By: Virginie Boone

Frank Pastori was such a renowned raconteur that people still remember hanging out in his rustic tasting room for hours to hear his stories.

A second-generation farmer described as the “amiable Frank Pastori” in a 1978 Cloverdale Reveille review of Pastori Winery, he had revitalized the family business just a few years earlier, building a winery on one piece of his 50 acres of vineyard, the acreage split on either side of Highway 101 between Geyserville and Cloverdale. He converted a prune dehydrator to house the operation. You can still see the small white building just off the freeway on the east side of 101.

Pastori was such a fixture he became a member of the Old Timers Club, a social gathering of pioneering Sonoma County winemaker families founded in 1989.

Members over the years included the likes of Ernest and Julio Gallo, Brother Timothy (there’s a picture of him at Pastori), Lou Foppiano, Peter and Robert Mondavi, John Parducci, Louis Martini, Jim and John Pedroncelli, Sylvia Sebastiani (the only female member in the early days), Frank and Vince Indelicato and many others. Over the years, the sons and daughters and later grandchildren of the original members joined too.

Pastori’s father Constante B. Pastori and mother Erminia came from Lombardy, Italy in the late 1880s and first settled in Mendocino County. In 1910 they made their way to Sonoma County to farm a 110-acre ranch, building the original Pastori Winery along Old Redwood Highway in 1914. In those early days, they sold the bulk wine they made to Italian Swiss Colony. During Prohibition, bootleggers offered to take the wine off their hands, but they didn’t want anything to do with that.

Young Frank, who worked alongside his father, had many stories about Prohibition, telling the Sonoma West Times in 2011 that even when Prohibition officers would find a still on someone’s property with liquor stacked in 5-gallon cans, “The sheriff would shoot the can in the middle, not in the bottom, then when the revenue guys left, they would drink the rest from the can.”

He also told the paper, “The hobos and the bootleggers would steal the wine. If they stole five gallons of wine, they’d replace it with five gallons of water.”

After a fire in Pastori’s barn in 1923, which destroyed 10,000 gallons of wine, Pastori’s dad started planting prune trees, apples and pears, believing the wine industry was finished. But Frank and his wife Edith eventually kept it going. Frank used to age his reds three to four years, designating the bottles as Northern Sonoma appellation.

His wines included Beclan Cabernet (a blend of two wines), Zinfandel, Pinot St. George, Johannisberg Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Vin Rose, Sauterne Burgundy and French Columbard, reaching an annual production that hovered between 10,000 and 12,000 cases in the late 1970s.

According to the Historic Vineyard Society, the current ranch was bought by Robert O’Connor in 1925 from William Black of the Black Oak Ranch and leased by Frank Pastori, who finally bought it from the O’Connors in the 1970s. Most of the vineyard was replanted in the 1960s, but certain blocks are original, including two blocks of Zinfandel and two of Carignan.

Frank passed away in 2020 at the age of 100. Now the fourth generation has taken the reins, slowly updating the old winery full of old redwood tanks and oak barrels. His grandson Paolo Pastori-Ng, the son of Frank’s daughter Sharon, is running both the 75-acre ranch (60 acres planted) and has taken over the winery, making wines under the Pastori Wines name again, as well as selling grapes to other wineries (some go into The Prisoner wines).

Beginning with the 2023 vintage, Pastori-Ng has released two wines: an Old Vine Zinfandel and a Centurian Old Vine Zinfandel from the oldest blocks going back to 1914. A port, Chardonnay and Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon are all in the works from 2024 and 2025.

Photo By: Pastori Wines

By: Virginie Boone

The standard size wine bottle is 750 milliliters (ml), a standard set over time via the demands of global trade, particularly between France and England. By 1975, as trade expanded beyond those borders, it was officially set by the European Economic Community, simplifying customs and tax calculations as well as the disconnect between how different places measure: The United States and United Kingdom using Anglo-Saxon measures of their own, while mainland Europe had been using the metric system as far back as 1795.

The English-based trade on the imperial gallon, or about 4.546 liters, an amount defined in 1824. A 750 ml bottle was easy to convert from a 225-liter barrel (50 gallons) to 300 bottles of 750 ml each, or one imperial gallon equaling six bottles. Thus, a six-bottle case became standard at the time.

A magnum – Latin for large, though others say it comes from the Latin word Magnus, meaning great – is two 750s in one bottle, totaling 1.5 liters of liquid, or 10 five-ounce servings of wine, depending on your pour.

The bottles themselves were made possible beginning in the 19th century when glass production became industrialized and no longer had to be forged by hand (and lung capacity, with glassblowers only able to breathe 650-750 ml of air in a single breath to create a bottle). Henry Ricketts & Co. in Bristol, England is credited with registering the first 750 ml bottle mold in 1821. It took a bit longer than that to get it right.

Nowadays, there are splits (1/4 of a standard bottle), half-bottles, magnums and jeroboams (double magnum), among other less-common sizes. Magnums are said to age the wine inside more slowly than a smaller size bottle given its larger expanse and thus less chance of early oxidation.

