Mar 22, 2026 | Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Uncategorized
Sonocaia wins Double Gold at SF Chronicle Wine Comp
In the largest wine competition in North America, the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle 2026 Wine Competition, Sonocaia Estate Winery has won a Double Gold Medal. And was rated the number one Sagrantino.
2023 vintage wins Double Gold medal
2023 vintage is rated the number one Sagrantino in North America
Award details:
Sonocaia 2023 – Double Gold Medal and rated the number one Sagrantino in North America.
Sonocaia 2022 – Gold, 96 Points, Cal State Fair, Gold, 94 Points, North Coast Wine Comp., Gold, 92 Points, San Diego International Wine Comp.
Sonocaia 2021 – Very small production of our inaugural estate bottling. A few cases remain.
Dysfunctional Family 2021 “Double Buffalo” Red Blend – 90 points, Los Angeles Invitational Wine and Spirits Challenge
Shop our wines:
Click here to shop for wine. And to read more about our estate.
Brief story:
Our estate grown Sagrantino is a boutique-scale effort; it is a traditionally-made deep red wine that transports tasters to the site of its origin – the rolling hills of Montefalco, Umbia, Italy. A rare find in California, this varietal is relatively unknown in the new world but is now sparking major curiosity and accolades from both the casual traveller and the serious wine critic. We have painstakingly cultivated this highly regarded Sagrantino vineyard over the years with careful sustainable farming. The resulting wine makes a bold but approachable statement with dark inky fruit, substantial dusty tannins, and a long smooth finish.
Dec 22, 2025 | Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Uncategorized
Let’s un-cork the wild year that was 2025. Another year older and we are still fermenting. Same families, new vintages. With three vintages of Sonocaia Sagrantino now in bottle, and Domesday wines in bottle as well, we will see you in the spring 2026 for a major relaunch of the winery.
As we reflect on 2025, we’re grateful for a year grounded in the vineyard and strengthened by community. From winter pruning through harvest, careful farming and healthy soils allowed our grapes to truly express this place. Each wine reflects that commitment—patient authentic winemaking, strong partnerships, and respect for the land. We’re thankful for our guests who share these values and support our work. Health—of our vines, our wines, and the people behind them—remains central to everything we do.
Looking ahead to 2026, we’re excited for the planned relaunch of the winery with an all-new visitor experience. Thoughtfully redesigned tastings, deeper connections to our farming and wines and people, and a renewed sense of place will welcome guests in fresh ways. We can’t wait to share what’s next.
Ken and Dom pause winemaking under the hot summer sun to celebrate the moment. Look mom, we’re at the office and we’re not wearing ties!
Ken and Cynthia, and Dom and Jordan, we all wish you a wonderful holiday season. Come visit us in 2026. There’ll be even more bees and chickens and garden beds and composting, and creek restoration, and olives, and definitely more delicious wines!
Nov 14, 2025 | Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma, Sonoma lifestyle, Wine
CLICK ON THE LINK TO VIEW THE FULL BLOG POST
The year started like this:
Spring rolled in gently, with winter rains launching a great cover crop (left), and beautiful bunches of berries (right) filling the canopy.
Visitors
Many visitors joined us for farm tours and wine tastings as the summer weather kicked in
Ripening fruit
A long slow summer allowed the fruit to ripen perfectly
Predators
Bobcats (Lynx Rufus) and Coyotes (Canis Latrans) arrived right on schedule to take advantage of the summer boom in rabbits, squirrels, and other rodents
And yellow jackets thrived in the warm weather. We did our best to capture the queens in spring and the colonies all summer long.
Harvest
Harvest begin in mid-October and seemed to be over in flash. 2025 will be a vintage to remember – long slow easy growing conditions, with high quality and high quantity fruit.
Fermentation
We selected a very special yeast source, from Rioja Spain, for this year’s estate Sagrantino fermentation. Dry ice, stainless steel and conrete tanks, and oak barrels all played a roll.
Fresh fruit to press
With superb pristine berries, we completed fermentation in the weeks that followed. And then with the help of many friends we broke out the Mori SS press for the final press step. The resulting deep purple (smoke on the water) grape skins pomace cake was a sight to behold. That cake, and all the stems from harvest, went back into our compost program.
Chicken Pox!
