Is Sonoma County bucking a larger national trend on having a next generation of farmers to take over their family businesses? So far, it appears as so.

A Wall Street Journal story in February called “Farmers Are Aging – Their Kids Don’t Want to Be in the Family Business,” detailed how bleak the future of the family farm can be in the heartland of America, where reporter Patrick Thomas told the story of Don Guinnip, a 74-year-old fifth-generation corn, cattle and soybean farmer whose siblings and kids have no interest in taking over.

“The number of farmers in America has been shrinking for years,” Thomas reports. “Those left are aging; there are more farmers 75 and older than under the age of 35, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture.”

The reasons are many, but he concludes, “children of farmers today have more opportunities to work beyond agriculture than they did decades ago, and families are typically smaller, shrinking the pool of possible candidates.”

Maybe it’s different when the farm is a vineyard, maybe it’s different when the farm is in Sonoma County, but there are not only many multi-generational farmers here, younger generations are currently in charge at many vineyard operations in Sonoma County, and/or working side by side with their parents and grandparents.

The Century Club helps put this in perspective: There are younger farmers running more than three dozen century-old properties in Sonoma County, from the Bundschus to the Youngs.

The third generation of Sangiacomos run both vineyard operations and the Sangiacomo Family Wine brand, added to the mix by Sangiacomo siblings Mike, Steve and Mia. Larson Family Winery, also in Carneros, traces its history as a dairy farm to the site of one of California’s largest rodeos through the 1950s, planting its first vineyard in 1978. The winery followed in 1985. The first and second generation of Larsons run the business together.

The same is true at Cline Cellars. Founders Fred and Nancy Cline have seven children. Four of them work at Cline, running DTC, marketing, accounts payable and vineyards.

Justin and Karen Warnelius-Miller of Garden Creek Vineyards in Alexander Valley both come from farming and vineyard families and added a winery brand in 2001. Nearby, John Jordan has been running Jordan Winery since 2005, the winery his parents founded in 1972.

Hafner Vineyard and Winery is also in Alexander Valley, run by three generations of Hafners, including third-generation Kate Bernal-Hafner, who created the winery’s Next Gen program to reach out to younger wine consumers and Grace Hafner, the youngest of the Hafner grandchildren who is now part of the winemaking team.

Trombetta Wines is run by mother-daughter team Rickey Trombetta and Erica Stancliff, who have longstanding relationships with growers at Gap’s Crown, Petersen Vineyard, the Sullivan family and Carmine Indindoli.

And it’s not just vineyards. Pozzi Ranch is a lamb, wool and cattle farm in Bodega run by fourth-generation rancher Joe Pozzi, who devotes much of his time to educating the next generation of farmers through his work with the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, Santa Rosa Junior College and other entities. His daughter Alex was born on the ranch and helps out with marketing and promotions while attending college.

Jennifer Beretta is a fourth-generation dairy farmer at Beretta Family Dairy in Santa Rosa working with her father and brother. Her young nephew is already showing interest in the farm.

Hamel Family Wines in Sonoma Valley and Moon Mountain is run by two generations of the family, with second-generation John Hamel guiding the winery’s micro-terroir-based winegrowing vision across three estate vineyard sites.

Balletto Vineyards also has two generations running the winery and vineyard operations. John Balletto established Balletto Ranch with his mom back in 1977 when he was only 17 years old, growing it into the largest vegetable farm in Northern California by the early 1990s. Their first vineyard was planted in 1995. The now 700-acre business and winery run by John and his wife Terri includes daughter Caterina, who is in charge of accounting.

The next generation at both Ramey and Rochioli are now on board, just as Tom Rochioli took over for his dad Joe Jr. who took over from his dad Joe Sr. Kim Stare Wallace took over from her dad David Stare at Dry Creek Vineyard. At Marietta Cellars, second-generation winemaker Scot Bilbro took over from his father Chris, the winery founder.

At Nalle Winery, second-generation Andrew and April Nalle run both winemaking and viticulture with Andrew’s parents, Doug and Lee.  They are already projecting the third generation, Lena, Drew and Ruby, to take over in 2042.

The list is long. Sonoma County can proudly say it’s bucking the trend of younger farmers leaving the farm, but it’s not something that can be taken for granted. These vineyards, farms and ranches need all of our support to keep things in the family.

Photo By: Sangiacomo Family Wines