Rochioli Vineyards & Winery

The Rochioli family's Russian River story begins with Joseph Rochioli Sr., who came to America from Italy with his parents in 1911, became a ranch foreman in 1920, and began farming along Westside Road in 1938. By the mid-1950s he had bought the property, then called Fenton Acres, and in 1959 he and his son Joe Jr. planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. In 1968 Joe Jr. planted the West Block of Pinot Noir from fine French clones, a foresighted bet that would become one of the most influential Pinot Noir vineyards in California. The family sold Pinot Noir to Davis Bynum in the early 1970s and to Williams Selyem in the early 1980s, among others, building a reputation that made "Rochioli Vineyard" a designation more famous than most wineries' own labels, and soon began making wine of its own under the Fenton Acres label.

Today third-generation Tom Rochioli is winemaker and co-proprietor; he returned to the farm in 1983 as the winery's business manager and soon took over the cellar. The home ranch, the 125-acre Fenton Acres property on Westside Road, is planted primarily to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, with Sauvignon Blanc producing what many consider California's most age-worthy expression. The Pinot lineup is built around the iconic single-vineyard West Block, East Block, Sweet Water, Three Corner, and Little Hill bottlings, all allocated to a long waiting list. Tastings are by appointment for parties of up to six, and one tasting fee is refunded with a purchase of two or more bottles. The setting is quiet, deeply pastoral, and unmistakably a working farm.