Nov 12, 2024 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma Valley, Uncategorized
Pre-holiday sale of Sonocaia and Dysfunctional Family wines
with a great discount only for subscribers
Enter discount code FF20 at check out for the Friends and Family 20% off all of our wines. Good only via this blog post.
Pick up at the winery or ship it to your address
Have a look below at the special and quite delicious wines we are featuring today. As most of you know, we are a small boutique winery at the intersection of Sonoma Valley and Carneros, just south of Gunlach-Bundshu and Scribe wineries. Our approach to both farming and winemaking is very hands on. We produce only between 150 to 200 cases of each wine. This equates to just 1-2 tons of each cuveé, allowing us to literally do everything carefully by hand, with our eyes and senses judiciously managing each lot every day all year long, from farming to harvest to barrel to bottle. The result are wines that each come with a great story, an interesting provenance, and are genuinely true to their terroir. And therefore fun to drink. Please dive in…
2022 Estate Reserve Sagrantino
Pre-release allocation only to blog post subscribers like you. This just-bottled 2022 vintage is a truly epic red wine; deep and dark in color, with ample tannins, a long finish and great acidity. We are very excited about this vintage. It is the result of literally years of effort in the vineyard and winery. Originating with the importation of Sagrantino grapevines from Montefalco Umbria in 2016. Aged two years on oak. This wine is made for dining on a cold winter night. It will cut through the meanest turkey gravy your momma ever made!
Click here to order: 2022 Sonocaia Estate Reserve Sagrantino
2021 Estate Reserve Sagrantino
After years of carefully farming our estate Sagrantino, this inaugural 2021 vintage is rich and smooth and very food friendly, like Sagrantino should be. As it was the very first vintage, it is a bit softer and more approachable compared to the blockbuster 2022 we just bottled, above. This wine will go very well with baked turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie! Suggestion – try this in place of your go-to Thanksgiving Pinot Noir.
2021 Dysfunctional Family Winery “Double Buffalo” Red Blend
The “Double Buffalo” 2021 Dysfunctional Family ‘Red Blend’ was sourced as always from four of our friend’s special boutique organic vineyards around Sonoma Valley. This vintage is soft and fruity and really easy to drink, but carries some body and weight into a long finish. A terrific food-friendly wine, especially great with pizza, burgers, and BBQ. And, this is a great wine to match with Thanksgiving leftovers! Blend is 62% Syrah, 24% Zin, 8% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet.
2017 Dysfunctional Family Winery ‘Red Blend’, Library Selection
Driven primarily by structured hillside Cabernet Sauvignon and inky Petite Sirah, this wine is dark, rich, and weighty, and yet is also easy to drink – owing to both perfect bottle age and the addition of small amounts of smooth Syrah and jammy Merlot. Aged 2 years on a mix of new and neutral oak, then aged an additional 5 years in bottle. It is perfect and ready to drink right now.
We are re-releasing this library wine just for the holidays. I recently snuck this bottle into a blind tasting with some very well known and expensive red wines. The team was a collection of local Sonoma growers and vintners who have tasted many delicious wines. And they were so moved that they each bought a case. Get yourself some while it lasts.
2020 Dysfunctional Family Winery Rosé
Just 7 cases left in the whole wine world! If you love Rosé for Thanksgiving, and many have that tradition…made in the ‘saigneé style’ – meaning ‘bleeding off’ the unfermented pink grape juice from the full tank of fresh grapes, then cold fermented in stainless steel and quickly racked back to neutral oak barrels for settling; all resulting in a wine that is dark pink in color, crisp, and fruit forward. Drink well chilled, and don’t be afraid to put an ice-cube right into your glass like we do. Chill and open this wine for your family and guests to set the perfect festive mood.
Part of the Sonocaia and Dysfunctional Family winery lineup. You and your family and your guests will enjoy having these wines on your holiday table.
Enter discount code FF20 at check out for Friends and Family 20% off of all our wines. Good only via this blog post. Order today to receive by Thanksgiving.
