All clips written by Roger Coryell, owned by their publishers
Gundlach Bundschu Winery near Sonoma filed for bankruptcy early Wednesday and will stay open, according to court records and a statement from the family.
Six machines work after dark, moving through 200 acres of organic vineyard outside Hopland. Nobody sits on them.
Mendocino County growers have federal approval to fill 130 wine-grape jobs this season with farmworkers brought in from abroad on temporary visas. All but two of those jobs pay $16.90…
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. — Most of the California wine business spent this downturn pulling vines and trimming payroll. Brassfield Estate Winery bought land and hired salespeople.
Zac Robinson stopped at the end of a vine row on Monday, July 27, and pointed at a cluster turning from green to purple. Veraison, the last color change before…
Above the fog line, the air is clear, and the dirt is clean. Growing the wine was never the hard part.
Pickup trucks lined University Road at the Hopland Research and Extension Center on the morning of June 30, their drivers gathered in the shade at the edge of a sunny…
Steve Amato is still out working his 38 acres of cabernet off Feliz Creek Road. He prunes. He sprays. He suckers the vines. He mows the grass between the rows…
Plants sold at Costco stores around California this spring, the Ukiah warehouse among them, harbored the glassy-winged sharpshooter — an insect that can spread Xylella fastidiosa, the bacterium behind the…
LEE MARTINELLI SR. IS 87, and he can read his family on the trunks of his vineyard the way other people read a photo album. On the 60-degree slope of…
Robledo Family Winery, founded by a man whose father was a Bracero, joins the worst quarter California wine has seen in years.
Drive north through Hopland this spring, past Ukiah into Redwood Valley. You'll notice gaps. Where Cabernet and Zinfandel twisted toward the sun last October, now there's bare dirt, stacked rootstock,…
If you have spent any time around wine people, you have heard the phrase: It starts in the vineyard. DaVero Farms and Winery is taking that one step further, straight…
If you’ve ever run a business that gets reviewed online, you know how this usually goes. The more people you serve, the more likely it is that someone has an…
John Burgess / The Press Democrat The Medlock Ames estate vineyard in Healdsburg received the first Sonoma County Regenerative Organic Certification for practices including no tilling of the rows and…
Expect some candid crop talk at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. The newly released 2024 Sonoma County crop report is on the agenda, and it shows the…
This fall marks the 200th wine grape harvest in Sonoma Valley — a bicentennial milestone for the region long considered the birthplace of California wine.
Some people inherit family crests. My old friend Tom Hopfensperger inherited a whole pint glass. In German, Hopfen means hops, and -sperg comes from old place-names tied to hills and…
The idea sounded simple enough: add one percent to every tasting room bill in Sonoma County and put the money toward marketing our wines. That’s the Wine Business Improvement District…
Here’s the plain‑English version of what’s about to happen — and what it means if you grow grapes or buy fruit in Sonoma County.
Sonoma County wine producers, facing declining sales, shifting consumer tastes, and climate pressures, are now considering a county-wide Wine Improvement District (WID) to fund collective marketing and tourism outreach.
Giuseppe Martinelli arrived in Forestville in 1887 with calloused hands and a cart full of Zinfandel cuttings. Today, his great-great-granddaughter Tessa Gorsuch crouches in the same dirt, examining grape clusters…
You can feel it, right? That warm wind in the vines, the hum of bees in the lavender, the welcome clink of glasses on patios across the county. Summer’s here,…
Some winemakers lead with their ego. Some lead with their spreadsheets. Kathleen Inman leads with her gut—and, on at least one occasion, her taco order.
The tasting room at Bricoleur Vineyards is all at once grand and familiar. The high, rustic ceilings hint at its past life as a horse barn, yet every detail feels…
As a wine columnist in Sonoma County, I often explore vineyards and tasting rooms to uncover the stories behind the bottles. Recently, I visited Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma o…
Martinelli Winery in Forestville, a family-owned landmark, is known for its bold Zinfandel and Pinot Noir. As Julianna Martinelli, a board member and part owner, explains, “Our wines aren’t wimpy;…
Sonoma’s Mediterranean staples: olives and grapes thrive in local soil
Bears. Fast, agile, hungry, smart bears. Mud. Snow. Hornets. Mountain lions and wild boars. Mildew. Driving a tractor between steep sloping muddy rows in the dark. Mendocino Ridge is not…
Hope Nastri, associate winemaker at Twomey Cellars’ Anderson Valley estate in Philo, shares her journey from math teacher to winemaker, her minimalist winemaking philosophy, and the sustainable practices that define…
Wandering through the newly reconstructed Frey Vineyards winery in Mendocino County’s Redwood Valley, one can’t help but marvel at the synergy between state-of-the-art technology and age-old winemaking traditions. Jonathan and…
The Benziger Family Wines estate in Glen Ellen tells a tale of resilience, innovation, and deep respect for the earth. The vineyard, birthed in the 1870s, has weathered numerous trials,…
In the oak-covered foothills of Hopland, in eastern Mendocino County, you’ll find a unique property called Campovida. This farm and winery isn’t just a place; it’s a testament to vision,…
The wine industry of Mendocino County, and indeed the broader Northern California region, has lost one of its most influential figures. Paul Egan Dolan III, a trailblazer in sustainable winemaking,…
Vine to Bar, co-founded by Peggy Furth, founder of Chalk Hill Estate Vineyards, and Barbara Banke, Chair of Jackson Family Wines, crafts health-conscious and delectable chocolates using chardonnay marc. This…
Guinness McFadden, founder and owner of Blue Quail Wines and McFadden Farm in Mendocino County’s Potter Valley, is a pioneer in organic wine growing and farming. McFadden began farming 50…