Sbragia Family Vineyards

Sbragia Family Vineyard family’s history in Sonoma County dates back to their grandfather, who came from Tuscany in 1904 and worked in many wineries, including the historic Italian Swiss Colony. For decades they grew prunes like most farms in Dry Creek Valley at the time, and in the 1950s, their father, Gino Sbragia, re-planted the fields on our property to winegrapes, mainly Zinfandel, which they helped tend all through their youth. Gino sold most of the grapes to other wineries yet kept a small amount to make wine at home. He had an old-world philosophy that winemaking was a natural process; all you needed for good wine was good land, good grapes, and good techniques. He was right, and that has been my guiding principle since the start of my career.

Gino’s dream was to start a family winery, to make wine from our own grapes with our family name on the label. His dream became mine, and I made a promise to him that I would fulfill it and bring over a century of our family’s hard work into a winery that produces wines that reflect our winemaking heritage here in Dry Creek Valley. So, in August 2006, we opened the doors to Sbragia Family Vineyards.

After 32 years as the Winemaster at Beringer Vineyard in Napa Valley, I’ve had one foot in Sonoma and the other in Napa. Both areas mean a lot to me emotionally; I’m more attached to Healdsburg and Dry Creek Valley because it’s where I raised my kids, but the wines that I’ve made at Beringer are like children. Either way, the wines Sbragia Family Vineyards produces from both Sonoma and Napa are intensely personal, an expression of single vineyard terroir and history that runs through it all.