News and flash backs:
November 2023 – just one year ago, the grand opening of Sonocaia estate winery
December 2023 – gathering with friends and colleagues over too many wines, in the private dining room at the Swiss Hotel on the Sonoma Plaza
Ken and Cynthia pouring Sonocaia at the 2024 Vintner’s Festival. This is one of the major events put on every year by the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Association. The SVVGA has a great board of directors and staff. The team is superb at featuring the beautiful and authentic wines of Sonoma.
Some informative reading about Sagrantino, polyphenols, and tannins, just fancy words for color and flavor:
Next post coming in December – a trip back in time across 100 blog posts, and a chance to sit back and scroll through images and news from across the world of wine over the past few years.
A winter corporate event at our Redwood City winery, in 2003; one of the first urban wineries in the bay area, and the genesis of our entry into the wine business over 20 years ago.
Oct 9, 2024 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Hydeout Sonoma, Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, Uncategorized
Enjoy this pictorial journey of Fall in the Sonoma Valley
From our sun-soaked vineyard to the bustling crush pad, immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the Sonocaia Estate Winery in the Sonoma Valley. Explore the heart of California wine country and savor every moment of the season.
With our 2022 vintage, we reached the promised land having created a Sagrantino wine with superb color, great depth, structure, and varietal distinction. It’s simply a gorgeous wine that goes so very well with grilled beef, rich pastas, and aged cheese. And the most perfect match of all – mushroom risotto!
Bottling the 2022 vintage
The finished product – vintage 2022 Sonocaia estate reserve Sagrantino. The first truly representative example of our almost decade-long effort to replicate Umbrian Montefalco Sagrantino in the Sonoma Valley.
The bottling crew
Valley of the Moon “Vintage Festival” – Grand Tasting Event
We poured our recently bottled 2022 Sonocaia Sagrantino estate reserve and the 2021 Dysfunctional Family ‘Double Buffalo” wine at the Valley of the Moon “Grand Tasting” event at the Barracks on the Sonoma Plaza. A really large audience crowded around our tasting table for three hours, a wonderful surprise given that we were literally surrounded by much larger and more famous wineries.
The Grand Tasting inspired a big crowd from around the country
Lead by Executive Director, Robyn Sebastiani (2nd from right), the entire Vallay of the Moon “Vintage Festival” staff made the event a great success.
Valley of the Moon “Vintage Festival” – Harvest Dinner and Auction Event
Celebrating 200 years of Sonoma Valley wine and farming, we donated a monster 6 Liter Methuselah of the 2017 Red Blend – 32% Cabernet, 29% Petite Sirah, 25% Syrah, and 14% Merlot, all from 100% organic, 100% Sonoma Valley vineyards, and 100% grown, produced, and bottled by our company.
Valley of the Moon “Vintage Festival” – Grape Stomp
As a large audience roared with encouragement (from a significant distance), 2-person teams raced each other to stomp ten pounds of grapes and produce a winning volume of liquid, and happily got themselves and the judges covered in red grape juice in the process
This was the winning team’s submission. And the stomping was much harder than it looked, even for the energetic youngsters.
Recent visitors to the Sonocaia estate
These are a few of the photos of various visitors to the winery, very random and with instructions to “just act natural.” They were all very good at following instructions.
Vintage 2024 – harvest prep
Sanitation and equipment checks are a constant at the winery. And especially at the start of harvest. Even more so when your assistant winemaker, Dominic Smith, also of Domesday wines, shows up with a new ultra-sleek, super-gentle, and very expensive Italian must pump.
A brief pause for some fun on the Sonoma Plaza
The Sonoma Plaza has an all-summer-long Tuesday night Farmer’s Market. It always attracts a large audience, especially when the food trucks and the music make the scene.
A grand rodeo at the Wing and Barrel Ranch in Carneros
The most incredibly all-American and patriotic event of the year in Sonoma, other than Fourth of July, our hosts Christine and Jon Curry of Landers Curry (famed Sonoma home builder and interior designer) served us ample cold beverages, provided perfect seats to view the parachute, barrel racing, and bull riding (and it should be called bull falling), followed by an hours-long BBQ. The right way to prep for harvest.
