Wine Soundtrack - USA

Somerston Estate is a 1,682-acre winery estate, hidden high in the eastern Vaca Mountains of Napa Valley. Under the leadership of Co-Founder Craig Becker, who oversees winemaking and farming, Somerston is managed with the singular, long-term vision of combining two historic vineyard sites into one of Napa Valley’s greatest estates.
The original Priest Ranch estate was established in 1869 by James Joshua Priest, a gold rush prospector. Nearly a century and a half later, in 2004 three families purchased the historic 660-acre property. In 2006, they purchased the neighboring 955-acre Elder Valley, which together formed the Somerston Estate. In 2020, an additional 67 acres of the original Priest Ranch estate was acquired, bringing the estate’s total size to 1,682 acres.
Today, the 1,682-acre Somerston Estate is home to 244 acres of sustainably farmed vineyards with 180 unique vineyard blocks and 15 distinct sites. From this property comes two highly rated brands, Somerston and Priest Ranch. Somerston wines represent distinctive block designated wines, while Priest Ranch wines are a blend of fruit from multiple vineyard blocks throughout the estate. In addition, Somerston has long been a fruit source for some of Napa’s most renowned producers.

Founded in 2011, brick & mortar focuses on single-vineyard Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah, from select high-elevation Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino vineyards. Since our beginning, we have expanded our production, adding methode champenoise sparkling, vin pétillant-style rosé, and a successful line of canned wines. Our wines are elegant, balanced, and food-friendly.
Like the great European wineries, we believe that the best wines express a unique time and place. So we let each of our distinct Napa Valley, Sonoma Coast, and Mendocino Ridge vineyards speak for themselves, with minimal intervention. We pick early, ferment with native yeasts, and use oak and sulfur judiciously, resulting in low-alcohol wines of grace and finesse.

Lambert Bridge Winery is truly a magical place. With our soaring redwood barrel room and incredible gardens set against the backdrop of redwood trees, the winery has come to define luxury and elegance through our “less is more” philosophy. We are a family owned winery handcrafting limited production, artisanal wines within the Dry Creek Valley of Healdsburg, California. The C.L. Lambert Family settled in the Dry Creek Valley a century ago. Jerry Lambert, of no relation, was drawn to our property six decades later with world-class winemaking in mind. Jerry founded the winery in 1975 and it grew rapidly producing more than 25,000 cases a year. In 1993, Patti and Ray Chambers discovered this rustic stretch of Dry Creek Valley and fell completely in love and decided to make the winery their own. After they purchased the property, Patti asked an important question: why not do more with less? Since then, we’ve pared back production to roughly 8,000 cases a year, growing and sourcing Sonoma County’s finest fruit along the way.The Chambers Family vision was heartfelt and enduring from the start: honor this idyllic land, farm and craft Sonoma’s finest small-lot wines, and create an inspiring place to relish wine, food, and friendship. Our approach to winemaking is straightforward and relentless: chase excellence in every detail. By keeping production small and standards incredibly high, we make no compromise and spare no expense. The result is a portfolio of world class, Bordeaux inspired wines that capture the essence of the vineyard and vintage, year after year. We continue to curate and cultivate a special community which seeks connection and self-expression through distinctive, engaging and enriching luxury wine experiences.

We started our Acquiesce venture late in life. After years of living a corporate lifestyle, raising 3 boys and relocating to 5 different states plus living in Europe for a while, we found a peaceful home on an 18 acre property with a vineyard and 100 year old barn.
While living in Portland, Oregon, Rodney having just traveled through 10 countries in 10 days was listening to K.D. Lang’s “Acquiesce” and said, “One day, we are going to have a property and we’ll call it Acquiesce” . . . oh really? Where will this property be? “I don’t know, but we’ll be surrounded by land, watch the sunrise and sunset and we’ll be very happy there.”
And here we are, living a great life, making world class wines and “surrendering” to the vines.

Doug and Katsuko Sparks started their winemaking journey as home winemakers in their garage in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset District. In 1997, having completed winemaking courses at UC Davis, Doug and Katsuko took their winemaking hobby commercial and made their first vintage of Sunset Cellars at a shared facility inside Rosenblum Winery in Alameda.

Over the years they built long-lasting relationships with some top growers such as the Teldeschi family in Dry Creek Valley and Wirth Ranch in Solano County Green Valley. Many of these are old vine Zinfandel vineyards, with many vines over 90 years old. Working with such precious fruit, Doug and Katsuko’s goal has been to create supple red wines that emphasize the grapes’ natural fruit flavors. They like to call their red wine approach “Zen Zin,” a minimalist winemaking style that allows the wines to express the flavors and characteristics created in the vineyards.