“The wine-trade theory is that the perfect size for stately maturation is the magnum, because the ratio between the volume of wine and of oxygen is supposedly optimal,” writes Jancis Robinson in The 24-Hour Wine Expert. “Even bigger bottles of fine wines tend to be for show-offs.”

Nothing wrong with that. So as we enter the season of gatherings, consider the magnum for your parties and dinners, or even as a grand gift. There are lovely options from throughout Sonoma County.

Benovia Winery

The Russian River Valley producer behind a wide range of delicious Chardonay, Pinot Noir, Grenache and Zinfandel has a whole section of magnums to offer, including a 1.5 liter of its 20th Anniversary Pinot Noir.

Gary Farrell Winery

The longstanding Russian River Valley winery and Pinot Noir/Chardonnay specialist has magnums of 2021 Olivet Lane Vineyard Chardonnay, from a longstanding vineyard partner.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery

One of Sonoma Valley’s Century Club members, family-owned and growing grapes for more than 100 years, magnum choices include a Sonoma Coast 2022 Rosé in 1.5 liter, 2016 Sonoma Valley Vintage Reserve in 3 liter, and magnums of 2018 Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2020 Sonoma Coast Gewurztraminer, a good choice for Thanksgiving.

Hafner Vineyard

The multigenerational Alexander Valley producer has magnums of 2022 Chardonnay, 2021 Reserve Chardonnay, 2018 Next Red and 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon available, each cradled in a wooden box.

Hamel Family Wines

One of the fantastic family-run estates in Sonoma Valley/Moon Mountain, choose between the 2021 Isthmus, 2020 Nun’s Canyon Vineyard or 2018 and 2019 vintages of Hamel Family Ranch, some of which are also available in 3 liter.

Jordan Winery

The Alexander Valley estate has large-format Cabernet Sauvignons dating back to 1979 and some Chardonnay 1.5 liters too. Current vintages are 2019 Cab and 2020 Chardonnay, with a 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon 12 liter (!) on offer for $2,500 if you want to really go big.

Limerick Lane Cellars

The lovely historic property planted to old vines offers its 2023 Russian River Valley Zinfandel in 1.5 liter, another fantastic choice for the Thanksgiving table.

MacRostie Winery

Based on Westside Road, the Pinot Noir/Chardonnay specialist has large bottles of many of their single-vineyard Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs to sell and also half-bottle offerings.

Mascarin Family Wines

Coastal-driven wines made by Matt Taylor, Mascarin has a magnum of its 2022 Red Field Blend Angelo Vineyard from Dry Creek Valley in 1.5 liter, which is driven by 85% Syrah blended with both red and white varieties grown on the site.

Quivira Vineyards

Dry Creek Valley’s Rhone, Sauvignon Blanc and Zin specialist has a 2023 Wine Creek Ranch Rosé in 1.5 liter, a blend of organic-certified Grenache, Petite Sirah, Counoise, Mourvedre and Primitivo.

Sangiacomo Family Wines

Another Century Club family-run winery, with vineyards across Carneros/Sonoma Coast/Sonoma Valley/Petaluma Gap, its 2024 Vin Gris of Pinot Noir Rosé in 1.5 liter is a limited offering from El Novillero Vineyard, made in a fresh and fruity style with tons of acidity.

Silver Oak Cellars

For Cab lovers, you can’t go wrong picking up the producer’s 2021 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in magnum from an elegant and complex vintage that’ll continue to age beautifully over the long haul.

Photo By: MacRostie Winery

By: Virginie Boone

Mataro is a late-ripening, full-bodied red variety that can be traced to Spain, as well as France, where it’s called Mourvedre and grown predominantly in the Southern Rhone and Provence. Mataro in Spain is also called Monastrell and one of its most prolifically planted grapes, with a lineage dating back to the 1380s.

The wines made from Mataro/Mourvedre are full-bodied and full-flavored, with dark color and a distinct savory earthiness. Berries are thick-skinned. It’s resistant to botrytis but not drought.

In California, it is thought to have arrived in the 1850s by way of Louis and Pierre Pellier, French brothers who came to the state to seek gold in 1849, settling in San Jose. The Pelliers brought nursery stock wine grape varieties back from France which came to be known as the Pellier Collection, as well as a French prune that soon became the Santa Clara Valley’s prime agricultural product.

The nursery cuttings spent six months at sea, sailing around Cape Horn, with each cutting placed into a sliced potato to protect it from drying out. The Pelliers’ ancestors later founded Mirassou Winery.

As a result of their efforts, there was more Mataro in the Santa Clara Valley in the 1870s than Zinfandel. The grape was further planted in Northern California between 1878 and 1886. Mataro appears in Sonoma County newspapers as early as 1885 when it was touted in the Cloverdale Reveille as an important grape for introducing Americans to wine.

“To teach the people to give up beer and whiskey and drink wine… we must get the best and most palatable wine we can,” it read. “In France and the south coast of Spain, where they make the best red wine, it will be found from the recognized authorities that the favorite grape is the Mataro, which combines good keeping and shipping qualities. It is wholesome, keeps in age, improving and brightening.”

Charles Sullivan remarks in his Companion to California Wine encyclopedia in 1998 that “Mataro was particularly well-liked by wineries in California for its solid structure and rough but tasty fruit.”

