GlenLyon Vineyards & Winery

GlenLyon sits on a hillside between the Sonoma and Mayacamas ranges at the northern tip of Sonoma Valley, a tiny family estate planted almost entirely to Syrah after the original 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon was grafted over in 2002. Squire Fridell, the former Hollywood commercial actor whose face will be familiar to anyone who watched American television in the 1980s, farms the property himself with his wife Suzy and daughter Lexy. Production runs around 1,000 cases of small-lot vineyard-designated Syrah, plus the Lexy's Toast sparkling and a port-style dessert wine. The wines are nearly all allocated to the GlenLyon “Clan” membership, with no public tasting room. Visits are by appointment with Squire himself: personality-driven, Scottish-themed, and entirely private.

Squire Fridell, the longtime Toyota TV spokesman and former Ronald McDonald, and his wife Suzy McDermaid Fridell, a professional dancer and teacher, established GlenLyon in 1986 and planted their first vines (Cabernet Sauvignon, in 1987) using one of the first quadrilateral-cordoned, vertically trellised systems in Sonoma Valley. The Cabernet was regrafted to Syrah in 2002, and today the estate's 4,631 hand-planted vines are essentially all Syrah, the only varietal on the property. Daughter Lexy returned to the winery full-time in 2018 after the 2017 Nuns Fire nearly destroyed the vineyards; she now manages the wine club and marketing, and makes the Lexy's Toast sparkling wines. The portfolio includes five vineyard-designated Syrahs, the Squire's Toast Cabernet-Syrah blend (Cab sourced externally), the Suzy's Toast Rhône-style white blend (Roussanne and Viognier sourced from premier Northern California vineyards), Lexy's Toast Sparkling, and a port-style dessert wine. Squire does most of the farming, winemaking, and tour-hosting himself. Wines are nearly all allocated to the GlenLyon “Clan”: reservations arranged directly with Squire.