Malbec has never played a starring role in Sonoma County viticulture but rather been a pivotal component of many Bordeaux-inspired red blends. Most wineries working with Malbec only source a bit here and there to add its juiciness and good acidity to their varietal Cabernet Sauvignons and the like.

That means there’s not a plethora of it planted – just 454 bearing acres (2024 Sonoma County Crop Report) valued at about $3,000/ton. That’s more in the ground than Petit Verdot, Grenache, Carignane, or Sangiovese, but a shadow of the 12,373 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon or even Merlot’s 3,761.

However, its scarcity puts its average tonnage price over that of either Cab ($2,920/ton) or Merlot ($2,202/ton) at least that year. So it has shown value for both growers and producers.

Robert Young Estate is one such grower/producer with Malbec, a 2.12-acre block on the western side of its estate ranch planted in 1989. They’ve made a single-varietal Malbec since 2012. Lambert Bridge also makes a Malbec, VP/GM/winemaker Jen Higgins says the plush tannins and great acidity make it a versatile wine that’s delicious with everything, invitingly aromatic in violet with rich berry brambly fruit, vibrant acidity and velvety texture.

Chateau St. Jean grows the Malbec for its single-varietal version in Dry Creek Valley at the Magnolia Ranch vineyard, adding in a small amount from its estate in Sonoma Valley. Blended with 16% Merlot, it’s lush and full of blueberry and white pepper, a crowd-pleasing wine.

In Alexander Valley, Hafner Vineyard’s Parke Hafner got interested in Malbec as a blender for his Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1990s; the 1999 Hafner Cabernet was the first to include both Malbec and Petit Verdot. In 2004, it added a majority-Malbec wine called Next Red. Hafner also makes a rosé from Malbec.

J. Rickards Winery’s Zanzi Curve Vines Malbec is grown on the producer’s Alexander Valley estate. They describe it as offering a New World take that gives a respectful nod to its European roots, alluring in ripe black cherry, raspberry, rose petal, orange peel and mocha with a silky mouthfeel.

At Repris on Moon Mountain, Malbec goes into its top blend, Momtazee, sold in 1.5 liter, 3 liter and 6-liter bottles. Lasseter Family Winery’s Amoureux is a varietal Malbec grown at Justi Creek Vineyard and named “lovers” because the Lasseters first discovered Malbec while they were honeymooning in Sonoma.

Malbec factors in to three wines at Larson Family Winery, its standard Meritage, which includes Malbec from Kenwood, its Millerick Road Meritage, and Sonoma Red, a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah and Malbec.

The Hanna Reserve wines include a standalone Malbec from a 10-acre block they planted in Alexander Valley in 2010. The wine is typically aged in French and Slovenian oak and blended with small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Saint Macaire (which is a story in itself). The producer’s standard Malbec is also from this 10-acre block, situated below Hoot Owl Creek, a wine they describe as “dark as the firmament but not so mysterious.”

Rodney Strong makes two Malbecs, an Alexander Valley Malbec and Reserve Sonoma County Malbec, the latter getting two years in French oak before release. These wines are classic in style, full of unctuous berry fruit, floral undertones and enduring richness. It grows Malbec at its esteemed Brothers and Rockaway estates in Alexander Valley. Roth Estate makes a rosé of Malbec from a single vineyard block in the Russian River Valley, fermented and aged only in stainless steel, and has Malbec within its Heritage Red Blend.

Sonoma County’s Jesse Katz founded Devil Proof Wines with Malbec specifically in mind after working with the variety in both Bordeaux and Argentina. Devil Proof Malbec is grown at the 75-acre Farrow Ranch in Alexander Valley, a now-estate site Katz bought in 2021. He also sources Malbec from Mauritson-farmed Rockpile Ridge in the Rockpile AVA at 1,480-feet elevation.

Sonoma County-based winemaker Paul Hobbs was so drawn to Malbec, he founded a winery in Mendoza, Argentina in 1998 to focus on growing and producing Malbec in one of its original terroirs. Vina Cobos was born 10 years into Hobbs’ time, exploring the potential of the grape in this place. As such, he is recognized as both a pioneer and major contributor to elevating the status of Malbec as a luxury grape around the world (Katz worked alongside Hobbs at Vina Cobos before founding Devil Proof).

This Malbec focus also led Hobbs to Cahors, just north of Toulouse in France, another of the grape’s ancestral homes, where he has worked with Bertrand Gabriel Vigouroux to create the Crocus Wines since 2011.

Malbec in Cahors dates back to the Roman era, when it was called Côt, also known as the “black wine,” and it remains an important grape in this region of France, grown largely in limestone soils. The name Auxerrois is another synonym for Malbec, which has led some to believe it may have originated in Burgundy.

Malbec vines made their way from France to Argentina in 1853. April 17 is celebrated as World Malbec Day because it was on April 17, 1853 that the legislature in Mendoza approved these vines to be brought to Argentina from overseas.

Forward ahead nearly two centuries, and there are today more than 44,000 acres of Malbec in Argentina, with the country standing as the number one producer of Malbec in the world, about 80% of the world’s total.