Watching, waiting, tick tock, and finally, it’s go-time for the harvest
It’s a bit nerve-racking and daunting to work to diligently farm a vineyard and then put your head on the pillow every night in October and say to yourself “should I pick…now?” The decision will affect the quality and features of that vintage for years to come – in barrel, in bottle, and on your dinner table. But the decision must be made. And so in my view you make it fearlessly and without hesitation.
5:00am, the sky is dark, the air is perfectly cool, the tractor lights are glowing, it’s time, let’s do this.
The team is psyched for the final bin as the sun begins to set on a long day, and the mighty Kubota tractor keeps on chugging
Wait, did you wash those feet?
Funny? Yes. But not a joke. Mike and Dom dropped the last 20% of this fruit into the bin as ‘whole clusters’ (stems on) and foot-tread the fruit. Truly, the most gentle and really pretty compelling way to very softly break up the berry skins without cracking the seeds. Works really well on smaller lots of 1-2 tons. Not so much on 100 tons!
Final thoughts
With all the wines quietly fermenting in the winery, we’re now busy with punchdowns and pumpovers 2-4 times every day for the next month. Then, it will be time to press that wine into barrels. And then eat some turkey and mashed potatoes.
But meanwhile…wait for it…Acorns! Just like clockwork, as the last grapes are harvested, the oak trees start dropping acorns. And I start yet another year of passionately collecting them for the baby oak tree nursery.
And from the Hydeout gardens, a payoff of amazing Fall potatoes
Warmest regards to you each for a fantastic, cold, rainy, quiet, and peaceful winter
Next post – a review of the over 100 blogs posted here since June 2017
Happy tourists in their hot air balloons grace the early morning October skies over the Hydeout Farm and Sonocaia Winery
Jul 7, 2024 | Sagrantino, Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Estate Vineyard, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma International Film Festival, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, Yoga Retreat
Yoga Retreat at Sonocaia – by the team from Euphoria
Just a few spots remain for this Sunday’s retreat at Sonocaia. July 14th. 4:00pm – 6:30pm. Details below. Click here to learn more and claim a spot.
About Euphoria: What began as a dreamy idea in 2008 over a glass of Brunello in Tuscany is now a women-owned lifestyle retreat company with more than 100 retreats enjoyed by thousands around the world. Here’s to dreams, wine, travel and friendships.
With 20+ years of yoga instruction under her belt Monika Kaufman has even more passion for sharing yoga with others than ever before. She believes that enthusiasm, curiosity and a sense of wonder fuels a yoga practice that feeds your soul. Her classes will meet you wherever you are at on your yoga journey by keeping it fun, and accessible with just the right amount of challenge to keep you fully engaged and growing.
Olive oil from the Sonocaia estate
New: 100% extra virgin, 100% organic, pure, hand bottled; available only at the winery
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the highest quality, most flavorful, and most costly type of olive oil – because it’s unrefined – never heated treated or processed with chemicals. And never blended with other oils. It has a green grassy color and bright peppery flavors and is ideal for dipping or drizzling over finished dishes. Stop by and try some Sonocaia EVOO soon.
July 4th in Sonoma
Sonoma is a small town with a very big parade and an even bigger fireworks show. Sonoma also has a vast array of non-profits. The Sonoma International Film Festival supports the local high school film department. And puts on a dazzling fully-walkable film festival every March. This was our first year actually having a float in the parade. We were small but mighty!
Top row: Bob Berg, Board Chair, and Ken Wornick, Board Vice Chair Bottom row, Cynthia Wornick, Siri Berg, board member Ursula Zopp, and SIFF Exec Director Ginny Krieger (note the popcorn purse, winner!)
I just hooked up the vineyard trailer to the Polaris Ranger and off we went. That’s our E.D., Ginny Krieger, looking resplendent riding on the back of the Polaris. Cynthia and Siri holding down the fort in back. The rest of our gang is walking out in front with the Film Fest banner. Next year, we’ll be back with popcorn and music too.
How hot was it really last week? 107F! And you’re dry farming grape vines during a heat wave? Yes.
