. She studied English literature at UC Berkeley, then Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis.
A mother of two children, she is an avid equestrian and active supporter of animal welfare and environmental preservation initiatives. As a steward of the historic Durell Vineyard, Ellie embraces farming practices that are respectful of the land, water, and animal life there as well as those that maintain natural balances throughout the property.
Chris Towt – Ellie Phipps Price
Margo Van Staaveren
Winemaker
CHATEAU ST. JEAN
From vineyard to glass, our winemaker Margo Van Staaveren takes a hands on approach, working closely with her winemaking team to oversee each step of the winemaking process. She celebrated her 35th harvest at Chateau St. Jean in 2014, and her attention to detail ensures that the signature of the vineyard is captured in every bottle. Like the founders of Chateau St. Jean, Margo firmly believes that great wines are grown – not made. Vineyard designated wines have been the foundation of our portfolio since the early 1970s, and Margo has been instrumental in ensuring the vineyards selected for these wines consistently product exceptional varietal character. She has also guided the icon Cing Cépages bottling since its first release in 1990. The art of blending is the cornerstone of Margo’s winemaking philosophy. To her, it is a great accomplishment to create a signature wine style or blend that can achieve consistency from vintage to vintage while still capturing the unique personality of a particular growing year. One of the things she enjoys most about her job is putting together the final blend for the Reserve wines. These blends represent the most concentrated, distinctive and balanced wines made at Chateau St. Jean.eu, blandit sed, blandit a, eros.
Margo Van Staaveren
Brion Wise
Proprietor
B WISE VINEYARDS
I grew up on a farm in Washington state. That’s where I learned about growing fruit. I loved it, but Dad encouraged me to go on to college where I became an Engineer. I worked for Shell Oil Co. for four years but the entrepreneurial bug that bit my dad also got me and I soon started an energy company during which time I traveled the globe.
The world’s greatest restaurants and wineries became my classroom for learning about the most interesting and alluring fruit of all – the wine grape. The farming gene was still strong and the more I learned the more certain I became that I needed my own vineyards. And so the search began. I visited all the greatest wine growing regions, here and abroad, to find that special site where I could pursue the dream of wine growing. It was this mountainside in Sonoma that captured my heart.
It’s here, in these vineyards that I can engage in the process, gain knowledge and pursue perfection. I continue this research with regular trips to the finest growing regions in the world – because for me, learning what it takes to make stellar wine, and sharing the results is the true path to good life.
Brion Wise
Randall Watkins
Winemaker
LAUREL GLEN VINEYARD
Winemaker Randall Watkins grew up on a vineyard in the foothills of Taylor Mountain in Sonoma County. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from UC Davis, he worked briefly for a management consulting firm in San Francisco before feeling the call of wine country. He went to work in cellars and labs in Sonoma County and in Chile, rising to assistant winemaker at S. Anderson Vineyards in Napa. Randall then returned to UC Davis for a master’s degree in enology. He went on to produce highly regarded wines at Moon Mountain Vineyard as Winemaker and General Manager before coming to Laurel Glen Vineyard in 2011.
Randall Watkins
The Wood Family (Alexa, Lauren, and Alex)
Proprietors
BELTANE RANCH
Six generations of the Wood/Benward/Krause family have lived and worked on the Beltane Ranch over more than 70 years, and they are committed to protecting it for future generations.
Producing award-winning wines as pioneer viticulturist John Drummond’s estate vineyard beginning in 1879, the property was later purchased by San Francisco Civil Rights hero Mary Ellen Pleasant in 1892. The property had fallen into complete disrepair following her death and our family acquired it in 1936 and slowly began restoring the Historic Landmark ranch house and replanting the property’s vineyards.
In 2002, the family reached an agreement with the Sonoma County Agricultural Preserve and Open Space District to transfer 1,300 acres to public ownership. Rosemary, her daughter Alexa, and grandchildren Alex Benward and Lauren Krause operate the ranch today, maintaining the historic inn and raising sustainably farmed produce, organic olive oil as well as critically acclaimed small production estate wines from the site of the original Drummond Vineyard.
Twenty five acres of rocky volcanic soils are planted to Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane and Alicante Bouschet vines.