In Bordeaux, the weather was often too cold and wet for Malbec to thrive, so after bouts of phylloxera (and a historic 1956 winter frost) forced new plantings, many growers chose to put in Merlot over Malbec. Before that brutal frost there were 12,500 acres of Malbec in Bordeaux; today there are around 2,200 acres, only 1-2% of the total area.

Malbec came to California in 1857 or 1858, imported from France by Charles Lefranc of New Almaden Winery in the Santa Clara Valley. It made its way in 1861 to Sonoma County via Agostin Haraszthy, who brought grape cultivars from France to make Bordeaux-style clarets at Buena Vista. J.H. Drummond planted Malbec and other Bordeaux varieties in Glen Ellen in 1878.

But by the 1890s, “Malbeck,” as it was often called, was not being recommended as a suitable grape for California vineyards by UC Davis due to poor fruit set, low yields and low malic acids. And that was that. It slowly disappeared, not to reappear in any significant way until the 1990s when growers planted it again to go into Meritage and Bordeaux blends. By 2011, California had 84% of the Malbec planted in the United States.

Up and down, more significant in some places than others, Malbec can be a wonderfully rich, balanced, easy-to-enjoy wine. See what Sonoma County Malbec has to offer this World Malbec Day.

Photo By: Lasseter Family Winery

There are legendary horsemen all across America. Sonoma County was home to one of the best, a true cowboy, Johnny Brazil Jr. In this, the year of the fire horse, it seemed only right to give him his due.

Born in 1922 near Modesto and raised in Pinole where his dad raised dairy cows, for most of his life Brazil bred, raised, trained, showed and competitively rode horses, carrying forward the traditions of early California’s Spanish Vaquero for reining in cattle on ranches and open ranges. He also stormed the beaches of Normandy during World War II.

Spaniards brought horses and horsemanship to the Western United States and also inspired skills-based competitions. For many decades, these were some of the biggest competitions in the West. Brazil won more than 60 of them, from the Salinas Rodeo to the California State Fair.

He was such a force that in 1949, he helped write the bylaws for an organization known as the California Reined Cow Horse Association.

An exceptional trainer of champion hackamore horses and bridle horses, training and showing horses professionally well into his 90s, Brazil lived a sizable portion of his life in Northern Sonoma County.

Monty Roberts, a celebrated horse trainer in his own right and author of the best-selling “The Man Who Listens to Horses,” recalled this about seeing Brazil race in Salinas:

“In 1948 I clearly recall the first time I watched John Brazil Jr. competing on the competition grounds where I was born and raised. John won all three of the categories he competed for in that particular year. John, a small man of Portuguese descent, was immediately a hero for me. He rode as if he was part of the horse. Few riders could match his skills at high speed or with the precise maneuvers required.”

In his younger days Brazil worked for Cutter Laboratories, a West Coast company that was testing animal vaccines. His job was, of course, handling the cattle. Somewhere along the way in the 1940s the owner of New York’s Empire State Building, a man named William D. Dana, reached out to Brazil to help with a 6,000-acre cow-and-calf ranch Dana had purchased in Sonoma County called J Bar B Ranch.

A 1962 story in The Press Democrat described the property as ranging from the north rim of the Alexander Valley to the Geysers, plenty to nurture “beefy white-faced cattle.” But it also made note that the ranch was “perhaps better known for its stock horses, essential to handle cattle in that kind of terrain.”

Hired as Dana’s trainer-manager, Brazil raised, trained and looked over 30-40 horses at a time, the paper noting that “the J-B horses started to hit the big time when John Brazil joined the staff.”

Brazil worked for Dana until the older man died in 1964. Roberts ended up buying one of those horses. Its name was Night Mist and Roberts won many championships riding that horse, often competing against Brazil. The men became good friends over that time.

“I met individuals who had dozens of different personalities and acted with a variety when it came to integrity,” Roberts said. “John Brazil was and is the epitome of a gentleman… I never knew John Brazil to criticize anyone. This man inspired me to take on the promise to myself that I would never openly criticize another horseman by name in public.”

Brazil competed at the highest level well into his 70s, “a true testament to his talent and love for the horse.”

Watch an incredible video interview with Brazil at age 96 filmed in 2018. The incredible pioneer, legend and Sonoma County horseman Johnny Brazil passed away this March at the age of 104.

A thank you to Scott Newman of Newman Agriculture for telling me a bit about Johnny Brazil, Jr., who also worked with the Newman family in Knights Valley.

With Kenwood Vineyards in the news this week for closing, selling, and possibly being reopened by one of its former owners, Gary Heck of F. Korbel & Bros. in Guerneville, it seemed like a good time to revisit some of Kenwood’s history.

Kenwood Vineyards was founded in 1970 on Highway 12 in Sonoma Valley at the site of the former Pagani & Sons Winery, which had been around since the early 1900s, the land bought by Amedeo Pagani in 1905. After planting grapevines in the late 1880s, the Pagani family built a bulk winery in 1906 that lasted through Prohibition. When heir Julius Pagani died in 1969, his brother John Pagani (an accounting professor) sold the winery to a group of friends and former students he had taught at Santa Clara University.

The friends – John Sheela and Mike and Marty Lee, whose sister Elizabeth was married to John – turned it into a premium wine producer that by the mid-1980s was making more than 100,000 cases of wine, most of it Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. Masterful Mike Lee served as winemaker. An architect, Elizabeth designed the buildings.

Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay soon also came into play and prominence, and the winery continued to grow, making 250,000 cases a year by the 1990s with an estate vineyard that spanned 200 acres at its height.

The winery became especially well-known for The Artist Series, a Cabernet Sauvignon bottling released every year with a who’s who of artist-commissioned labels; the Jack London Vineyard single-vineyard bottlings; and Sonoma Series blends.

Graphic artist and printmaker David Lance Goines (1945-2023) famously designed the Art Nouveau-inspired artwork, menus, and posters for Chez Panisse (and was an early boyfriend of Alice Waters), but was a familiar designer of wine labels too, the most well-known of them for Ravenswood, Neyers, and Merry Edwards.

But it was his 1975 Kenwood Vineyards label for the winery’s Artist Series that got everyone in trouble. Goines’s label was a pencil sketch of what he called “Reclining Nude in Vineyard,” a nude woman lying between the vines (also known as “Naked Lady”). It was immediately deemed “obscene and indecent” by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), known today as the TTB, which has label approval.

When the winery resubmitted the same label in 1997, it was approved. So there you go, a scandal one year, and A-okay another.

These were the Heck/Korbel days: Heck acquired a 50-percent share of Kenwood in 1996 and bought it outright in 1999, doubling production over his tenure to more than 600,000 cases.

That was eventually enough to entice outside interest. International wine and spirits conglomerate Pernod Ricard bought the winery, brand, inventory, facilities, and four vineyards from Heck in 2014 for a reported $100 million, its first still winery in California (it also owned sparkling wine house Mumm Napa until last December). An earlier deal to sell Kenwood to Banfi Vintners in 2012 fell through.

Pernod Ricard’s best-known wine brand at the time was Jacobs Creek in Australia. It also had Brancott Estate in New Zealand and Spain’s Campo Viejo, among others; that wine portfolio was sold to Australian Wine Holdco Limited/Vinarchy in 2025.

More lucrative have been Pernod Ricard’s mega-spirits brands Absolut, Jameson, Chivas, Malibu, and Beefeater, not to mention Kahlua, Monkey 47, and Del Maguey.

Pernod Ricard is currently in discussions to possibly merge with Brown-Forman, which once owned Sonoma-Cutrer before selling the property to Duckhorn. Another giant of the global spirits world, among Brown-Forman’s brands is Jack Daniel’s.

But when it entered the Sonoma County wine business, Pernod Ricard worked with existing Kenwood winemaker Pat Henderson to evaluate the property, vineyards, and brand, according to Wine Business Monthly, and increased the focus on Sonoma County, reducing the share of lower-priced California appellation wines, amping the focus on higher-end wines.

Alas the Pernod Ricard period has come to an end with the North Bay Business Journal reporting last week that Kenwood Vineyards has sold for $4 million to Kenwood Winery Land LLC, an outfit led by Heck.

What’s next is a mystery. The Kenwood website says “Closed until further notice. Check back in April for updates.” So the big conglomerate is out, a local Sonoma County family is back in. Let’s hope this historic winery lives on to fight another day.

A hospitality legend in Sonoma County and beyond, Nick Peyton is retiring. The longtime maître d’ and owner with Chef Douglas Keane of Cyrus Restaurant, first in Healdsburg and now in Geyserville, is 78 and ready to “suck down coco locos on a Costa Rican beach” as he wrote in an email to guests. His last day of service will be at the end of this month.

In that email he stated, “it has been my life’s joy and pleasure to welcome all of you to Cyrus in both its iterations… it has fed my soul and kept me constantly engaged.”

Cyrus has earned a prestigious One-Michelin-Star. Just as significant, last year Peyton won The Michelin Guide California Service Award, singled out for designing “the anti-snooty fine dining experience.”

That ethos is behind how Peyton and Keane have designed an evening at Cyrus to feel like a dinner party, leading guests through multiple rooms over multiple courses, keeping things warm and friendly as the party moves from the Bubbles Lounge to the U-shaped interactive kitchen to the dining room with views of Alexander Valley and the nearby vineyards. The evening finishes off in the Chocolate Room where wishes may be made by tossing chocolate coins into an eight-foot wall of flowing chocolate.

Peyton has been working with Keane for 27 years. He said the idea for the dining journey came from moving to Wine Country after the years they each spent working in restaurants in San Francisco and New York.

“(In the cities) people always had multiple things they expected out of the evening. It was dinner and a show, dinner and the theater, dinner and drinks with friends afterwards,” he said. “But when people are up here in Wine Country, dinner is sort of the whole evening.”

He adds that he’s always believed communion happens at the table, and that it should belong to the guests – not be his stamp on the night.

“Everyone’s got a different purpose for being here,” he said. “But what I like is that people at the end of the meal have a certain catharsis, that this was an elevating experience that leaves them recharged.”

Peyton was born in England and raised near Vancouver, Canada. A child of the 1960s and self-described hippie, ski bum and world traveler, who fled to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury in 1966, Peyton figured out at a young age that he could work anywhere in the world if he worked in hospitality, getting jobs at a bar, casino, nightclub or restaurant, even if he didn’t speak the language.

