Sebastiani

Sebastiani’s first century in Sonoma winemaking began when Samuele (pictured right) emigrated from the Tuscany region of Italy in 1895 and started Sebastiani nine years later. A stonemason by trade, he quarry-mined the Sonoma hills for cobblestones that were used to build the streets of San Francisco. He worked long hours and saved carefully to buy land in Sonoma County, from which he would make wine for the Sonoma community and San Francisco’...

Sonoma County is one of the most diverse wine growing regions in the world. As with most of California, our climate is influenced by the distance and exposure to the cold Pacific Ocean — areas near the water are cool, areas inland are warm. Sonoma also boasts incredibly complex soils ranging from volcanic along the Mayacamas Mountains to marine-based in all of the coastal locales.

The patchwork of Sonoma’s climate, soils and topography...

Mark Lyon, Sebastiani’s winemaker, has been at the winery since 1979. Here are his thoughts on current winemaking and farming protocols. “Since Bill purchased Sebastiani in 2008, we’ve been doing a number of concrete things to produce world-class wines that showcase the great terroir and versatility of Sonoma County. One of the first things we did under Bill’s direction was to decrease production, which allowed us to jettison marginal vineyard...