“It was almost universally used here as a blending grape in both clarets and burgundies. This popularity did not lead to heavy planting, the number of acres during Prohibition being only about 3,000. The history of the variety during the dry years is unusual. Although it was then heavily planted, not much was shipped out of state by rail because it was so popular among home winemakers in California.”

The grape inspired a fashion line in the 1930s and 1940s from a company called Calijeunne, which consulted with UC Davis’s viticulture department to dye and name its fabrics in honor of four of California’s most “beautifully-colored grapes,” Mataro being among the four (the others were Mission, Malaga and Bouschet).

At its highest point, in 1939, there were as many as 8,143 acres of Mataro in the state. But those numbers started to decline year over year and by 1987, only 352 acres were left, most of them in Contra Costa County.

In 1988 Sonoma County’s Cline Cellars started making a Mataro from these older acres, kicking off a resurgence via the burgeoning Rhone Renaissance instigated by The Rhone Rangers. New plantings ensued, though never anywhere near its peak.

Still, in 1996 Mataro was the most valuable grape variety in Sonoma County, bringing in an average of $1,500/ton; at the time there were only 17 acres in production.

Today, the 2024 Sonoma County Grape Report lists 80 bearing acres of Mataro/Mourvedre in the region. But of course that is a pittance compared with Cabernet Sauvignon’s 12,700 acres in the ground, or even Grenache’s 287.

Across California there’s not a lot more – 2024 California Grape Acreage figures show a total of 1,013 acres in the state’s entirety, most of it planted before 2016.

Amista Vineyards makes a sparkling Mataro from its Dry Creek Valley vineyards that tastes of raspberry and rosewater. Planted at Ridge’s Lytton West estate, Mataro has also consistently been a mainstay of the winery’s Syrah Grenache Mataro blend, making it onto the label starting with the 2014 vintage.

Ridge acquired Lytton Springs Vineyard in 1995, when it had a small block of Syrah, and not only planted more Syrah but added Grenache and Mataro to the mix. It has also made a single-vineyard Mataro from Sonoma Valley’s Pagani Ranch, where Mataro is interplanted between Zinfandel vines.

Photo By: UC Davis Foundation Plant Services

By: Virginie Boone

The Sonoma County airport is named for him, so is a museum and ice rink. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz spent 42 years living and working in Sonoma County, with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” one of his most famous works.

Schulz, during his lifetime, kept an airplane at the airport and was an avid aviator. Snoopy, of course, loved flying too.

Schulz was born in 1922 in Minnesota and given the nickname Sparky at a young age. In 1929 the family moved west to Needles, California. The move was said to be prompted by a young cousin’s tuberculosis, which would fare better in a desert climate. Schulz later incorporated Needles into many of his comic strips, particularly those built around Snoopy’s brother Spike, who lived alone in the desert with coyotes and cactus.

Their time in the desert was alas short-lived, and Schulz moved back to Minnesota in time for elementary school. This is also where he developed his lifelong passion for ice hockey.

He wrote the Peanuts comic strip from 1950 until his retirement in 1999, with Snoopy based on his childhood dog, Spike, as well as an earlier family Boston Bull Terrier called Snooky. The first drawing of Spike/Snoopy appeared in a Ripley’s Believe It or Not newspaper feature in 1937. After serving time in the army, he returned home in 1945 and started selling his cartoons to The Saturday Evening Post as well as a weekly comic called Sparky’s Lil’ Folks, which ran in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The first Peanuts debuted across seven national newspapers on October 2, 1950 and featured a four-panel cartoon of children with large heads… and a dog. The rest was history. By the turn of the century, Peanuts was syndicated in 2,600 newspapers all over the world, with books available in 25 languages.

The growing Schulz family would arrive in Sonoma County in June 1958, Charles, his wife Joyce, and five children, landing on a 28-acre property in Sebastopol known as the Coffee Grounds. The home had a photographer’s studio, which Schulz turned into his office, and the family eventually added a miniature golf course, swimming pool and horse stables.

With the growing success of the Peanuts characters, soon Ford came calling, wanting Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest to help advertise Ford products, namely the Ford Falcon. The use of animation soon led to the television specials we all grew up with, starting with “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in 1965, which won an Emmy Award.

In 1966, came “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” wherein Linus forgoes parties and trick-or-treating to sit alone in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin. It’s also the first time on film, viewers were able to see Snoopy as the World War I flying ace and Lucy pull away a football from the hapless Charlie Brown. But most importantly, it was the first Halloween special ever broadcast on television, becoming a Halloween tradition over generations.

“Pop culture can feel like religion when you’re a kid, a shared set of heroes and poses, attitudes, moods and jokes,” wrote Rich Cohen in The New York Times in 2019. “For my father, who was born in 1933, it was a tone set by the two Franks – Sinatra and Capra. In my formative years… my general outlook on life, though fueled by David Letterman and Bruce Springsteen, was anchored by ‘Peanuts,” the world drawn by cartoonist Charles Schulz. It was a faith related by parable, the classic text being the 1966 TV special, ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

Rooted in Sonoma County by then, the Schulz family opened the Redwood Empire Ice Arena in Santa Rosa in 1969. The character Woodstock came along in 1970 shortly after the seminal Woodstock Festival.