Reporter Carey Sweet described Peyton’s early days quite memorably in a 2024 SFGate profile, writing that in an earlier life, “Peyton donned colorful robes with his long hair flowing down his back as he taught sand cast candle making on a nude beach through the Bay Area’s Midpeninsula Free University program that thrived during the mid-60s and 70s.” Keeping with the times, he “was arrested multiple times in Bay Area anti-war protests.”

By his mid 20s he was married with a child and another one on the way so decided to make hospitality a formal career, attending San Francisco JC Hotel and Restaurant School. There, he zeroed in on one vision – to be the maître d’ of a fine restaurant.

His first gig was at The Fairmont San Francisco when it had a restaurant called the Squire Room. He then became maître d’/manager of Masa’s, the top-rated restaurant in the city.

From there, he was recruited by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to be the founding manager and maître d’ of their restaurant, which is where he met Chef Gary Danko, who had cut his teeth at Sonoma County’s Chateau Souverain (Francis Ford Coppola Winery and Rustic Restaurant today) in Alexander Valley. Peyton and Danko went on to open Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco in 1999, bringing in a young Doug Keane as sous chef.

Peyton recalled how back when he started in the 1970s “the front of house was sort of all-powerful. People didn’t really know the chefs as much. You had to prove yourself to the restaurant, which was something that I always thought was completely upside down… there was a stiff formality to service back in those days.”

It was while working together at Gary Danko that Peyton and Keane conceived of the idea for the original Cyrus, opening it in downtown Healdsburg in 2005. Over the course of its run, it earned two Michelin stars before closing in 2012. It would take another 10 years to open Cyrus Alexander Valley, otherwise known as Cyrus 2.0.

Cyrus now sits in the middle of a vineyard, bringing the beauty of the Alexander Valley in, with the main dining room floating above the surrounding vines, the embodiment of Sonoma County’s rich agricultural history and welcoming nature.

Peyton’s welcoming nature and superb sense of hospitality will be missed. Enjoy those coco locos Nick.

Photo By: Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat

By: Virginie Boone

International fine wine researcher Areni Global recently highlighted a Cocktail Trends Report conducted by spirits company Bacardi Limited. Working with strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory, it is the seventh edition of this annual report. The topline is that “Connections, Local Flavors, and Luxurious Experiences” are the key things to think about in 2026.

“Whether it’s enriched connections, unexpected moments to celebrate, or new cultures to enjoy,” the report specifies, “the focus is on delivering value beyond flavor alone.”

“True value for today’s consumers means appearing across the many touchpoints and occasions they inhabit, delivering experiences that mirror and mold their tastes, values, and interests,” summarized Martin Raymond, co-founder of The Future Laboratory.

The report singles out five defining macro trends in cocktails, but there are lessons here too for wine.

The first trend is one the report calls “Afternoon Society,” where it states, “Happy hour is having a cultural renaissance as earlier-day indulgence replaces late-night excess. The rise of ‘daycaps’ (cocktails enjoyed in the late afternoon to close the workday, especially in an era of hybrid work routines) marks a shift toward micro-celebrations that fit modern routines. Across regions, people are heading out to drink, eat, and socialize earlier in the evening.”

It details how “younger Legally Drinking Age (LDA) consumers” are leading the charge with more than one third in the United States (34%) reshaping routines around earlier evenings, summarizing that, “Daytime drinking now revolves around Spritz culture, mood-based cocktails, and small serves that tap into the sweet treat economy. It’s not about escape; it’s about new rhythms and new routines of enjoyment that fit your energy and your calendar.”

Wine fits into all of these angles – it can be part of a Spritz, it can fit many moods, and it can be enjoyed in smaller (lower ounces or lower-alcohol) serves.

Trend two is “Rewilding Connection,” a desire by consumers to “slow down, tune back in, and rediscover the social magic of enjoying a cocktail (or glass of wine) together.”

This applies to people across all ages and walks of life. The report states, “As social life recalibrates away from constant connectivity, drinkers are seeking intentional, offline experiences that prioritize presence over performance.”

The research shows 84% of consumers feel that technology has made social interactions feel less personal and as such, a new wave of “mindful, in-person socializing” is emerging.

“It’s less about being seen, more about feeling seen – and co-creating spaces that foster presence, purpose, and real connection,” Bacardi’s VP of Global Insights Rigoberto Chavez says.

The report clarifies that, “nightlife is no longer about anonymous crowds and fleeting encounters. It is being reshaped into community-driven experiences that give drinkers not just somewhere to go, but something to belong to.”

Smart bars and brands (and this can include winery tasting rooms) are “designing shared, analog moments that feel human again,” whether they be screen-free gatherings, analog entertainment like live music, mah-jongg nights, and trivia, or “rituals that spark real conversation.”

Third is “New Localogy,” which is something wine has always done well. Essentially it recognizes how bars are “evolving into laboratories of local flavor,” where “every sip is as much about terroir and technique as it is about transparency – catering to new consumer preferences to savor not only the flavor, but the place and the process behind it.” Apparently 77% of those surveyed check ingredient origin labels looking for locally sourced ingredients.

