Farming estate land in the heart of the appellation since 1975, the year Alexander Valley earned its AVA. The Cyrus, a Bordeaux-style blend, is the flagship, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel rounding out a reliable portfolio. Family-owned across three generations, with a charming 19th-century schoolhouse tasting room on Highway 128.
Alexander Valley Vineyards has been farming estate land in the heart of the appellation since 1975, the same year Alexander Valley received its AVA designation. The Cyrus red blend — a Bordeaux-style assemblage of the estate's best blocks — is the flagship, with the Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel rounding out a reliably well-made portfolio. Family-owned across three generations. The 19th-century schoolhouse tasting room on Highway 128 is one of the most charming in the appellation.
CYRUS — The flagship; an estate-grown, Cabernet-based Bordeaux blend named for valley namesake Cyrus Alexander.
Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley — Soft, supple, classically styled Alexander Valley Cabernet.
Sin Zin Zinfandel — The cult-favorite, spicy-jammy estate Zinfandel.
Estate Merlot — A rich, plush red from the Wetzel family estate.
Estate Chardonnay — A luscious white grown on the historic Cyrus Alexander homestead.
The estate sits on the historic land that valley namesake Cyrus Alexander first settled in the 1840s, and the Wetzel family has farmed it continuously since 1962. Today it's 720 acres of vineyards stretching from the banks of the Russian River up into the Mayacamas foothills, with a 48,000-square-foot underground barrel-aging cave — the largest of its kind in the region — carved into the hillside. The tasting room is walk-in friendly and refreshingly unpretentious: four estate wines at the bar, outdoor patio tables under oaks, and guided vineyard hikes or cave tours for those who want to go deeper. AVV Zin and the flagship Cyrus blend are the house signatures, but the quiet benchmark is a Cabernet Sauvignon that has tracked the valley's ascent for fifty years.
A Master of Enology from UC Davis whose training carried him through wineries in California, Germany, and New Zealand before he joined AVV in 1998 — six months later he was promoted to head winemaker, the role he still holds 25+ harvests later. His approach is intentionally traditional: classic vinification, long barrel aging in the estate's 48,000-square-foot underground cave system, and a focus on letting Alexander Valley terroir speak through Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Merlot. The estate is among only 14 Sonoma County wineries certified as official Green Business operations and also farms organically. Hall has built CYRUS — the estate's Bordeaux-style flagship first produced by Hank Wetzel in 1995 — into one of the most decorated red blends in California, a four-time top honoree at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's International Wine Competition.
Hank Wetzel is the founder of Alexander Valley Vineyards and a living link to the valley’s namesake. In 1962 his parents, Harry and Maggie Wetzel, bought the historic Cyrus Alexander homestead — then mostly prune orchards — and began planting vines. Hank earned a fermentation science degree at UC Davis and, with his wife Linda, bonded the winery in 1975, producing its first estate wines. He went on to champion the 1984 establishment of the Alexander Valley AVA and was named a Sonoma County Icon in 2025. Today his sons Harry IV and Robert carry the family tradition forward.
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CYRUS — The flagship; an estate-grown, Cabernet-based Bordeaux blend named for valley namesake Cyrus Alexander.
Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley — Soft, supple, classically styled Alexander Valley Cabernet.
Sin Zin Zinfandel — The cult-favorite, spicy-jammy estate Zinfandel.
Estate Merlot — A rich, plush red from the Wetzel family estate.
Estate Chardonnay — A luscious white grown on the historic Cyrus Alexander homestead.
Alexander Valley Vineyards has been farming estate land in the heart of the appellation since 1975, the same year Alexander Valley received its AVA designation. The Cyrus red blend — a Bordeaux-style assemblage of the estate's best blocks — is the flagship, with the Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel rounding out a reliably well-made portfolio. Family-owned across three generations. The 19th-century schoolhouse tasting room on Highway 128 is one of the most charming in the appellation.
The estate sits on the historic land that valley namesake Cyrus Alexander first settled in the 1840s, and the Wetzel family has farmed it continuously since 1962. Today it's 720 acres of vineyards stretching from the banks of the Russian River up into the Mayacamas foothills, with a 48,000-square-foot underground barrel-aging cave — the largest of its kind in the region — carved into the hillside. The tasting room is walk-in friendly and refreshingly unpretentious: four estate wines at the bar, outdoor patio tables under oaks, and guided vineyard hikes or cave tours for those who want to go deeper. AVV Zin and the flagship Cyrus blend are the house signatures, but the quiet benchmark is a Cabernet Sauvignon that has tracked the valley's ascent for fifty years.
A Master of Enology from UC Davis whose training carried him through wineries in California, Germany, and New Zealand before he joined AVV in 1998 — six months later he was promoted to head winemaker, the role he still holds 25+ harvests later. His approach is intentionally traditional: classic vinification, long barrel aging in the estate's 48,000-square-foot underground cave system, and a focus on letting Alexander Valley terroir speak through Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Merlot. The estate is among only 14 Sonoma County wineries certified as official Green Business operations and also farms organically. Hall has built CYRUS — the estate's Bordeaux-style flagship first produced by Hank Wetzel in 1995 — into one of the most decorated red blends in California, a four-time top honoree at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's International Wine Competition.
Hank Wetzel is the founder of Alexander Valley Vineyards and a living link to the valley’s namesake. In 1962 his parents, Harry and Maggie Wetzel, bought the historic Cyrus Alexander homestead — then mostly prune orchards — and began planting vines. Hank earned a fermentation science degree at UC Davis and, with his wife Linda, bonded the winery in 1975, producing its first estate wines. He went on to champion the 1984 establishment of the Alexander Valley AVA and was named a Sonoma County Icon in 2025. Today his sons Harry IV and Robert carry the family tradition forward.
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