The Schulz’s divorced in 1972. Charles worked out of the ice arena for a time before building One Snoopy Place, a new studio. He remarried, to Jean Forsyth, in 1973. The first Snoopy’s Senior Hockey Tournament brought skaters from all over the world to Santa Rosa in 1975. In 1984, the first annual Woodstock Open Golf Tournament took place in Oakmont, a couples-only tournament that raised money for Home Hospice of Sonoma County.

So while it’s easy to remember Schulz through the Sonoma County airport, the museum and more, now is a good time to remember the classics, and believe in your own Great Pumpkin.

“To me, the sincerity in ‘The Great Pumpkin’ is key and is what has drawn me to its magic year after year,” Cohen continued. “It’s what you believe but also the sincerity of that belief that can give your life meaning. Sincere belief can order an otherwise formless succession of days, and it is meaningful days, collected together, that add up to a meaningful life.”

Photo By: Charles M. Schulz Museum

By: Virginie Boone

The 2025 Global Old Vine Conference: Meeting of the Minds will come to Sonoma County on November 1, in partnership with Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, commonly known as ZAP.

The multi-day event for the wine trade and media actually begins October 31 in Napa Valley, travels to Sonoma County and then moves on to Lodi. A non-profit organization, the Old Vine Conference’s aim is to create a new global category of wine from heritage vineyards around the world. It’s hoping to build an enduring community to talk about and sustain old vines.

It held its first conference in 2021 in London to agree on a set of principles and best practices and included speakers from around a diverse set of wine regions across the world.

In 2022, the conference explored the theme “Old Vines: why now is their time” and proposed that old vine heritage is a powerful, unifying marketing narrative, a rich resource and a secret weapon, “arks of genetic diversity” and “teachers in ‘planting to grow old,’” as well as an emerging premium category.

The conference in 2024 dove deeply into climate change and sustainability, and the role of old vines in adaptation. Again, it took place in London and was broadcast live online over two days, featuring a presentation that asked, “how do we turn today’s 25-year-old vines into tomorrow’s 100-year-old vineyards?”

The conferences are intended as a way to highlight regions, winemakers and industry associations doing the work around preserving, marketing and understanding old vines.

This year will be the first time the event takes place in California, with multiple old-vine field trips interspersed between tastings, seminars, panel discussions, masterclasses and keynotes from such luminaries as Jancis Robinson MW (who will give a keynote on night one), Rosa Kruger, founder of The Old Vine Project in South Africa, Dr. Laura Catena of Catena Zapata and the Catena Institute of Wine, Jose Ignacio Gracia Lopez of CRDO Campo de Borja in Spain and Marco Giordano, managing director, Vinchio Vaglio in Italy. The field trips will underscore California’s rich old-vine heritage, a living testament to the resilience and transcendence of wine culture here.

On October 31, the conference will coincide with the California Wine Institute’s Global Buyers Marketplace taking place in Napa, with buyers and importers from more than 30 countries coming to taste California wines. The opening Gala Tasting and Dinner will showcase old-vine wines from California and the world. As a partner and sponsor of this conference, Sonoma County Winegrowers will be participating in the Gala Tasting and Dinner showcasing Sonoma County wines.

November 1 the conference centers on Sonoma County with a day of panels, presentations, masterclasses and networking, centered at the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa. Sonoma County Winegrowers is hosting “Deep Roots, Distinct Wines, Diverse Varietals: A Sonoma County Old Vine Masterclass” showcasing wines from across Sonoma County. A tasting and dinner follows at Seghesio Family Vineyards in Healdsburg. Sunday, November 2, field trips go into the old-vine vineyards of Sonoma County like Bedrock and Jackass Hill accompanied by alfresco seminars, tastings and lunch.

The Sonoma County Winegrowers will close out the time spent in Sonoma County with a hosted wine reception and dinner with local growers and vintners.

The following two days, November 3-4, the conference heads to Lodi and Contra Costa for one day of conference content and another day of field trips.

A livestream will carry most of the conference’s proceedings.

In addition to the conference, The Old Vine Registry was created two years ago, the world’s first crowdsourced global database of living historic vineyard sites. With 8,023 vineyards representing 23,842 hectares (58,915 acres) at the moment, it aims to have 10,000 vineyards registered to its database by 2027. To be in the registry, at least 85% of the vines must be at least 35 years old, or if grafted, the grafts must be 35 years old. There are 185 current entries from Sonoma County.

California’s Historic Vineyard Society has been dedicated to cataloging and preserving California’s historic vineyards for some time. To be included, a vineyard must be currently producing, have an original planting date of at least 50 years ago, and have at least 1/3 of its existing vines traceable to that original planting.

Take part if you can. Sonoma County’s Century Club recognizes the families who have farmed in this region for 100 years and more; these old vines have played a vital part in many of their legacies.