The number four trend for 2026 is “The Liquid Experience IP.” This posits that drink brands are increasingly transforming into lifestyle experiences, blending fashion, music, design, travel, and sports; reflecting survey results that show 70% of emotionally engaged consumers invest twice as much in brands they feel connected to. Some of the ways this is experienced is through playlist pairings, traveling pop-up menus, and branded sensory elements like scent, sound, and storytelling.

“Premium today goes beyond price tag – it’s about cultural cachet and emotional connection,” said Natasha Curtin, Global VP of Bombay Sapphire.

Lastly, trend five is “More Is More.” For mixology, this is about glamour and theatrics. A vast majority of the people surveyed value “heightened, memorable experiences” from high-drama glassware to “joyfully excessive design and unapologetic opulence.”

The ultimate conclusion is that “In a world still healing from burnout, people don’t just want a drink, they want a moment… to dress up, show up, and feel transported.”

Wine can do that.

By: Virginie Boone

Once upon a time there was a Prune Blossom Tour that covered 25 miles of the Alexander Valley. Beginning in 1961, and sponsored by the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, it went from downtown around Fitch Mountain and through Geyserville, the Alexander Valley, Asti and Dry Creek Valley.

For the event, the Russian River Farm Bureau served a full lunch. The menu in 1963, as reported by the Healdsburg Tribune, was ham, potato salad, green salad, Jell-O and desserts like prune cakes and prune cookies made by the local 4-H. By 1964, 1,500 people attended from 19 states and seven countries. The National Association of Travel Organizations named it one of the top 10 travel events in the United States by 1966. At its peak in 1971, some 4,000 visitors came.

Alyce Cadd, whose family was in the drying prunes business at the time, was among the volunteers, telling the paper, “We fed up to 2,000 people on some weekends. They came in busload after busload, and there was even a group of pilots that flew into the airport. It was a big affair.”

As prunes transitioned into winegrapes the tour was renamed the Spring Blossom Tour. It went on until 1995. And Alyce Cadd and her husband Al also made the switch.

In Alexander Valley since 1910, the Cadd family started with hops and prunes before getting into dairy, pears and apples. In the 1970s they planted their first vineyards, which at present consists of 36 acres of grapes, primarily Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

In 1941, Alvin Raymond (who went by Ray) and Zelda Cadd, who married in 1925, bought a 72-acre ranch in Alexander Valley from Mrs. Cadd’s parents, Walter and Marian Leroux. It was planted mostly to prunes and included a home and was four-fifths of what is known as the Leroux ranch.

Ray and Zelda had three children: Alvin (Al), Aryles and Fleurette (who became Mrs. Leland Arnold). Al was born in 1926 and graduated from Healdsburg High School in 1944. His cousins include members of the Rotlisberger family of Rotlisberger Ranch.

He married Alyce Jean Swim in 1946 after serving two years with the U.S. Merchant Marines. Alyce was born in Ukiah and went to Napa Junior College. The two met while fishing on the cliff edge of a beach while camping with their families.

In embracing life at the ranch the year he married, Al became the fourth-generation farmer in his family, moving into a ranch house built by his grandfather in 1919. Alyce embraced farming too, and became known for her good cooking, work with exchange students and as a member of Alexander Valley Ladies Aid.

They traveled widely to camp and fish throughout their life together and had two children, Larry and Cindy, as well as five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Al and Cadd Ranch were given the Luther Burbank Conservation Award in 2012. Cadd was also honored by the Harvest Fair with the Lifetime Contribution to Sonoma County Agriculture award in 2014. At the time, Cadd told The Healdsburg Tribune that his favorite thing had been working with apples.

“We did well in the apple business, until the market went away,” he said. “I really loved my apple orchard; it was a beautiful orchard and it’s fun to grow apples.”

In 1963 Cadd started working for the Sonoma County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, a job he held through 1979, when he went back to full-time farming. In 1991 he leased the land to his son and retired.

“I decided I was going to be a farmer when I was president of the FFA in 1944,” he added. “I discovered agriculture was my spot in life and that’s where I should be.”

Cadd was also one of seven founding members of the Alexander Valley Association, created to protect agriculture from urban development (“a place of residence, relaxation and rural lifestyle) and served with the Russian River Property Owners Association. As a member of the Riparian Corridor Work Group he monitored streams for frost protection. He likes to fish, hunt, do woodwork and photography.

Al’s wife Alyce passed away in 2024 at the age of 96.

“I was born and raised here, surrounded by incredible natural beauty and such fertile farmland,” he told the paper. “It has sustained my family for six generations and I’m committed to seeing that it continues.”

By: Virginie Boone

One of California’s most established, historic producers, best known for its majestic Monte Bello, a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant red blend, has launched a wine club called Lights & Brights.

As Lytton Springs winemaker Shauna Rosenblum notes in the welcome letter, “This club was inspired by a simple observation: our drinking habits are shifting. Many of us no longer start an evening with a glass of red. When I gather with friends, we often begin with a white or rosé, then move into a lighter red… before opening the more structured reds like Lytton Springs, Geyserville or Monte Bello with dinner.”

Rosenblum and Ridge are responding to the world’s increasing desire to drink more whites. And Sonoma County is well-suited to deliver the goods.

There are just over 19,000 acres of white wine grapes in Sonoma County, with Chardonnay very much leading the way with more than 15,000 acres planted valued at $188,048,700 – more than any red variety in terms of acreage, and surpassing every red in terms of value with the exception of Pinot Noir (though just barely).

After Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc is the next big white in Sonoma County at 2,949 acres planted, worth $32,095,200. Pinot Gris is a distant third at 374 acres worth almost 2 million. Viognier and Semillon hover around that same total value. The top remaining white varieties – Gewurztraminer, Muscat Blanc/Muscat Canelli, Pinot Blanc, Roussanne and Riesling – all weigh in much smaller.

There are also measurable plantings of Albarino, Arneis, Assyrtiko, Chenin Blanc, Fiano, French Colombard, Grenache Blanc, Gruner Veltliner, Malvasia Bianca, Marsanne, Palomino, Picpoul Blanc, Ribolla Gialla, Sylvaner, Viognier and Vermentino.

Analyst Rob McMillan noted in the “State of the US Wine Industry 2025” that amidst a worrying trend of general decline in wine consumption, white wine has had positive growth rates by volume and that “white wine now has better growth rates than red wine.” He added, “the varietal shifts may be another indicator that the rotation to younger consumers is underway.”

It’s a global phenomenon. The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) reports that world production of white wine has been rising since 2000, from over 46% of all wine since the millennium, to 49% as of 2021.

But last year, white wine consumption officially surpassed red in the U.S. wine market, accounting for 50% of still wine volume sales according to NielsenIQ data.

Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Chardonnay are particularly of interest, with demand being driven by consumers looking for wines that are crisp, “characterized by acidity, freshness and a light body… playing a big role in the increase in the sale for white wines,” according to research conducted by Metatech Insights, a market research firm that tracks regional and global trends.

It all adds up to real money – the white wine market was worth $47.11 billion in 2025, up from $44.95 billion in 2024. It is projected to reach $79.87 billion by 2035, growing more than 5% between now and then.

“Climate change and the shifts in taste preference have led to an overall movement towards white varieties, which mature earlier and acidify less,” says a study by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. “White wine consumption remains constant or even on the rise… the feature of crispness is matching well with health, lifestyle and climatic trends, and white wine is becoming more appealing among consumers who have vast differences.”

The white wine market includes still and sparkling white wines as well as fortified and aged versions. Chardonnay is the most dominant and prominent, the most grown, and produced in places like the United States, France and Australia.

Gallo was ahead of the trend when it bought both Rombauer and Massican in 2023. Jackson Family has long dominated the domestic white wine marketplace with Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay and La Crema Chardonnays. Kistler and Sonoma-Cutrer have long prioritized whites.

Sonoma County knows it can excel with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, two inspirations from France; a 2023 Aubert Sonoma Coast Chardonnay was number two on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list last year. It should be just as ideal for Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Austrian, and even Greek white varieties, wines widely appealing to consumers and are poised to increase in demand and popularity going forward.

By: Virginie Boone

When Catherine O’Hara died, we lost not only a tremendous actress, comedian and human, but also the greatest fictional wine pitchwoman in history, Moira Rose, the indelible matriarch of television’s Schitt’s Creek.

In the series, Moira Rose is a former soap opera star who is always up for making a dramatic turn. She’s all in when asked to be the brand ambassador on a TV commercial for Herb Ertlinger Winery’s fruit wine in an episode called “Wine and Roses.”

It doesn’t go well at first as she panics, requires more takes, rambles drunkenly, then hides in her trailer until her husband talks her off the ledge, sobers her up and she manages one good take for the wine, sort of:

“In the lea of a picturesque ridge lies a small unpretentious winery, one that pampers its fruit like its own babies. Hi, I’m Moira Rose, and if you love fruit wine as much as I do, then you’ll appreciate the craftsmanship and quality of a local vintner who brings the muskmelon goodness to his oak Chardonnay, and the dazzling peach crabapple to his Riesling Rioja. Come taste the difference good fruit can make in your wine. You’ll remember the experience. And you’ll remember the name – Herb Erfling … ger. Burt Herngeif. Irv Herm-blinger. Bing Livehaanger. Live Link. Burt Herkern. Burn- Agh! Bingo Lingf***er.”

Not every wine ad can be so amusing. But over the years, there have been some dramatic and effective winery commercials that have tried to tell the story of wine.

One of the most famous involved an actor/director of the 1940s and 1950s named Orson Welles. While younger generations may not know him or his work, his tagline has permeated popular culture forever – “We will sell no wine before its time.”

The slogan was from ubiquitous print and television commercials for Paul Masson Winery that ran from 1978 to 1981, oft parodied since. The first aired was for a Masson Emerald Dry White Table Wine set to the tune of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in the winery’s effort to rebrand itself as a higher-end producer than it was thought of at the time. The script used the symphony as inspiration, Welles saying:

“It took Beethoven four years to write that symphony. Some things can’t be rushed: good music, and good wine… What Paul Masson himself said nearly a century ago is still true today: We will sell no wine before its time.”

Later ads sold Paul Masson Rhine Castle Riesling, California Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy, and a carafe-shaped bottle with jam-jar top. Print ads were for Pinot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, reflecting the era’s common naming of wines for French regions and not always varieties.

