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.

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  Inaugural release of the estate reserve Sonocaia Sagrantino. It is such an interesting variety - the tannins and depth of Cabernet and Petite Sirah, but with the body and finish of a more delicate wine

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  The new Dysfunctional Family Winery 'Double Buffalo' label, a salute to our western roots and our family's sense of humor - serious wine, irreverent style

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…

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  Sagrantino bud break

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  Winter rains bring a flowering cover crop

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).

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  Hair

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  and makeup

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  then enter stage right

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  hit the runway

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  and have a good laugh in the work room after the runway

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.

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  First stop was some classroom time

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  then our group suited up to race

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  after more classroom time and practice, we raced at full speed

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  and the winner was?

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:

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  Romaine

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  Onion and Cabbage

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  Arugula

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  Artichokes

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.

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  Launching the Sonoma Int'l Film Festival from the stage of the Sebastiani Theater - Vice Chair Ken Wornick (me) and Chair Bob Berg

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  and the entire SIFF Board of Directors at Ledson Hotel on the Sonoma Plaza and honoring our special guest Beau Bridges

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

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  All afternoon, the clouds built

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  and then cleared by sunset

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.

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Ken