Dave Stare is a seminal figure in the recent history of the Sonoma County appellation known as Dry Creek Valley. The founder of Dry Creek Vineyard in Healdsburg, Stare was one of the first to plant Sauvignon Blanc grapes in the region, despite members of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau Office cautioning Stare that the varietal did not fare well in Sonoma County soil. That was 1972. Fifty years later, Wine Enthusiast magazine honored Stare with its “American Wine Legend” award in February.
For Stare, the award is an honor, but he views the recognition as a byproduct of, “just doing my job,” as he puts it. Stare remembers a time when Sonoma County—Dry Creek Valley in particular—was relatively unknown to the rest of the wine world. “Thirty years ago, when I would tell people I was in the wine business, they would ask where in Napa I was. That upset me,” says Stare. “I wanted people to know Sonoma County as well as they knew Napa.”
Today, Sonoma County’s visibility as a respected Wine Country destination rivals any in the world. Stare played a major part in that change of perception with his decades-long advocacy of the county. “Now, if you tell someone you’re in the wine business, they ask whether you’re from Sonoma or Napa,” says Stare. “Dry Creek Valley is the best place to grow Sauvignon Blanc in the world in my opinion.”
Stare enrolled at UC Davis in the early 70s, and stumbled upon Dry Creek Valley during weekend trips throughout Northern California in search of property to start a winery. A chance encounter with a man on a tractor near what was then a prune orchard led to a handshake deal with a recently widowed woman for ownership of land that would become Dry Creek Vineyard. “When the vineyard came on the scene, there were only three other wineries in Dry Creek Valley,” says Stare. “We were the first new winery in the area since Prohibition.”
In the mid-2000s, Dry Creek Vineyard was successfully passed down to the next generation. Stare marvels at the accomplishments of the family currently running the winery in elevating the business to new heights. He says that at the beginning of 2020, one of Dry Creek Vineyards’ goals was to increase its representation in the restaurant and hotel sector. However, the pandemic-prompted shutdown stifled those plans. The winery leaned on its Wine Club membership sales, which Stare says we’re stronger than ever during the pandemic. Aside from a deadly virus wreaking havoc on a global scale, he says the two most concerning threats on the horizon are climate change and the impact of urbanization.
“Will Napa and Sonoma Counties get too hot to grow grapes, and have to move up to Southern Oregon where the climate is a little cooler? And the areas that grapes grow well are also areas people like to live,” says Stare.
Currently, Dry Creek Vineyard’s operations are going strong. The winery is celebrating its 50th anniversary of being, “one of the last truly private, family-owned, iconic wineries of Sonoma County consistently producing 90-plus point wines,” according to Kim Stare Wallace, Dry Creek Vineyard president. With the operation in good hands, Stare can turn his attention to other passions.
“I’ve gotten back into music and play trombone in the New Horizon’s Band of Sonoma County, and banjo in the Russian River Ramblers, an eight-piece New Orleans-style jazz band,” says Stare. He serves as the board chairman for Global Partners for Development, a philanthropic organization funding water, sanitation and development projects for villages in kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. He also serves on the board for the Santa Rosa Symphony.
“All along the way, I was told that my ideas had never been done before,” says Stare. “Being a kid from Boston, I was bull-headed enough to do what I wanted
to do.”
