Current Wineries
Denier-Handal was founded in 2009 by Lisa Denier & Dick Handal. Lisa & Dick owned a vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley and made wines with grapes that Dick planted in 2004. Dick got his winemaking start 30 years before while living in Ecuador. Doralice Handal, Dick’s daughter, joined the company in 2016 upon the closure of her brick & mortar cheese shop in downtown Healdsburg. While Dick no longer owns a vineyard, he continues to make wines with the support of production winemaker Lucas Meeker & consulting winemaker David Noyes.
In 2015, John Musto and Tom Young met at Santa Rosa Junior College’s “Wine Studies” program. That fall they made their first barrel of wine, a Zinfandel from Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, and a passion was born!
John and Tom launched “Drive” in 2017 as an homage to the vintage car repair shop where they made wines as home winemakers. Drive’s first two wines, a 2017 Zinfandel and 2018 Rosé from Dry Creek Valley would go on to win Double Gold and Gold medals among the best wines of California upon their release. From humble beginnings, through hard work and persistence, the Drive story continues to evolve.
My agriculture roots were never far behind as I explored the world as a Photographers Mate in the US Navy and after college, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Soon I was back in the dirt with my camera and picking bins making wine from unique Sonoma Winegrowers. Classes at UC Davis were crucial in building the foundation for the fundamentals of making wine.
Understanding how to bring out those vineyard personalities came from Viticulture classes and of course getting your boots dusty!
After 6 years making wine and attending classes we started Eric Ross Winery in 1994 on the site of an old Italian winery crafting unique varietals of Albarino, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Tempranillo, Old Vine Zinfandel and Cabernet from the Mayacamas Mountains and yes PORT for dessert.
Great wines begin in the vineyard. The Vogel family is proud to present you with the conception and culmination of four generations of our family farm.
A rare blend of cutting-edge viticulture and old-world winemaking has resulted in wines of exceptional character and elegance.
Our family’s heritage of grape growing and winemaking in the Alexander Valley dates back to 1876. We have continued to farm wine grapes ever since. In 2006, we closed this circle with a return to winemaking under the Munselle Vineyards label. It is our sincere hope you will enjoy our wines as much as we enjoy producing them.
Bill Pesonen learned about wine early… well before he was old enough to drink it and long before he ever thought about making it. The Pesonen winemaking philosophy is to plant hillside, low-yielding red grape varietals and then harvest them at optimal ripeness. Bill’s grapes are hand-raised and nurtured for absolute excellence, and his efforts have been rewarded with a significant number of gold and double gold medals from the top California wine competitions.
