“Family” means a lot at Seghesio, beginning four generations ago with Edoardo Seghesio, who left his home in Piedmont, Italy, to become a winemaker at Italian Swiss Colony in Northern California. At the end of his three-year contract, he chose to remain in the area, buy land and start a family. In 1895, he purchased the Home Ranch (as the family now calls it) in an area then known as “Chianti, Calif.,” north of Geyserville. There, he planted Zinfandel vines as well as Petite Sirah and Italian varietals, such as Sangiovese. Some of those vines are still producing today.
For almost a century, the family continued to expand its land holdings, grow and sell winegrapes and produce bulk wine. By the 1970s, the family owned close to 300 vineyard acres in Dry Creek, Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley. In addition to Old Vine Zinfandel, the Seghesio family owns the oldest surviving planting of Sangiovese in North America. Additional Seghesio vineyards supply Cabernet Sauvignon and Italian varietals Barbera, Pinot Grigio, Arneis, Vermentino and Muscat Canelli.
In the 1980s, a new generation was ready to get involved. Ted Seghesio returned from college and began to learn the winemaking trade, like his father and grandfather before him. His cousin, Pete Seghesio, began to take over in the vineyards. Together, they modernized the operation and transitioned the family from bulk wine to high-end production. They drastically reduced yields to focus on quality fruit, dropping from close to 100,000 cases annually to about 30,000, and began a massive replanting in the vineyards. The resulting wines earned critical praise and consumer popularity (it’s since regrown production to about 100,000 cases annually).
Last year, the Seghesio family sold the winery and many estate vineyards to Napa-based Crimson Wine Group. But Ted, Pete and many other family members remain with the company. “There were too many people giving input. Now they’re still here, operating the place, but the burden of ownership has been relieved,” explains David Messerli, estate director. “Now they have a wine group behind them with more resources.”
Today, it’s best known for Zinfandel. “We produce as many as 10 to 12 Zinfandels annually,” says Brandye Alexander, who oversees marketing for the winery. “Of those, five or six core wines are consistently produced. The rest are occasional small lot and single vineyard wines.”
The 2009 Home Ranch Zinfandel, a field blend from Edoardo’s initial plantings, was number 12 on Wine Spectator magazine’s 2011 list of the Top 100 Most Exciting Wines of the Year. Other standout blends include the signature Sonoma Zinfandel, made from vines 50 years old or less in Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley, and Old Vine Zinfandel, culled from vineyards averaging 90 years old. Three single-vineyard offerings—Cortina Zinfandel, San Lorenzo Zinfandel and Rockpile Zinfandel—round out the standard offerings of the varietal.
Most wine drinkers will agree: There’s something special about old vine Zinfandel. “At about 50 years, a grapevine’s yields drop significantly,” explains Messerli. “The vines are fully mature and delivering all their nutrients to less fruit. It’s also a fully mature root structure that can go where younger vines can’t yet reach.” The resulting wines tend to be rounder and more robust.
With access to some of the oldest Zinfandel vines and generations of tradition and experience to draw from, maybe it’s no wonder Seghesio has been named Best by NorthBay biz readers.
“When we get an award from a critic, it’s one person on one day, with a pretty set opinion on wines,” says Messerli. “But when a lot of people take the time to vote, that’s pretty flattering. It represents a lot of cumulative interest and enthusiasm. Everybody here takes a lot of pride in our wines, so it’s a testament to the whole winery family. That’s the cool thing about an award like this.”
