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!
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…
Feb 18, 2025 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Hydeout Sonoma, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma lifestyle, Uncategorized
STORIES. NEWS. EXPERIENCES. TASTINGS. AWARDS. HERE’S A SHORT FUN WINTER READ AS THE DAYS START TO GET LONGER. CLICK TO VIEW THE FULL VERSION OF THIS POST:
True Cellar Gems: Old California Pinot Noir wine tasting, from 2006 through 2009
Our regular professional winemaker’s tasting group travelled north ‘up valley’ to the Emmitt-Scorsone Winery in Healdsburg to taste cellar gems from Emmitt Palmer and Michael Scorsone’s private cellars. The winery was recently relocated adjacent to the Russian River as you enter Healdsburg from the south to north.
The wines are all bagged, numbered, and tasted completely blind.
All wines are poured in advance and carefully tracked. All wines are tasted in complete silence. For real. No talking until all wines are tasted and notes written out.
The big reveal. Much applause. These were very noteworthy brand names competing for our praise.
My personal favorite before the voting was complete. The reveal turned out that I had voted for Boheme 2007 as my top wine. And I was sitting right next to Boheme winemaker Kurt Beitler the whole time! We had a good laugh. We had not met before. That was a good surprise and fun for us both.
THE RESULTS – all scoring while still blind
Most “Favorited” Wines by Hand Count:
- 2008 Williams Selyem – Precious Mountain Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
- 1400 feet ridge top elevation, clay loam, bi lateral, very low yield of 1 ton/acre, short shoots, solid brick, forest floor and moss, racy and well built, pine, mint, cherry.
- 2006 Copain – Monument Tree Vineyard, Anderson Valley
- 300 feet elevation, decomposed sand stone and shale, dijon clones, sunny am, shade in pm, light ruby, ruby core with orange rim, soft mouth feel, shorter finish, modest glycerin, slightly oxidized but still compelling, tobacco, pine, good mid palette acid, blackberry,
- 2007 Bohème – Stuller Vineyard, Sonoma Coast.
- 1200 feet elevation, in the redwoods, yorkville clay loam, rocky, 115 and 667, medium brick, darkest wine in grouping, strong strawberry, fresh and youthful, mulberry, butter, light smoke, fresh, clean, very well made.
- 2009 Sea Smoke – Southing, Santa Rita Hills
- 500 feet elevation, clay loam, 777 and 667, highly buckled terrain, 55% new oak, med brick, clean and clear, jammy fruit, rustic tannins, rose petal, tar, tea bag, baking spice, saffron.
- 2008 Kosta Browne – Sonoma Coast
- Gaps Crown, Terra de Promissio, and Walala, 45% new oak, bottle 1 vs bottle 2?
- 1) good bottle – vanilla spice, dried stone fruit, integrated tannins, campfire, dry soil, cigar, fresh, lively, compelling
- 2) suspect bottle – slightly browned, poss corked, closed and funky
- 2008 Kosta Browne – Russian River
- multiple wide ranging vineyard sources, at least 8 diff vineyards, 45% new oak, light to ruby red, spicy red fruit core, cherry cola to black cherry, stone fruit, nice round mid palette, bit of lingering heat, truffle, stone, mushroom.
Overall Mathematical Ratings:
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(2.63) 2009 Sea Smoke – Southing, Santa Rita Hills
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(2.53) 2008 Kosta Browne – Russian River Valley
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(2.4) 2007 Bohème – Stuller Vineyard, Sonoma Coast (magnum)
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(2.4) 2006 Copain – Monument Tree Vineyard, Anderson Valley (magnum)
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(1.97) 2007 Papapietro Perry – 777 Clones, Russian River Valley (magnum)
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(1.93) 2008 Williams Selyem – Precious Mountain Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
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(1.8) 2007 Peter Michael – Le Moulin Rouge, Pisoni Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands (magnum)
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(1.67*) 2008 Kosta Browne – Sonoma Coast (* ~half of the group seems to have tasted an off/flawed bottle)
Our wine lineup in February
We recently won awards in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and the San Diego International Wine Challenge. With more award announcements coming soon.
Our current lineup of Sonocaia estate reserve Sagrantino and Dysfunctional Family Red Blends and Rosés. Want some? You know how to find us!
The cover crop in the Sagrantino vineyard is stunning and popping right on time. We’re a no-till, fully organic, no chemical operation. This cover crop will simply be mowed back into the ground come spring, just prior to bud break.
Lifestyle event with Euphoria and AB Creations – Yoga, Sound Healing, and Wine Tasting
This is the site of the Yoga day retreat on Saturday May 3rd, the Hydeout Farm at Sonocaia Winery
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.
