Wine Families

"Wine Mic Monday" is a VAULT29 series based on an "open mic concept" where wineries take over our blog...because every glass and bottle of wine has a story. Last week (Season 1: part 3), we recapped stories shared by wineries from the Central Coast. In Season 1: part 2, we took a look back at our stories from Sonoma County and in Season 1: part 1, we revisited Napa Valley experiences.

This week is the forth and final recap of Season 1 where we look back at family owned and operated wineries in California. Get to know Trombetta: A mother/daughter duo; Esterlina: The largest African American owned/operated family winery; Stomping Girl: An Israeli husband/wife team; and Hardball Cellars: A family's love for baseball and wine.

A Mother/Daughter Duo

It's pretty unusual to find a mother/daughter duo in the wine industry. Meet Rickey Trombetta Randcliff and Erica Randcliff: the duo who turned a home winemaking venture into a commercial endeavor with the release of their 2010 Gap's Crown (Sonoma Coast AVA)  Pinot Noir. At the start of the venture, Rickey was a home winemaker with a "learn-by-doing" approach in the vineyards. As things progressed, Trombetta eventually collaborated with California's famed winemaker, Paul Hobbs. Today, you can find Rickey tending to Trombetta's marketing, sales, and office needs, while Erica focuses on the wine production side of the business. With three Gap's Crown pinot noir vintages now under their belt, they've recently checked off one of their long term goals: adding a chardonnay to Trombetta's portfolio. Get to know more about this award-winning duo and find out what wine influenced Erica to become a winemaker.  Read more.

Largest African American Owned/Operated Winery in the US

Meet the Sterling Family: growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties who later established their own family winery operation in 2001.  As California farmers & winemakers for 3 generations, the Sterlings have pooled their collective talents and experience from farming, medicine, law and business to drive the successful family wine enterprise. Today, Esterlina Vineyards & Winery is the largest African American owned family vineyards and winery operation in the U.S. They produce award-winning wines with international demand and recognition from their facilities in Sonoma County. Esterlina wines have been featured on White House Menus with President Bush in 2005 and 2008, and specifically requested for President Obama’s Inauguration celebrations in 2009 along with numerous industry accolades. Read more about this gem of a family.

Israel Tradition, Husband/Wife Duo

Stomping Girl Wines was founded in honor of Uzi Cohen's grandmother, who began a family winemaking tradition in Israel. Back then, Uzi was recruited to help pick the grapes during harvest on the family's vineyard property, while his younger sister helped with foot stomping. Two generations later, in 2003, Uzi and his wife, Kathryn, carried on the tradition and began making wine in their home wine cellar in Berkeley, CA, and enlisting the help of friends and their three children. Today, they are dedicated to producing vineyard designate pinot noir and chardonnay using traditional, minimalist techniques influenced by time spent in Burgundy. In addition to their emphasis on vineyard designate wines coming from family-owned, sustainably-grown vineyards, they also deliver the same top-quality pinot noir in stainless steel kegs for restaurant by-the-glass programs. Read more about this dynamic duo...

A Family's Passion For Wine + Baseball

For the Westerberg family, the passion for wine, baseball and family combine for an unbeatable combo in Hardball Cellars! Mike and Cindy are transplants from Oregon and were raised by hard working families in the Willamette Valley. In the mid 1980’s, they followed their family to Napa where they planted roots and fell in love with the Northern California wine country. Their "Coaches" who influenced their passion for wine was none other than their parents and grandparents who made wine for well over 50 years in Oregon. In the "Rookie Years," Mike spotted an ad in the Napa Register for some u-pick Zinfandel fruit on Glass Mountain Road in St. Helena. He grabbed garbage cans and took his kids along for the ride to the vineyard. Hardball Cellars has an exceptional line up of Napa cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir and chardonnay. Get to know their "Game Plan", "The X and O's" of winemaking, the "Five Tool Player"and more! Read more..

Esterlina

"Wine Mic Monday" is a VAULT29 series based on an "open mic concept" where wineries take over our blog...because every glass and bottle of wine has a story. This week, and in honor of Black History Month, we are proud to feature Esterlina Vineyards & Winery.  Esterlina is the largest African American owned family Vineyards and Winery operation in the U.S who celebrated it’s 10 Year Anniversary in 2011. 

