Wine: Mondavi descendant expands empire further
A scion of Wine Country’s most famous family is continuing to build her own empire. Winemaker Angelina Mondavi has acquired Sojourn Cellars, a wellregarded producer of singlevineyard Sonoma County Pinot Noir, following her purchase in January of the historic winery building that had formerly housed Zinfandel icon Ravenswood.
The Sojourn Cellars brand will remain intact, with founders Craig Haserot and Erich Bradley continuing to be involved. Winemaking operations will move into the Ravenswood space at 18701 Gehricke Road in Sonoma. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Sojourn was always a real passion project for us. We never thought of it as something we were building up to sell,” said Bradley. “But when the opportunity presented itself to move into a historic facility, it just felt right.”
Mondavi is the daughter of Marc Mondavi and the granddaughter of Peter Mondavi, who ran Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena until his death in 2016. (Peter’s brother Robert split off from the family business to found Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966.)
After working at Charles Krug for several years, Angelina Mondavi has cofounded or become winemaker for a number of brands including Aloft, Fourth Leaf and Dark Matter.
She purchased the Ravenswood property for the Harrow Cellars brand. It includes a 12acre vineyard. (Ravenswood was sold by its founder, Joel Peterson, to Constellation Brands in 2001, and then sold to E.&J. Gallo in a deal initiated in 2019. The Gehricke Road winery and vineyard were not part of the latter purchase.)
Sojourn Cellars began in 2001 as a small project be
tween two tennis buddies. Haserot was the salesman; Bradley, who had formerly worked at Arrowood Winery, the winemaker. The brand does not own its own winery or vineyards, and currently sources fruit from 16 different sites, including some marquee Sonoma properties like Gap’s Crown, Sangiacomo and Durell.
The Sojourn tasting room, which opened in downtown Sonoma in 2008, remains open (currently, under coronavirus safety protocols, for outdoor tastings only). Bradley said that there are no changes planned at that tasting room. In addition, the Gehricke Road winery, which is still under renovation, will eventually host visitors for both the Sojourn and Harrow brands.
Bradley called the Ravenswood winery “soulful, with so much history,” and said he was excited to be able to outfit it to suit his winemaking needs, especially to tailor it to Pinot Noir production.
“I’m elated,” he continued. Joining forces with Mondavi and finding this new home, he said, “gives us a chance to see how good we can really get.”