Oh no! Zero errors all year long. And then…on the last barrel…and the last inch of filling…I over-burped the valve to the dogleg and sprayed Dominic in the face with a nice fine mist of ‘Sagrantino chicken pox’.
The vintage concluded in a gorgeous Fall day and an incredible star-lit night.
New baby
A new handsome baby boy, Liam, greeted the 2025 vintage. A future Sagrantino fan in the making?
There’s no “I” in team
Ken and Dom salute the end of the season that was filled with wisdom, learning, sickness, health, the next vintage of wines, and the next generation of winemakers
2021 Sonocaia estate Sagrantino
2022 Sonocaia estate Sagrantino
2021 Dysfunctional Family ‘Double Buffalo’ Red Blend
Recent awards:
Gold, 96 points, Cal State Fair
Gold, 94 points, North Coast Wine Comp.
Gold, 92 points, San Diego Int’l Wine Comp
90 points, Los Angeles Int’l Wine Comp
See you next spring!
May 8, 2025 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma Valley, Uncategorized
Click on this blog post to enjoy our latest wine awards story
We love heavy metal. Metallica for example. And heavy medals too. Like gold medals.
We enjoyed some medals success in the past month. And we’re sharing our internal winery “white board” summary with you here.
After seven years of managing our estate Sagrantino vineyard, and the most recent four years aging and bottling the 2021 and 2022 Sagrantino vintages, and with 2023 and 2024 Sagrantino aging in oak, we were finally ready to submit some of our wines to the best wine competitions in America. Here are the results:
Click here to order these wines or book a tasting. These wines are available at the winery and online for shipping. If you’ve ever been a customer, you’ll get a nice club discount when you re-order.
Visitors – the tasting room has been busy with visitors.
On the left, one of our recent favorites was this family from the east coast. The twin daughters with fantastic careers – one in New York City working for The New Yorker, the other in Tokyo working for Tokyo Weekender magazine. And their parents were a ton of fun. Thanks Rick, Mikey, Callie, and Blair. They went home with lots of wine, too!
And on the right, our asst. winemaker Dom Smith (of newly launched Domesday Wine) pours wines for some guests from Texas.
Honey Bees
I know we drone on and on about bees (yes, it’s a pun), but they are so very interesting and productive in our farming environment. We did some hive-dives during the recent hot weather and found mostly excellent conditions and good health. The only bummer – most of our friends have captured wild swarms. We have a trap out. But no luck with wild swarms so far.
Birds
We found this nest on the ground under an oak tree near the vineyard after a very windy day. No idea if it had eggs before it blew out of the tree? Could be a nest for a hummingbird, or possibly a house finch or Dark-Eyed Junco. If anyone knows with certainty, please advise. We’re very curious.
Beautiful day on the farm
A view from the pool house out to the vineyard and winery. Near perfect spring conditions for grapevine bud break. And another season of farming and growing – vineyard, chickens, olives, fruit trees, bees, veggie beds (full of squash, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and arugula), creek restoration, and a new greenhouse under construction.
Plan a visit or book an event here – rehearsal dinner, birthday, corporate retreat, yoga experience, etc. (but no bachelorette parties or weddings!)
Email us at:
in**@so******.com
Mar 27, 2025 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Sagrantino, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma Valley, Uncategorized
SONOCAIA WINS MULTIPLE WINE COMPETITION AWARDS IN SAN FRANCISCO, SAN DIEGO, AND LOS ANGELES, PLUS A PROFESSIONAL JAPANESE SAKE TASTING AND THE SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – CLICK ON THE POST TO SEE IT ALL
Sonocaia and Dysfunctional Family Winery win prestigious wine competition awards
- 97 Points – Los Angeles Invitational Wine Challenge – “notes of black licorice, cocoa bean, with a sensuous mouth feel, a classic.” We’ve held onto some cases of this wine as a library release. Aged two years on oak and five years in bottle. Blend of Cabernet, Petite Sirah, Syrah, and Merlot. This older but great annual version of our Red Blend is sourced from special boutique vineyards farmed by our wine industry friends around Sonoma Valley and Sonoma Mountain.To order, click here.
- 90 Points – Los Angeles Invitational Wine Challenge – This newer 2021 vintage is soft and fruity but carries the body and weight into a long finish. A terrific food-friendly wine, especially great with pizza, burgers, and BBQ. Super silky and so easy to drink. Pinot fans seem to love this wine. A blend of Syrah, Zin, Merlot, and Cabernet. To order, click here.
