In 1970, San Francisco firefighter Cecil De Loach and his wife Christine staked their claim in the wine grape business by purchasing 24 acres of old-vine Zinfandel in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. In the early seventies, the De Loaches decided to acquire additional vineyard land. For several years they watched others make notable wine from their grapes before making the decision to produce wine under the De Loach label in 1975.
The vineyards of Lucas & Lewellen are located in the three principal wine grape growing regions of Santa Barbara County: the Santa Maria Valley, the Los Alamos Valley, and the Santa Ynez Valley. These valleys all run west from the coastal mountains to the Pacific Ocean, allowing warm days and cool nights to produce a long, gentle growing season.
Sapphire Hill is a family-run boutique winery that has been a fixture in Sonoma County since 1989. Initially, the operation began as a 38-acre vineyard just outside Sebastopol. The vineyard's location often reveals a blue hue in the night sky as the sun sets behind California's coastal range, inspiring the name Sapphire Hill.
In 2001, Sapphire Hill transitioned to a winery and tasting room in Healdsburg, strategically positioned at the convergence of three renowned grape-growing regions: Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and the Russian River Valley. The winery quickly earned a reputation for its award-winning Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel, all crafted from the exceptional grapes of these valleys.
Today, Sapphire Hill remains a family-operated winery dedicated to producing exquisite wines for its devoted wine club members while offering exceptional hospitality experiences for both new visitors and returning guests at their Healdsburg tasting room.
Claiborne & Churchill is a small, premium family-owned winery located in the Edna Valley of San Luis Obispo. Founded in 1983 by Claiborne (Clay) Thompson and Fredericka Churchill Thompson, former University of Michigan teachers, the couple transitioned from academia to the vineyards of California in 1981 to pursue a new life in the wine industry.
With its first crush, Claiborne & Churchill announced its special focus by producing 565 cases of Dry Riesling and Dry Gewürztraminer, inspired by the fruity but dry dinner wines of the French province of Alsace. Today, Claiborne & Churchill produces about 8,000 cases of wine each year, sourcing grapes from vineyards in the cool maritime valleys of California’s Central Coast and its own small estate vineyards.