Quietly Making Wines Too Good to Ignore by Stephen Sterling

Esterlina Vineyards & Winery, the largest African American owned family Vineyards and Winery operation in the U.S, produces award-winning wines with international demand and recognition. Esterlina wines have been featured on White House Menu’s with President Bush in 2005 and 2008 and requested for President Obama’s Inauguration celebrations in 2009 along with numerous industry accolades.

Esterlina Winery operates its tasting room in the Dry Creek Region of Sonoma in collaboration with their Everett Ridge label, in the California wine country. The Sterling Family, have been growers in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties for some time before establishing their own family winery operation in 2001.  California farmers & winemakers for 3 generations, the Sterlings have pooled their collective talents and experience from farming, medicine, law and business to drive the successful family wine enterprise.   The Sterling’s have vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley, Cole Ranch AVA of Mendocino. The family currently bottles and produces all their wines at their Everett Ridge Winery location in Sonoma’s Healdsburg Wine Country.  

“Our family believes wine growing is all about the land. Based on that belief, we sought out sites in the finest appellations and planted superior clones. Through experimentation, patience and a little luck, we feel we have created exceptional wines. We are confident that after you sample our wines you will agree”

— Sterling Family

Esterlina Vineyards & Winery began as an extension of our family’s passion and history for farming and passing of wine making and enjoyment of food and wine.

Some of our earliest shared family stories are of the farming history of various members of our family and their love of the land and the treat of wine making as legacy passed from generation to generation. 

The details, after medical school my brother Eric began his emergency room practice in Sonoma County, during one of my father’s frequent visits to the area, he suggested getting back into farming via the local crop, grapes.  While we had grown raising cattle, and some row crops in the central valley and in Mendocino County, our higher learning pursuits took us to other industries.  Eric, a practicing physician, Craig an MBA focusing on small business and an attorney, Stephen an MBA focusing on marketing management and working in the blossoming wireless industry, while Chris maintained the love of farming like our father.  Our mother Doris is involved with the hospitality side of our business.  Both our mother and father are found in the tasting room on many special events and during the first few years of our tasting room operations.

The name Esterlina came from the family property in the Dominican Republic.  They called our home “casa de Esterlina” or house of the Sterlings.  There is a well known winery in Napa called Sterling which is owned by one of the large wine companies.  As our father would say, “they have more attorneys than we do”, “we don’t want to fight them for the use of our name”. 

After the purchase of first commercial vineyard in Alexander Valley where we grew Cabernet Sauvignon we chose another Sonoma vineyard in the Russian River Valley.  Our premier vineyard location is our Cole Ranch AVA.  The Cole Ranch founded by John Cole whom we purchased the vineyard from in the 90’s is one of the most unique vineyards in America.  The Cole Ranch has the distinction of being the US monopole or smallest single vineyard AVA in the country.  It is also one of the test questions on the Sommelier and Master Sommelier exam given by the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Our winery tasting room is in the picturesque Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma in the town of Healdsburg, a popular wine destination currently.  Visitors can often enjoy meeting a family member particularly on weekends and hear the stories of wine making and ask questions about our various vintages and the unique hand crafted and single vineyard selections.  Our tasting room is situated so that even in rough weather you can enjoy the view overlooking the Dry Creek Valley through bay type windows behind our tasting area. 

Our wine club members enjoy the hand prepared family recipes and along with treats made from fruits and vegetables grown on property and the same style grass fed beef that we grew up raising.

In February 2015 our family has decided to invite guests to a first ever Black History Month Celebration at our estate property in Healdsburg.  Of the nearly 8000 wineries in the US and 3500 plus in CA less than 80 are owned by African American or Latino families.  Of those less than a dozen have a tasting room open to the public.  Esterlina has been proud sponsors for Macy’s Black History Month the last several years and featured on CNN, Essence. Proceeds from ticket sales and wine sales go to The United Negro College Fund, The Museum of African Diaspora and The Redwood Empire Food Bank. To hear our story live as told by our family watch our video:.

UPDATE: In early 2016, Flanagan Wines purchased the Everette Ridge property in Dry Creek (Healdsburg, CA). More on this here.

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