By: Virginie Boone

Next Thursday, October 23, the Sonoma Home Winemakers (SHW) are hosting a free movie night at the Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma to show off their homemade wines and screen Tiny Vineyards, a 2019 award-winning documentary about Sonoma Valley home winemaking and the people behind the wines. The evening is a celebration of the group’s 40th anniversary, a collection of hobbyists “under the spell of Bacchus.”

The event begins at 6 pm, the movie starts at 7 pm and afterwards, attendees are invited to meet local movie producer, winemaker and documentary filmmaker Joseph Daniel and the other winemakers on hand. It’s free but an RSVP is required.

An excerpt from Daniel’s journal before making the film reveals that he was not someone who knew much about wine at the beginning.

“A friend treats me to a birthday wine-tasting experience,” he recalled. “I’ve never gone wine tasting, at least not at a real winery. In fact, I’ve never been to ‘wine country’ before, or even seen a proper vineyard. But I like wine, and posture like I know something about it.”

After several winery visits, he added, “I have now been drinking wine all day. But instead of making me sleepy, it feels like some kind of awakening. I have begun to ferment.”

The awakening led Daniels to change his life, driving 18 hours from his former Colorado home to Sonoma, turning off Highway 121 on the outskirts of Napa onto the famed Highway 12 into Sonoma, where he would now live and make a movie about what he saw all around him.

“I couldn’t suppress a tiny feeling of excitement. Vineyards, acres of vineyards, rolled away from me on either side of the road like the fields of winter wheat in my native state. The sight elicited a tired and barely audible ‘Well, will you look at that…’ and left me a bit awestruck as the rays of the late-afternoon sun backlit row after row of grapevines, iconic in their just-pruned silhouettes, and seemingly poised to erupt into a new season.”

Daniel’s wine brand is also called Tiny Vineyards, and he actually went from amateur to commercial, releasing his first wines in 2024, a Malbec called Eclipse. When he first started working on the film in 2018, he didn’t know that much about wine, but following home winemakers gave him the inspiration to try growing grapes and make wine for himself, attending UC Davis even to earn an advanced Winemaking Certificate. Another SHW alum, Dennis McCarter, also went pro launching McCarter Cellars.

Based in Sonoma since 1997, the nonprofit SHW club aims to promote growing grapes, making wine, tasting, and sharing information amongst its members. They meet monthly and often invite in speakers from the professional winemaking world. Their September meeting featured legendary Once and Future vintner Joel Peterson on the topic of Zinfandel’s rise and resurgence who provided tips on winemaking.

The group also raises money in support of the Sonoma High School Viticulture program, donating tools like pruning shears to the students.

SHW has about 100 members who grow a number of wine varieties and make all sorts of wines. Many live on a property with a front-yard hobby vineyard, as they put it, or help take care of others’ acres to get free grapes to use.

The Leveroni Group is how it all began, inspired by a 1-acre vineyard on Leveroni Road looked after by some of these amateur winemakers. The vineyard was adopted by the Valley of the Moon Dilettante Enological Society before being rebranded as SHW. In those early days, the club asked Joey Leveroni to donate 400 Chardonnay vines and got another 400 Merlot vines from Kunde. The Sangiacomos donated irrigation supplies. Once the city asked the group to pay for water though they switched to dry farm.

Since 2002, that original acre has been officially called the Tex Juen Park and Vineyard after the original caretaker of the site and one-time club president. The Sonoma City Council approved the name and a lease through 2026 with two five-year extensions.

Interested in joining the group? It meets the second Thursday of every month except August and December at the Sonoma Community Center in downtown Sonoma and attendees are encouraged to bring their homemade wines for discussion and advice.

Photo By: Sonoma Home Winemakers

By: Virginie Boone

The legendary Dr. Jane Goodall was well known to be fond of Irish whiskey, but through her message of sustainability, she also inspired many in the world of wine.

The Goodwill Wine Partnership in Australia has raised half a million for the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) through wine sales. JGI itself created a line of Gombe Botanicals glassware etched with plant species made from recycled wine bottles collected from bars and restaurants.

The English-born primatologist and conservationist passed away last week at the age of 91, multiple decades after her pioneering years as a young woman studying chimpanzees in the forests of Tanzania (then in what was still a British colony called Tanganyika).

She was chosen to do the work by Kenyan-British paleoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey, who wanted someone without a college education who would come to this work with their eyes and mind fully open and unbiased. Leakey also felt a woman might be more patient in the field in absolute silence. The year was 1960. She was 26 and had to have a chaperone, so her mother came along.

She was a remarkable observationist and made extraordinary discoveries about the animal world, starting with chimps’ ability to make and use tools at a time when it was believed that only humans were toolmakers. She also famously documented the wide range of emotions of the chimps and the complex groups they formed, that they were thinking creatures with active minds.

She went on in 1977 to found the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research & Conservation with community-led chapters around the world to work on conservation and improve human well-being, including Roots & Shoots, an effort to bring up the next generation of global changemakers. She also became a UN Messenger of Peace.

Goodall’s impact was gigantic across the world, in science and in life. Wine science writer Erika Szymanski, a graduate student at the Centre for Science and Communication at the time, found several lessons she could apply to winemaking after attending a Goodall lecture in 2014.