In 1992, we were captivated by the view (hence Notre Vue), as we stood atop a ridge overlooking 710 acres of breathtaking, rolling hills of Sonoma County countryside. This incredible landscape forged over eons would one day fulfill our vision as the Notre Vue Estate. We have established an agrarian heritage through thoughtful determination.

The estate vineyards are tenderly cared for and are the foundation for our wines that are made with low intervention techniques and from the 16 varietals grown on the property which straddles both the Russian River and Chalk Hills AVA's.

Preserving the natural beauty of the land has always been at the heart of our vision. For this reason, the estate includes 350 acres of protected open space land, preserving the beauty of Notre Vue Estate for generations to come. This synergy creates a harmony that supports the abundant wildlife as well as the natural flora and fauna.

Small lot handcrafted wines. All Red Wines are fermented in 1 ton bins and hand punched down with love. Vezer Family Wines consist of Verdelho, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Merlot, and Late Harvest White Wine. LaSalette is the flagship Petite Sirah, always Estate. The Blue Victorian wines are smaller lots and showcase the unique diversity of Suisun Valley. Wines in this line are currently Sauvignon Blanc, Rose, Barbera, Cabernet Franc, Charbono, Mourvedre, Syrah, Sangiovese, and constantly adding new varietals. Full Story on www.vezer.com

Calla Lily Estate was founded in 2013 by Anthony Fung and Andy Chui, who came to ‘winemaker extraordinaire’ Cary Gott to create an elegant portfolio of wines around the imagery of the calla lily, a flower of enormous beauty and refinement. The guiding principle was to be an artisanal, low-production project.
The 95 acre Calla Lily estate vineyard sits in the heart of Pope Valley, on the eastern hillside of Napa County. At an elevation of over 800 feet, the vineyard’s climate is cooler than the Valley floor and produces small, intensely-flavored grapes with finely structured tannins and complex aromatics.
The first vines were planted in 1995. The estate vineyard consists of 12 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 acres of Petite Sirah and 1 acre each of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot. The gently contoured vineyard slopes provide ideal conditions for the grapes. The contours also serve as natural protection for frost in winter and extreme heat in summer. The soils predominantly belong to the Bressa-Dibble complex—well-drained, composed of fine-grained sandstone and shale. There are two natural reservoirs, a graceful garden and a number of historic buildings which give the property a unique personality.
The winemaking begins in the hillside vineyards, with extensive hands-on work with the vines. When harvesting, we make several passes through the vineyard, picking and sorting for ideal ripeness. We cold-soak our berries before fermentation. We choose very specific yeasts to maximize the nuances of that year’s harvest. We believe in pursuing very exacting standards, which insure that our wines are as distinctive and elegant as possible, offering a deliciously balanced taste of our unique terroir in the Napa Valley.
The winery produces two Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines: Ultimate Cabernet Sauvignon and Audax.

For my history, I started in the wine business in 1994 working in the cellar for Sebastiani in Lodi, after 3 years I went to work at Gnekow Winery spending 4 years working just about every position in the winery from the cellar to the lab and finally sales. I left Gnekow and went to work for Michael David winery where I was the West Coast Director of Marketing. After 2 years I had the itch to be self employed and started a small business etching and painting large wine bottles, 2 years later I sold it to an employee and started a packaging design studio specializing in wine labels. After 10 years, I was ready to work with my hands again and in 2010 Choral and I started Jeremy Wine Co.
As for the future, we're very excited as we've just signed a lease purchase agreement on an existing winery outside of Lodi that greatly expands our capacity for production and hospitality but also includes a beautiful Old Zinfandel vineyard planted in the 1930's. It's a major thing for us to finally land at a permanent home for our winery.

At Harney Lane Winery, we believe great wine begins in the vineyard. After over 100 years of farming wine grapes, our family ventured into winemaking in 2006, while still overseeing all aspects of our fifth-generation farming operations.
Using only the best quality fruit from our estate vineyards, we continue to vigilantly work the land on our home ranch, creating award-winning Lodi wines. From planting and tending the grapes each season, to harvest, crush and bottling, we approach winemaking with the same diligence we use in our Certified Green, sustainably farmed vineyards.
Located in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA, our fruit is hand packed, hand sorted, fermented in small lots and barrel aged in programs unique to each of our wines.
Harney Lane’s portfolio features a diverse array of estate wine, including Old Vine Zinfandel, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah, Albariño, Chardonnay, Dry Rosè, Primitivo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and more.
Our Lodi roots run deep: we’re proud caretakers of our Lizzy James Vineyard, a Certified Historic Vineyard planted in 1904. Our family still lives and works on the same property we farm today, and we continue to craft wines with integrity and craftsmanship.
Recognized by USA Today for having one of the best winery tours, we invite you to come experience what we’ve spent generations working towards.