Greetings from the green hills of Sherman, Connecticut!
Barbara and I moved into a beautiful house here at the end of December, following an initial six-month period in Pawling, New York, after I retired from the San Francisco Symphony in February 2023.
And yet every day I monitor the SONOMA COUNTY WINEGROWERS’ WEATHER website—because this is frost season for a vigneron, and we are still farming the grapes in Cotati (albeit long-distance from the East Coast).
I have the same crew that has managed the vineyard with me in recent years: Miguel Bautista Medina, doing all the weekly maintenance; Espinoza Vineyard Management, pruning and fungus control; the new owners of The Farm, manning the frost protection, sometimes in the middle of the night; and Lisa Bishop Forbes, our award-winning winemaker, who is in charge of everything from crush to bottling.
We just won our third double gold medal from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, this time for our 2021 estate Pinot noir, in the $35-$39 category for Pinot noir. Before crush last year, following Lisa in her professional trajectory, we moved our winemaking operations to Medlock Ames Winery on Chalk Hill Road.
We’ve expanded our selection of white wines with a delightful 2022 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, French in style with beautifully balanced flavors.
The 2021 double-gold-winning Pinot gris continues to be a source of pride for us and a great favorite among our customers.
The 2018 silver-medal-winning Coombsville Merlot has come into its own with age.
The 2019 Dry Creek Valley Cab is drinking better than ever.
Because we’re on the East Coast now, I will no longer be able to deliver wine personally to our Bay Area customers. In consideration of this, we’re offering a special promotion for all our customers in California: we will pay the tax on your orders. (There is no tax charged on wine shipped out of state.)
We miss our far-flung friends! Send us your likes and comments, share us on your social media (that’s Barbara talking :)—and send us photographs we can post on our Roden Wines photo gallery.