The first was you don’t need fabulous technology to do fabulous things – “When Dr. Goodall first began studying chimpanzees, she famously went out into the forest with a pencil, a notebook, and what she describes as a pair of not-very-good second-hand binoculars,” Szymanski wrote. “Though far from the only person to have made excellent breakthroughs with minimal technology, she’s a good reminder that not only can it be done, it can be done with spectacular success.”

The same logic follows with wine, where good winemaking remains about making careful observations both in the vineyard and in the winery.

Goodall had no formal education when she started studying chimps. She didn’t know what she didn’t know. “Making the best wine and having the best education don’t always go hand-in-hand,” Szymanski stated. “Lack of training actually made Goodall a better scientist. Why? Because established theories about what she should see didn’t obstruct her ability to make astute, detailed observations.”

But also applicable to the wine world was Goodall’s approach to communication. Asked what had contributed to her success as a communicator, Goodall often responded how important it was to convince people through stories, to tell stories to get people to see you how feel and how to listen.

“You’ve got to reach the heart and how do you reach the heart?” Goodall asked aloud in the Wiser Than Me podcast last year hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “With stories. A little story that might reach the heart and find common ground.”

Goodall said in interviews that she drank a whiskey, neat, that it was a ritual, the drink able to soothe her vocal cords and her mind.

“I drink a whiskey every night,” she told The Guardian in 2023, “Mum and I used to have a small glass together at home. As I travelled more, we’d each raise a glass at our respective 7 pms. It was a way to feel connected. Now I toast her up in the clouds every evening.”

On the road 300 days a year into her 90s she spread her message of hope around the world, telling stories to get people to change from within and do something, no matter how small.

“This is what Goodall did toward the end of her extraordinary life,” remembered reporter David Gelles in last week’s The New York Times. “She talked. To anyone who would listen. To presidents and preschoolers. In classrooms and at keynotes. She was indefatigable, traveling restlessly and imploring humanity to protect the natural world.”

Goodall was “full of quiet energy… gentle and sharp.” She believed her most important work was about finding “connection and reaching the heart,” she once said. “I think if we use head and heart together, we can achieve our true human potential.”

In the end, wine can help connect and reach the heart, every farmer, winemaker and wine drinker able to do their part.

Her most famous quote says it all: “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Photo By: The Jane Goodall Institute

By: Virginie Boone

Between Mother Nature and economic realities, keeping a vineyard healthy and thriving has its challenges. All the more remarkable is to sustain it over time at the highest levels of quality. These grand cru-worthy vineyards have stood the test of time, been reborn or otherwise remain extraordinary tributes to time, place and good farming.

Bedrock Vineyard

In the heart of what Jack London fondly called Valley of the Moon, Bedrock is a 152-acre plot of grapes in Sonoma Valley owned and farmed these days by Morgan Twain Peterson, who founded Bedrock Wine Co. in 2007 after taking over the vineyard in 2005. It was originally founded in the 1850s by General “Fighting Joe” Hooker and General William Tecumseh Sherman, but was hit hard by phylloxera in the 1880s and went into decline. It was replanted in 1888 – among the first vines to be grown on phylloxera-resistant rootstock – by the father of publisher William Randolph Hearst, United States Senator George Hearst, who made his fortune in mining. Grapes went to the California Wine Association until Prohibition hit; they then went to Valley of the Moon Winery when it was owned by the Parducci family. By 1953 some 152 acres of it were called Madrone Ranch and owned by the Domenicis. Bedrock continues to make wine from Hearst’s century-old vines, which are mostly Zinfandel, with a myriad of other varieties like Mataro, Petite Sirah, Carignan, Grenache and other types of grapes, both red and white.

Donum Estate

Newly certified regenerative organic, Carneros-based Donum farms 200 acres atop rolling hills and was founded in 2001. The focus has always been Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the winery has developed its own clone as well as planted heirloom selections, splitting the vineyard into 25 distinct blocks and sub-blocks. Viticulturist Anne Moller-Racke looked after Donum from its founding, which had been part of Buena Vista Winery’s holdings at the time that were sold off. In 2011 Allan and Mei Warburg bought the property and added a significant amount of art, creating one of the world’s biggest private sculpture collections, with works from Richard Hudson, Louise Bourgeois, Ai Weiwei, Subodh Gupta and other major international talents dotted throughout the vines. Donum has also since added several more estate vineyards to its portfolio, including TFV near its estate, Churchview Vineyard near Bodega, Ten Oaks in Russian River Valley and Savoy in Mendocino’s Anderson Valley.

Hanzell Vineyards

One of California’s most historic estates, Hanzell dates back to the 1950s, set within the Mayacamas mountains just outside of the town of Sonoma in what is now the Moon Mountain District. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the primary grape varieties, originally planted in 1953. The first wines were made in 1957. Holistic farming practices began to be introduced to the 46 acres of vineyards in 2016, centered around the introduction of sheep, pigs, chickens and guard dogs – a Farm Series set of wines reflects the attention to biodiversity. Organic certification was granted in 2021, while 150 acres of wild and native grazing land are maintained around the vineyard.