Welles was paid $500,000 a year to make the ads, plus residuals. A large man of significant appetite, Welles enjoyed elaborate lunches prepared for his enjoyment before filming where he was said to also drink plenty of Paul Masson Cabernet. The money and trouble were worth it, though – sales of Paul Masson rose 30% during the campaign.

When combative, drunken outtakes were released later showing Welles as compromised as Moira Rose, the parodied nature of the ads became even funnier. Welles was eventually fired and replaced by British actor John Gielgud.

Gallo produced what many believe to be one of the best TV wine commercials of all time, debuted in 1986 in which scenes of weddings and other celebrations are shown along with bottles of wine as dramatic music plays and a voiceover says “To dreams and hopes and promises and years of happy days. Today’s Gallo: All the best a wine can be.”

These days, TV wine ads are rare, and pack less of a punch, given the disparate way people watch things across various platforms, social media and streaming services.

Brands like Barefoot (the Official Wine Sponsor of the NFL), Stella Rosa, Avaline, and Sutter Home have tried. Closer to home, Decoy Wines Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc have been featured in a recent ad campaign called “Making New Connections,” part of a larger messaging around the slogan, “Pour to What’s Possible.” Sonoma County-based La Crema Winery launched a 30-second TV ad called “Best of Summer” in 2024.

Advertising can be art, it can move people emotionally, same as wine. Until the next memorable wine ad comes along, raise a glass to the late, great Moira Rose and taste “the difference good fruit can make in your wine.”

Photo By: IMDB

By: Virginie Boone

California wines first appeared at the White House in the 19th century. President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) visited California during his presidency and enjoyed sweet red wines. Franklin D. Roosevelt came to San Francisco during the Golden Gate International Exposition and enjoyed lunch with 33 California wines. John F. Kennedy, while in office, served Inglenook Pinot Chardonnay and Almaden Cabernet Sauvignon.

“As the fortunes of California’s wine industry have risen, so have presidents’ appreciation of the Golden State’s products, with California wines being favored in the White House throughout the twentieth century and into the present day,” writes Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. in Wine And the White House: A History.

It was the Wine Institute in the late 1950s in particular that sought to supply American wine to the White House. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, “eager to showcase America’s accomplishments in the post-World War II era, accepted the offer.”

During his administration, a variety of California wines began to appear at official functions. Kennedy declined the Wine Institute’s offer, but his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, “reinstated the arrangement and built a close relationship with the institute as it grew to become an important organization in the nation’s capital.”

It was such a close relationship that Johnson soon served California’s finest wines exclusively, declaring an All-American Decree in 1968 to mandate that only American wines be served at functions such as State Dinners, of which he hosted 53 while in office. Known famously to enjoy ample pourings of Cutty Sark Scotch with soda, Johnson was an unlikely wine ally yet an important one.

“His decision to showcase California wine at the Executive Mansion proved significant, as it provided a crucial boost to California vineyards’ reputation,” Ryan adds. “By the time Ronald Reagan took office, the number of vineyards in the state was the highest it had ever been.”

Don W. McColly, president of the Wine Institute in 1969 agreed, stating at the time that, “no President has done more to further the interest of the American wine industry than President Johnson.”

This meant selecting the right American wines for each White House occasion. For President Ronald Reagan, who had served eight years as governor of California, this was a chance to showcase the quality and variety of the state’s wines.

“During his time in Sacramento, Reagan had established a close relationship with specialist David Berkley of the city’s Corti Brothers gourmet food and wine shop,” the book details. “Berkley always strived to recommend wines that were excellent, but also that were new or from lesser-known vineyards and may not have been served at the White House previously.”

Berkley continued on as a consultant during the George H.W. Bush years, while Bill Clinton brought on Napa Valley veteran Daniel Shanks. Shanks became the first official food and beverage usher in the White House, a position he held through the Clinton, second Bush, and Obama administrations, and even into the beginning of Trump’s first years, through October 2018.

“All beverages selected for the White House are produced in the United States with the exception of some back-bar alcohols,” Shanks explains. “The wines served are generally full-bodied and easy on the palate with wide appeal. Over the years I noticed that for guests Chardonnay is the preferred white and Pinot Noir the preferred red.”

That was except during President George W. Bush’s time when more beef dishes were served – “those moments cried for the power of Cabernet Sauvignon,” he notes.

First Ladies came increasingly into the mix during Shanks’ tenure as well, with both Hillary Clinton and Melania Trump enjoying wine with meals, “often preferring wines with the character and depth that reflect the world they inhabit.”

It’s interesting to note White House protocol around wine service: only one wine served at lunch, a red, white, and sparkling served at dinner, while white-tie State Dinners required the addition of a fourth wine to go with a fourth course.

“The most general rule on consumption for 130 guests (typical State Dining Room numbers) is four cases (48 bottles) of the white and three cases (36 bottles) of the red,” Shanks says. “Three cases of the sparkling wine is the rule, unless the wine will continue to be offered during the entertainment.”

Presidents also often served California wines while traveling abroad. President Jimmy Carter hosted a dinner at the American embassy in Mexico City in 1979 in which the wines served included a Korbel Extra Dry.

At a dinner Trump hosted in England for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in 2019, an Iron Horse 2016 Heart of the Vineyard Chardonnay, North Block 2016 Pinot Noir, and Joy 2005 Brut were on the table.