Check this out. In case there was any doubt, the outside thermometer hit 107F in the shade. Everything suffered under the oppressive heat. But three days later it was back to the mid-50’s at night. And everything recovered. We are still mostly dry-farming the vineyard, watering only during the winter and perhaps counter-intuitively often while it’s raining. With this approach, the vineyard builds up larger stores of soil moisture during the winter – with both natural rain and controlled irrigation, simultaneously. And then in summer the roots chase the water down deep as the sun bakes off the surface moisture. The theory is it makes for healthier grape vines long term, and more stress resistant versus making life easy by watering all summer. And likely increases color and flavors in the wine too.
75F inside, 107F outside
Dry farming the Sonocaia estate Sagrantino in the 107F heat wave
News from Sonocaia
Coyotes have been around much more frequently lately. Thinking it’s the boom in the rabbit population. Also, no explanation yet, but it seems everyone around the Sonoma Valley has massive spider webs everywhere outside – walls, lights, furniture, etc. Even after a good broom or high pressure wash, they come back overnight. Must be an insect bloom of some kind supporting this large population of spiders?
The moment before an event is always fun. Here, minutes away from a Sonocaia wine and food tasting
Sonocaia estate barrel room
Sonocaia estate reserve 2022 Sagrantino. You haven’t tried it yet? What are you waiting for?
Apr 14, 2024 | Hydeout Sonoma, Sagrantino, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Estate Vineyard, Sonocaia grand opening, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma International Film Festival, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley
You need to know what’s happening at Sonocaia Estate Winery – follow us on Instagram
@sonocaia
At Sonocaia Estate Winery, our primary focus is growing grapes and making wine, specifically our estate reserve Sagrantino, a deep dark yet incredibly drinkable red wine.
Find our winery here: Sonocaia home page
Learn about Sagrantino here: All about Sagrantino
View a brief summary of our farming projects here: Farm projects
But Sonoma is also a place with so much going on, it’s hard to keep up. Here is a quick photo journey from the past few weeks…
Bud Break @Sonocaia
You’re probably seeing photos of vineyard bud break all over social media. It’s an invigorating time for everyone involved in growing grapes and making wine. Sagrantino is a late-ripening variety. So we are just about last in line for bud break. It’s kind of like watching everyone else have their babies and wondering will ours every be born! And then boom, you’re suddenly a parent. Now begins the journey through 7 months of judicious farming…
Trashion Fashion – clothing from recycled materials
Hosted by the Sonoma Community Center, building community by offering opportunities to connect, learn, and grow, “Trashion Fashion” celebrates the intersection of fashion, art, and sustainability. There were over creative 45 entries.
This is the first time I have ever designed or made a garment of any kind. Luckily, Cynthia was a willing model. The dress, head band, train, and shopping bag are made entirely from used plastic chicken feed bags (and some trimmed pieces from potting soil bags and salt crystal bags). That’s it. We had a great time. Didn’t win any awards. But we had a good laugh! (And the boots are Cynthia’s actual chicken boots for when she actually feeds the chickens and collects eggs).
Springtime on the farm
Blooms are going crazy around the 11-acre Hydeout farm and the Sonocaia winery building. Some of these images are from our fruit trees, others from various ornamental and native plants around the farm:
Go-Kart Racing at Sears Point Sonoma Raceway
A very good friend invited me and some pals to learn how to race High Speed Go-Karts at Sears Point Sonoma Raceway. The carts sit just a few inches off the ground and fly at 60 mph. We had some great classroom time, some track sessions, more class instruction, then off to the races. The Sear Point Sonoma Raceway is just a few miles south of the town of Sonoma.
Spring vegetable garden
Nothing like growing your own food. You can do it too. Even just one tomato plant in a pot. Give it a try. I seeded our raised bed vegetable gardens in the dead of winter, and covered them with frost cloth until the last frost passed. We’re now harvesting lots of lettuce and arugula, with cabbage and onions and radishes and artichokes close behind:
Sonoma International Film Festival
The Sonoma International Film Festival just wrapped. It was a record-breaking event in terms of attendance, quality of over 100 films from around the world, and sponsorships. Sonocaia donated many of cases of wine which were poured around the various venues.
