Sonoma Wineries: Robledo Family Winery the Sonoma Overlook Trail
North America's first winery established by a Mexican migrant worker turns out to be a delightful stop on the outskirts of Sonoma. The patriarch of the Robledo Family Winery, founded in 1997, Reynado Robledo came to California from Michoacan as a sixteen-year-old, and worked as a vine pruner at Christian Brothers winery in the Napa Valley. Years later, he became a vineyard manager and a renowned viticultural consultant, and eventually purchased his own vineyards in the Sonoma-Napa Carneros appellation, selling his grapes to premium wineries.
Today, seven sons and two daughters are involved in the business, while a son-in-law, Rolando Herrera, crafts the award-winning Robledo wines. Also Mexican-born, Herrera began his life in wine at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars under the tutelage of prominent industry pioneer, Warren Winiarski. Herrera bought a few tons of grapes from his father-in-law, produced some Chardonnay under his own label, and soon after, his 1999 Mi Sueno Chardonnay Carneros was served at a White House state dinner honoring Mexican President Vicente Fox. Herrera oversees the production of the Robledos’ velvety, black-cherry Pinot Noirs and Cabernets.
The intrepid wine country explorer who encounters the Robledo Winery in the Carneros foothills will be rewarded by a conversation visit with a Robledo family member in the tasting room, and may well be invited to the annual harvest festival in October when a mariachi band and folkloric dancers joyously evoke the spirit of Michoacan.
Continue
the Sonoma Winery Tour with Stops at
Bartholomew Park Winery and Gundlach-Bundschu Winery »
The article on this page is adapted from the book, Backroads of the California Wine Country by Karen Misuraca (www.karenmisuraca.com), published by Voyageur Press.