Michael Mara Vineyard

A small, family-owned, organically farmed site between the town of Sonoma and the Sonoma Mountain range near Durell, Michael Mara was planted to Clone 4 Chardonnay, Syrah and a Zinfandel field blend by Steve Matthiasson and the Idell family in 2005-06, within both the Sonoma Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations. Flat, red-soiled and rocky, it’s a favorite of many small producers, from Matthiasson himself (who makes a California Claret-like Michael Mara Zin) to Broc Cellars, Iconic Wine, Maître de Chai and Ultramarine, the latter two of whom make a Blanc de Blancs, and of course, Idell Family Vineyards.

Pagani Ranch

The gnarled Zinfandel trunks so emblematic of times gone by make up the historic Pagani near Kenwood, along Highway 12 across from the Mayacamas. Planted by Angela and Felice Pagani in the 1880s and again in 1914, it remains in the family to this day, farmed by fourth-generation Dino Pagani Amantite, who continues to sustain the 30 acres of head-trained grapes for the likes of Ridge (who have made a Pagani Ranch wine since 1991), St. Francis, Robert Biale, Seghesio, Carlisle and Bedrock. Among the field blend can be found Lenoir, Petite Sirah, Grand Noir, Alicante and other varieties.

By: Virginie Boone

Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel has always had a stellar reputation and one of the longest-standing reasons is the name Rafanelli.

Rafanelli was among the “R’s” responsible for the revival of dry Zinfandel, in response to the popularity of White Zin. Ridge, Ravenswood and Rosenblum Cellars were the others, many of them devoted to working with historic vines.

But Rafanelli predated the others by decades. A. Rafanelli Winery was founded outside of Healdsburg in the early 1900s by Alberto and Letizia Rafanelli, Italian immigrants, like so many others, in search of a place in their new home to grow grapes and make wine. Letizia Tonneti came from winemaking folk near Lucca and had learned how to prune grapes at a young age. She made it out to America by ship, arriving in Ellis Island at 19, getting to San Francisco by rail, traveling on her own.

The lore is she got by with a pistol in her purse, working in the cigar trade. She met Alberto in North Beach, married and was living in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake. Alberto found work restoring damaged buildings, including the Fairmont Hotel.

Letizia made wine at home, which led to Sonoma County wine grapes, making trips up to the area by wagon and Model T to buy grapes. This was the beginning of the dream, and they soon moved up to Healdsburg, finding work building houses. The first property they bought didn’t have water and was short-lived. The second piece of land had a barn and a Zinfandel vineyard. It would do, and Letizia took on the farming. They survived Prohibition by selling grapes in San Francisco and wine, brandy and such out the back door.

At the end of Prohibition the Rafanellis were able to get a wholesale license and sell wine to restaurants.

In 1955, their son Americo moved the business to its current location in an old livestock barn on West Dry Creek Road to farm premium Zinfandel grapes. The first commercial release of A. Rafanelli wine came in 1973. In 1984 their Zinfandel won a gold medal at the Harvest Fair. The Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignons were also highly regarded.

In a 1987 Press Democrat obituary for Americo Rafanelli, his son said that “he loved the vineyards and always claimed that good wines are made in the vineyards. He certainly proved that it doesn’t take university degrees to make good wine – it just takes good grapes.”

Generation three took things further, Americo’s son David earning a UC Davis master’s degree in viticulture and working 15 years at nearby Lambert Bridge. He and wife Patty took over after Americo’s passing with the goal of seeking out more land for growing great grapes, and the wines started to win awards.

David was quoted in a 1989 Press Democrat story again touting the importance of good grapes.

“There’s no hocus-pocus to making good wine, it just takes good fruit. You can screw up and make bad wine from good fruit, but if the quality isn’t there to begin with it will never be a good wine.”

Generation four then enters the picture in the form of Rashell (Shelly) Rafanelli, a graduate of Cal Poly who became head winemaker in 2000 after working alongside her dad. Her husband Craig Fehlman manages the vineyards, while sister Stacy oversees daily operations.

Making it past the century mark, the winery remains true to its roots, producing exceptional Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a red blend to its loyal followers. Taste a bit of history by visiting A. Rafanelli, by appointment, and listen to more of the story from Shelly Rafanelli herself, here on The Good Stuff on KSRO.

Photo By: A. Rafanelli Winery

By: Virginie Boone

There’s something about bubbles that immediately signals celebration and good times, even, or maybe especially, when times are less than good. Some of the most famous quotes about Champagne and sparkling wine reflect its dual nature.

“I drink Champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad,” is Lily Bollinger’s oft-quoted line, which goes on to add, “Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.”

Napolean Bonaparte and Winston Churchill are both quoted for saying about bubbles, “In victory, I deserve it. In defeat, I need it.” Winston also said, “Champagne is the wine of civilization and the oil of government.”

Whether you feel victorious or defeated, there are many places to lift your spirits or dampen your woes drinking bubbles in Sonoma County. Try them all.

Amista Vineyards

The Dry Creek Valley-based Amista loves sparkling wines and Rhone-inspired wines and often combines the two – founder Vicky Farrow is also behind Sparkling Discoveries, a community dedicated to all things sparkling wine. Its estate sparkling Fusión, for example, blends Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache. Grapes are estate and wines made by Ashley Herzberg, who uses Methode Champenoise techniques to refine the bubbles. Vineyards were certified organic in 2024.