Hydeout chickens
As the weather warmed, egg production took off. In the winter they put their energy into growing down feathers and staying warm. In spring, they produce eggs like machines. And like most living things, chickens too have personalities. Some are shy and some are friendly. We have two roosters right now that guard the hen house from airborne predators, mainly hawks. Rocky (the old fella with wicked claws), and Harvey (the young buck who is very aggressive with the hens, we’ll leave it you to guess where he got his name). One day soon, Harvey will pick a fight with Rocky and they’ll fight it out for dominance.
The pretty winter weather coming into Sonoma from Petaluma
San Francisco, still worthy of a visit
I shot this photo on the side of the road last week. It was such a pretty moment. The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. It was constructed from concrete and steel, ahead of its time. Our public works projects don’t look like this anymore.
After your visit to the Sonoma Valley, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and stop here for a photo before you head south for the SFO airport!
Keep up with the news and photos from Sonocaia on Instagram.
Just point your camera at this QR code:
Thanks for being a subscriber to this blog. See you next time!
Ken
Ken Wornick
Owner/winemaker
SONOCAIA estate winery
Insta – @Sonocaia
Blog – https://www.sonocaia.com/blog/
20656 Hyde Road
Sonoma, Ca 95476
Jan 9, 2024 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Sagrantino, Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia grand opening, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma International Film Festival, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, things to do in Sonoma
In case you missed this post, it is a fun review of the holiday season in Sonoma Valley and the Sonocaia winery. Give yourself 10 minutes to catch up with wine country. Warmly, Ken Wornick
Join us for a year-end wine country photo journey in our final Sonocaia blog post of 2023:
Locals tasting event
With the help of some very wonderful friends, we sold out another ‘grand opening’ winery event – mainly for locals that missed the initial launch of Sonocaia estate winery.
I presented a story of ‘wine in context’ – when tasting wine it is important to know “why” this wine was produced. In our case, we started almost twenty five years ago in the Santa Cruz Mountains developing vineyards for private clients. A decade later we had more than 40 vineyards built and were making a lot of personalized wine for those clients in our urban winery in Redwood City. Some of those wines won Gold and Double-Gold from the SF Chronicle wine competition. We sold the vineyard development and winery businesses to an investor. See this link for more. Over the next ten years, we built a second client-based vineyard development and wine making business, this time in Sonoma Valley. And sold that business in 2023. See this link for more.
Our newest project is the Sonocaia estate winery – focussed exclusively on Sagrantino, a rare red variety of very high repute from Montefalco Umbria Italy. Meanwhile, our second brand, Dysfunctional Family Winery, still lives on with the motto “serious wine, irreverent style” offering fun blends for all taste preferences and budgets. See link here.
A sold-out crowd enjoyed the stories, wines, food, and conversation…
Working our way through the wine lineup
Answering a question about the unique clonal history of the Sonocaia Sagrantino grapevines
New friends being made all around the table
The tasting continues deep into the library wines
At the end of the tasting, a couple of wild local yahoos in their ridiculous jacked-up sport cars hit the gas and ripped up our nice new parking lot! Nah, not really, just kidding NF and GM.
But wait, there’s more…
A large, warm, and wonderful family from all over the U.S. (and three generations!) spent an afternoon with us the day after Thanksgiving ’23. We had a ball tasting through many wines, having lots of technical questions and answers about growing grapes and making wine, and generally having some great laughs. The toddler played with my guitar and beat a wine barrel with the drum sticks. Thank you Ginny and Larry.
Sonocaia in the Sonoma Index-Tribune newspaper
Our local Sonoma newspaper took an interest in our new Sonocaia winery project. Find the full article here.The author, Emma Malloy, did a great job detailing the history of our winery project. They lead with this headline: More than a winery: Sonocaia, and agricultural gem.
KSVY 91.3FM Community radio
Our local radio station KSVY 91.3FM has great wall-to-wall programming including talk, music, news, food, politics, and so much more. Not everyone is aware of the quality of the programming, yet. I’ve been a frequent guest on station manager and KSVY Exec Director Bob Taylor’s “Morning Show” many times. If you are a Sonoma local, it is well worth tuning in and supporting. They recently launched a new transmission antenna and expanded their reach from Sonoma, now reaching into Petaluma, Novato, and Napa. And last month, KSVY held a very unusual fund raiser. At the vaunted and historic Sebastiani Theatre, built in 1933, five great bands played country and western music all afternoon to the hoots and hollers of a large crowd. Learn more about KSVY here.