Our flagship red wine, and second vintage from 7 year old vines, 100% organic, from our estate Sagrantino vineyard. Transports you directly to Umbria, Italy, the home of Sagrantino. A rare find in California, this varietal is relatively unknown in the new world but is now sparking major curiosity and accolades from both the casual traveller and the serious wine critic.. To order, click here.
- Gold 92 points – San Diego Invitational Wine and Spirits Challenge
- Award – San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
Navigate here to see the above award winners and our entire lineup of wines
PROFESSIONAL JAPANESE SAKE TASTING
For our monthly professional wine tasting program, we normally choose a specific category of wine, such as 90’s Sonoma Mountain Cabernets, For this outing, we selected eight Japanese Sake’s. We found that the sake’s had an amazing range of aromas and flavors, perhaps more even than grape wine. That was a fascinating outcome. Check out the images and notes for a sense of how it went:
That’s a wrap! The 2025 Sonoma International Film Festival was a spectacular success. Five days of films across five venues, plus nighttime parties, and the new pop-in sip and bites program at many wonderful plaza restaurants. Sonocaia and Dysfunctional Family Winery poured our wines at the sold-out Marcella Hazan “Italian Dinner” Culinary event. And we poured at the KHR McNeely Family Fund party and the SIFF Film Industry Mixer, both at the VIP tent. It was a five-day extravaganza of film, food, and wine.
Final thoughts:
Here’s a fun flashback to some older blog post images…
Dec 17, 2024 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Sagrantino, Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Winery
A look back at 100 blog posts, moments from life in Sonoma wine country
Let’s take a step back in time. But first…the wine business is suffering from over-supply, cost inflation, and Gen Z’ers hunger for canabanoids and canned cocktails. But that doesn’t stop us at from enjoying the best that Sonoma wine country can pour out of 750ml glass bottles. Here at the Swiss Hotel back room, I marvel at my colleagues ability to consume their own products!
Sometimes the drinking is purely social and maybe even gets a little out of hand (above). But just as often, we’re focussed on seriously judging our work and the work of our colleagues. Below, a blind tasting of 10-year old Sonoma Valley reds.
Join us as we reflect on over 100 blog posts over 7 years emailed to over 2000 subscribers, like you.
I embarked on the idea of this blog post as a way to communicate with each of you – as we set about developing the 11-acre Hydeout Farm. I was careful not to do too much selling. I was and still am interested in building a following and having dialogue – yes, about grapes and wine for sure; but also bees and honey, chickens and eggs, vegetable and fruit tree gardening, creek restoration, alternative energy, compost, travel, and the non-profits in Sonoma town.
I’ve selected my personal favorite blog posts for republishing. I would be pleased if you would scroll through them and relive your favorites with me. And please send me a note with your thoughts:
June, 2017 – the very first post announcing the launch of this blog.
Welcome to the Hydeout Sonoma vineyard and wine blog
Feb, 2019 – Celebrating 20+ years of winemaking
Celebrating 20 vintages from the Santa Cruz Mtns. to the Sonoma Valley
September, 2020 – FIRE !
The smoky grape harvest of Sonoma 2020
October, 2022 – traveling to Montefalco, Umbria where Sagrantino grows
Umbria and Sonoma – Sagrantino, Food, and Motorcycles
March 2020 – Wildlife (in the time of Corona Virus)
Sonoma Farm Life (in the time of Corona Virus)
December, 2021 – RAIN!
Rain in Sonoma, finally…
June, 2017 – it was a backyard music party
1st annual wine and music party Hydeout Sonoma 2017
December, 2018 – Hope for the future
Hope for the future of wine and food
January, 2024 – a review of 2023
A year-end wine country lifestyle photo journey
A 2018 post about the wine industry convention held every year in Sacramento
Wine Industry Convention
June, 2018 – Farming organically
Farming Sonoma vineyards organically
And there’s still time in 2024 to shop for wine!
Sonocaia wine lineup – DYS 2021 “Double Buffalo” Red Blend, DYS 2017 Red Blend, Sonocaia estate reserve 2021, Sonocaia estate reserve 2022, estate olive oil, apple grappa
Shop Our Wines
Winemaker Ken
