By Virginie Boone

Dating back to 1905, and two brothers, Pasquale and Luigi Bastoni, who came to Sonoma County from Northern Italy, Bastoni Vineyards is one of our region’s illustrious members of Sonoma County Winegrowers’ Century Club, having farmed continuously for 100 years or more.

When Luigi Bastoni passed away at age 79 in 1952, his obituary in The Press Democrat said his vineyard “was once described by experts as one of the finest in Sonoma County.” The property had been sold five years earlier to Bastoni’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Maria Bastoni (Pasquale’s widow, also known as Mary), and nephew, Pasquale Bastoni Jr. The elder Pasquale and Maria had eight children.

Luigi first came to the area when there were only about half a dozen families here. He was said to be milking a cow under an oak tree when the 1906 earthquake hit, though the ranch was thankfully spared of any damage. Along with four sons, he had five daughters, who became members of the Sanchietti, Cardinelli, Valli, Basignani and Uboldi families.

The Bastonis started out with 160 acres of land in what we now know as the Fountaingrove District, settled along Riebli Road in Santa Rosa. The original vineyards were planted to Zinfandel on St. George rootstock, interplanted with Alicante Bouschet, Carignan, Palomino and Petite Sirah, but at its lowest point, consisted of only 13 acres of grapes. In its heyday, grapes were sold to Italian Swiss Colony, Charles Krug, Joseph Swan and Geyser Peak.

For a time it was a prune orchard and had some cattle. It also became known for its brick-oven breads; it was said that “better bread was never baked in Sonoma County,” in a 1955 Press Democrat piece by then-food editor Byrd Weyler Kellogg.

“The Bastoni family knows that no other homemade bread could compete in taste and nourishment with loaves baked in the outdoor brick oven,” it read. “There are hosts of friends to back this opinion. They have all eaten some of the white bread Mary Bastoni makes just as she did in Italy 50 years ago.”

For more than 40 years, Mary and her husband Pasquale baked Italian bread for her family weekly in an outdoor brick oven built two feet above the ground near their home on Bastoni Ranch. Prunings from grapevines often served as fuel for the fire. At its height, she baked twice weekly, 15 loaves at a time, to feed a 21-person household.

Today the third generation of Bastonis, Martha Bastoni Messana (daughter of Pasquale Jr.) and her husband Russ oversee 37 acres of sustainably farmed vines, replanting much of it in 2005 to predominantly Zinfandel and Alicante Bouschet, both still on St. George rootstock. The grapes are sold to such producers as Carol Shelton, Wonderment Wines and Miro Cellars.

Featured artwork: “Bastoni Vineyards” by Tom Rissacher.