The crowd begins to gather at the Sebastiani Theatre
Bob Taylor, Executive Director of Sonoma community radio KSVY 91.3 (and lead guitarist of ACDC cover band “Illegitimate AC/DC”)
Patrons Diana Bugg and Leslie Carlson; and Roger Rhoten, widely beloved manager for over 30 years of the Sebastiani Theatre
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
SVMA, our treasured Sonoma art museum, situated on Broadway very close to the Sonoma Plaza, held a very fun ‘poetry, food, and wine’ event in the museum’s gallery. Sold out weeks in advance, the poetry was provocative, warm, and hilarious. A far cry from the sleepy prose that I recall from English class in 7th grade. I poured Sonocaia and Dysfunctional Family wines at the event. See more here. Carole Copelan poured her Owl’s Perch and Harpsichord wines. And Chef Kyle Kuklewski served some delicious bites which paired beautifully with the wines and the poetry. The art in the background in some of the images below are from Richard Mayhew and the exhibition is called Inner Terrain.
Sonoma International Film Festival
Named “One of the 25 Coolest Festivals” by MovieMaker Magazine and one of “America’s Top Ten Destination Film Festivals” by USA Today, and coming up on March 20th – 24th, 2024; all passes to the Sonoma International Film Festival are on sale right now. It is a fully park-and-walk festival with great venues, truly excellent films, delicious food, and first class wine. You don’t want to miss it!
The staff and board of the film festival gathered for our holiday party. Many of Sonoma’s non-profits were also represented. And as always, the event was hosted by Kevin and Rosemary McKneely, our most important and generous patrons.
In the center, film festival board members Lisa Mango and Patty Elkus
Film festival patrons
Kevin McNeely, Executive Director Emeritus of the Sonoma Valley International Film Festival, hoists a giant Methuselah of 2018 Dysfunctional Family Winery ‘Red Blend’, equal to 6 liters or 8 bottles. The SIFF film festival and Dysfunctional have teamed up several times for outdoor movie nights on the lawn, and we’ll return to that program someday soon.
Sonoma International Film Festival – Kevin McNeely (Emeritus Creative Director), Bob Berg (Board Chair), John Curry (Emeritus Board Chair), and me, Ken Wornick (Board Vice-Chair)
Community Hanukkah
Supporting the Jewish community in their time of extreme stress, and for the right of Israel to exist, we attended a Hanukkah holiday event at the local Shir Shalom temple, then we cooked traditional potato latkes (don’t tell the cardiologists) and joined the larger Sonoma community for a public inter-faith community-wide menorah lighting and some street dancing too, on the last day of Hanukkah. The local Sonoma police and the County Sheriff’s offices blocked off a portion of Spain Street near the Plaza and provided a watchful vigil during the ceremonies, for which all attendees were quite grateful.
Below, winery client Patty Elkus submitted this beautiful image she titled “Lil Vignette of Santa and his Rosé” for the holidays. Seemed like just the right image for us to include with the Hanukkah story!
Bees and wax candle making
We put our Hydeout farm bee hives to bed for the winter, allowing the bees to build a seal around every crack and crevice of their hives, thus sheltering themselves from wind and rain and cold during the winter. Before that, we did the necessary hive work and collected some of the extra wax for various projects, seen here. I want to particularly thank Nic Freedman of Bees Rock Ranch and Chere Pafford, a renowned holistic bee keeper, both of whom acted as my mentors during this entire season.
Olives and oil
We harvested over a ton of Hydeout olives this year. Like everything on the farm, our approach is 100% organic. Due to last winters excellent rain, and the light crop in 2022, the 2023 crop was not only large, but nearly completely free of olive fruit flies. All in all a great olive harvest yielding deeply unctuous green oil.
Fall harvest – our final harvest of fruits and veggies from mid-December here at the farm
The very last of the tomatoes, persimmons, and figs picked just before the first rain (with a few peppers and some fresh eggs too).
What’s next for 2024?