Whether a president enjoyed wine or not, the White House has been a steady venue for showcasing the best America has to offer, including many wines from Sonoma County, from a Van der Kamp Vineyard Pinot Noir to a Freeman Chardonnay, and many, many others in between.

By: Virginie Boone

In the 1928 Crop and Acreage Report of Sonoma County, the first one for which there exists a digital record, there were 20,000 acres of grapes (valued at $1.4 million by the way), unclear whether or not they were wine grapes, let alone varietal wine types.

In the early 1950s, grapes were broken down by Black (the majority) and White, or later, by Common and Premium. By the 1960s, you start to see grapes by type with Alicante Bouschet, Burger, Carignane, Golden Chasselas, Petite Sirah, Sauvignon and Zinfandel making the list.

Eventually, Pinot Noir started to bubble.

“By 1960, Pinot Noir was firmly, if still marginally, established in the production portfolios of California’s premium wineries,” writes John Winthrop Haeger in North American Pinot Noir.

“Louis Martini pioneered Pinot Noir plantings in Los Carneros in the 1940s,” he continues, “when he acquired part of Judge Stanly’s Riverdale ranch. The first trial blocks of Pinot Noir there date to 1946. Martini’s plantings grew to about 70 acres in the 1950s and probably constituted the state’s largest single investment in Pinot Noir before 1960.”

Haeger also mentions Fountaingrove Vineyards and Winery, “long recognized both as one of the county’s most noted scenic showplaces and as one of California’s outstanding producers of choice dry wines,” according to a 1937 article in The Press Democrat, which also described it as “rich in romantic and historic lure… established as a colony by a brotherhood of distinguished men nearly 65 years ago.”

By 1941, it had 400 acres of Pinot Noir on the northern hillsides along the Redwood Highway in Santa Rosa, making it the biggest Pinot vineyard of its time. Purchased in 1875 by Kanaye Nagasawa, the 1,931-acre Fountaingrove at its height had 400 acres of wine grapes, 50 acres of orchards, 175 acres of hay and grain, and the rest in pasture lands. Nagasawa died in 1934, at which time the estate was run by his nephews.

By 1953, Fountaingrove was uprooted and sold for housing.

That same year, Hanzell established itself on the hills of what is now the Moon Mountain District overlooking the town of Sonoma. It would take another decade or so before, “for a tiny band of contrarians, the dismal condition of 1960s and 1970s Pinots was a call to arms.”

Hanzell was among them, so were the owners and winemakers of Chalone on the borders of Monterey and San Benito counties, including a just-graduated-from-UC Davis Merry Edwards. Joseph Swan planted Pinot Noir near Forestville in 1969. Josh Jensen started planting Pinot at Calera in the Gabilan Mountains near Chalone in 1975. Oregon Pinot also got going around this time.

Interest in sparkling wine caused Pinot Noir to further boom in Sonoma County, particularly in Carneros, where Gloria Ferrer and others set up sparkling houses, and cooler pockets of the Russian River Valley/Green Valley of Russian River Valley, where Iron Horse, Piper-Sonoma, J Vineyards and Korbel could be found.

Pinot Noir shows up in the crop reports more steadily during the 1970s, with a scant 265 acres in 1970 nearly quintupling to 1,301 acres by 1975. This is the era of Dehlinger, Davis Bynum, Rochioli and Gary Farrell, among others.

Soon enough, Decanter was declaring California Pinot Noir to have “experienced a rebirth,” adding, “Pinot Noir is the hottest wine type around.” Dorothy Gaiter and John Bucher of The Wall Street Journal wrote about “discovering” good California Pinot Noir in 1981.

“A key feature of the Pinot renaissance was a preoccupation, on the part of winemakers and critics alike, with site,” Haeger stated.

It helped that America during this time was focusing on food and wine in new and wonderful ways, with sommeliers becoming early adopters of American Pinot Noir.

“By the late 1980s, sommeliers were bumping Cabernets to make room for the hot new Pinots, and began to preach the gospel to their customers, praising Pinot and winning some converts,” recalled Michael Bonadies, an international hospitality expert who ran successful restaurant groups at the time.

Sonoma County soon had the likes of Williams-Selyem, Littorai, Peter Michael, Hirsch, Martinelli, Hartford Court, Marcassin, Dutton-Goldfield, Lynmar, Merry Edwards, Siduri, Kosta-Browne, Donum, Flowers, Cobb, Patz & Hall, Scherrer, Failla, Peay and others winning those converts on wine lists across the country.

By 2008, there were 10,000-plus acres of Pinot Noir in Sonoma County. The amount has hovered around 12,000-13,000 acres or so ever since. In 2023, perhaps its most recent height, the 13,024 acres/55,159 tons of Pinot Noir planted here were worth just over $214 million.

Today, no wine grape has as high a total value in Sonoma County as Pinot Noir, whether it sits in the Russian River Valley, Green Valley of Russian River, Sonoma Coast, West Sonoma Coast, Fort Ross-Seaview, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County portion of Carneros, or any other AVA within the region’s confines.

So it’s important to remember that Pinot Noir has had its ups and downs throughout its time in California, but Sonoma County remains one of its chosen lands, a place where it thrives in sites big and small.