Breathless Sparkling Wines

Founded by three sisters, Healdsburg-based Breathless is all about the bubbles, and to the moments that “take your breathe away.” Tours go deep into what it takes to make a Methode Champenoise wine and are followed by seated tastings. A garden patio exists for other flights and tastings, or enjoy bottle service, also known as Picnic on the Hill, where wines will be delivered to go with in-house culinary options such as a Caviar Picnic, or bring your own.

Buena Vista Winery Bubble Lounge

The historic Sonoma winery offers a sparkling wine flight experience by reservation in a specially-appointed space within the winery walls. Intended to “transport you to an era of days gone by characterized by carefree revelry and opulence,” it has current owner Jean-Charles Boisset’s reputation for refined decadence written all over it.

Gloria Ferrer

A sparkling wine pioneer in windswept Carneros, the Ferrer family is well-known in Spain for its cava and came to California in the early 1980s to see what else they could do. It remains a beautiful perch from which to take in the beauty of the area while enjoying any number of sparkling flights as well as bites. Its Three-Course Culinary Experience is a popular place to start. Weekend brunch on the terrace is also well-loved, as are the Thursday evening $12 Sunset Sessions with wine and tapas that take place through October.

Healdsburg Bubble Bar

Sonoma County-native Sarah Quider spent most of her career as a winemaker, running all the Foley Family Wines’ wineries most recently. During the pandemic she decided to shift from winemaking to bubble pouring, opening this beautiful Parisian-inspired spot in downtown Healdsburg behind Valette and across from SingleThread. It’s an intimate indoor-outdoor space where Quider presides behind a lovely selection of international and domestic sparkling wines by the glass and bottle (and also for purchase) and puts together blind flights for fun and for her active wine club. Bites include caviar, charcuterie, canned branzino, crunchy selections of popcorn, chips, or potato sticks, and even a cupcake from nearby Noble Folk.

Inman Family Wines

While the Russian River Valley-based family winery is known for its lovely Pinots and Endless Crush Rosé, it also makes a terrific lineup of sparkling wines, using not only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but Pinot Gris. Take the Sip and Stroll Vineyard and Garden Tour and Tasting if you can, a wonderful way to wander the vineyard with purpose with owner/winemaker Kathleen Inman.

Iron Horse Vineyards

“Where Rustic Meets Elegance” they like to say and it’s true. The Green Valley of Russian River Valley stalwart makes an outstanding lineup of sparklers from estate-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, pouring them in full view of the vineyard and surrounding valley. The wines not only taste good, many of them do good, raising money for beneficiaries such as Heal the Bay.

J Vineyards & Winery

The Russian River Valley winery started with bubbles and is still very much about bubbles, from its popular Cuvee 20 to more newly produced Love California Brut Cuvee made in partnership with grantLOVE founder and artist Alexandra Grant. The place is so infatuated with sparkling wine it has its own Bubble Room, where a five-course Sonoma County-sourced pairing menu is served alongside J’s varietal and sparkling wines.

Korbel

Started in 1882 in the cool climes of Guerneville, Korbel remains a popular destination for bubbles and food, offering daily walk-in stand-up tastings of three wines for $15 and walking tours of its museum and cellar. An on-site deli and market makes it easy to add lunch to the proceedings, with bottles and glasses of wine for sale in addition to mimosas and bellinis.

Maison Healdsburg

Opened by SingleThread veterans Evan and Jade Hufford and Ryan Knowles, Maison is a wine bar in the thick of town with a long and varied list of wines by the glass and bottle, as well as beers and ciders. Bottles under $300 to go are priced 20% off. By the glass options rotate, but always include sparkling wines from home and abroad, like the current Delta 2021 Piquette from Sonoma Coast, as well as half-bottles if that’s all you want. Domestic sparkling bottles on the list include a handful of Cruse Wines both Sonoma Coast and California appellated, as well as Sonoma County-grown delights from Freeman, Seppi and Under the Wire.

Region

In Sebastopol’s The Barlow, Region has hundreds of wines from dozens of local wineries available by the glass and invites food from nearby vendors like Acre Pizza, Acre Pasta and The Farmer’s wife to be ordered and enjoyed on its premises. The goal is to highlight the makers themselves via a diversity of varieties and wineries from across the region, and it does, from Aperture to Serres Ranch, pouring 60-plus varieties across the portfolio. There are always plenty of bubbles to be had.

Sigh Sonoma

Just off the central square, this first-come, first-served bubbles-devoted bar centers around an elegant oval communal seating area from which to enjoy domestic and international sparklers as well as flights, with the chance to also enjoy cheese, caviar and seasonal small bites. Beers, still wines and Sigh Slushies are also on tap. Sigh was started by native Sonoman Jayme Powers, a former sparkling wine educator for Schramsberg Vineyards, who opened its first iteration in 2012 in a 400-square-feet space down the road. The current version has been going since 2017. All bottles can also be bought to go.

Photo By: Healdsburg Bubble Bar