The 2022 and 2023 vintages of Sagrantino are resting in barrels for the winter. The wild grasses and mustard are pushing up through the wet dirt from the recent three inches of rain. The winter solstice arrived on December 21st. Now the days get longer once again. We’ll prune the grape vines, mow the cover crop, and start in on another vintage. The 2024 vintage will be my 25th vintage.
Wishing all of you a wonderful New Year.
And when the holidays are done and things have returned to normal, we’ll still be here – ready to supply you with delicious wine. You can always order wine and pick it up at the winery. And we can ship too. Just click on this link! https://www.sonocaia.com
Happy new year everyone! – Ken
Nov 11, 2023 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Hydeout Sonoma, Sagrantino, Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Estate Vineyard, Sonocaia grand opening
Three days of launch parties
With thanks to you, our loyal band of blog post readers, customers and fans, the 3-day launch of the Sonocaia winery sold out quickly. And went off without a hitch. See photos below for a glance at the various events. More carefully curated events are being placed on the calendar now – winemaker dinners, ranch tours, etc. We look forward to seeing you here soon:
Friday – the raucous crowd was ready to start their weekend
Saturday – this group had excellent probing questions about clones and rootstocks and farming and winemaking
Sunday matinee – this was a very fun crowd enjoying their Sunday afternoon after the clocks were turned back for daylight savings time
Preparations for the 3-day event involved the careful selection of five wines – one rosé wine and four reds – a saigneé provenćal rosé, the double-buffalo 2021 red blend, the inaugural preview of the 100% Sonocaia estate 2021 Sagrantino, the black label 2019 reserve, and one library wine, a robust 2017 Cab-centric blend.
During the 3-day event, we revealed the inaugural release of the Sonocaia Estate Reserve 100% Sagrantino label. And the newly designed Dysfunctional Family Winery iconic “double buffalo” label:
Customers studied the wine menu notes carefully, offered helpful comments, and purchased their favorites
A selection of curated charcuterie was served table side
Sagrantino harvest 2023
Just prior to the Sonocaia grand opening, we completed the 2023 harvest, crush, and winemaking. This was a long cool growing season, with much needed rain last winter, a mild spring, and a long summer with very few heat spikes. Some of the colder spots around Sonoma had the latest harvest date in years. Our estate Sagrantino, below, did finally ripen to perfection; the resulting taste and technical lab numbers were nearly perfect. The 2023 now rests in barrels and will certainly be the boldest and most varietally accurate of our 5 harvests.
Freshly harvested 1/2 ton bins of Sagrantino fruit awaiting handling at the winery
A view of the estate Sagrantino vineyard looking south from the Sonocaia winery. Fall weather arrived just in time to complete the 2023 winemaking and get the winery open.
Composting
We’re doing our best to manage all of the food and beverage waste cycles here at the ranch. One project is our substantial composting operation – where nearly all brown and green organic material is recycled into the massive compost pile – including chicken manure, garden waste, tree trimmings, and below, post-fermentation grape skins.
Acorns
One of my very favorite annual projects is the collecting of oak acorns. During my wanderings around Sonoma, I have identified a few “mother” trees which are huge 100+ years old behemoth oaks that produce incredible acorns almost every year. I think we can all agree that an acorn is a marvel of the living world! An impenetrable hard shell protects the inner meat and seed from the harsh sun and animals. After soaking on the ground in the cold rain all winter long, the root emerges and immediately digs a deep tap root. It takes years for the tree to reach 4-5 feet above ground. But in successive years after it establishes itself, it quickly rockets to the sky becoming a huge and gorgeous canopy offering shade, food, water retention, carbon sequestration, and visual joy.
Others topics:
The olive harvest is the next task on the horizon. This year, anecdotal data suggests a very large crop significantly devoid of the usual destructive olive fruit fly.
Hot air balloons are a very common site here at the ranch. They depart at dawn just north of us from mid-valley, and as the sun rises the air briefly moves toward the bay blowing the balloons south and right over our backyard, and then exactly on cue the wind shifts north and off they go headed to Carneros and Napa for their landing.
See you at our next event. Warmly. Ken Wornick, Sonocaia owner/winemaker
