Forchini VineyardForchini Vineyard Forchini Vineyard
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are "hands on" winegrowers producing elegant estate wines from our historic vineyards in Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley appellations of Sonoma County, California.
Our wines are consistent medal winners in major wine competitions. Small lot, hand-crafted premium wines are produced in our 3000 case Dry Creek winery. We have been winegrowers in Sonoma County since 1971, are family owned and operated, and maintain total control of our wine production from the management of our vineyards to the in-house production and bottling of our wines.
We welcome you to visit our winery & vineyards where you can tour our vineyards and taste our wines in our Tuscan Style Tasting Room or bring a lunch and enjoy wine tasting outdoors on shaded patio tables surrounded by estate vineyards, heritage rose gardens, Italian fountains and exceptional views of Dry Creek Valley.
Open Friday-Sunday 11am - 4:30pm By appointment Monday - Thursday Groups over 8 and Tours by appointment Complimentary tasting for our Wine Club Members Phone 707 431-8886 or email
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Evolution of a Winegrower
Owners Jim and Anita Forchini first came to Sonoma County in 1963 from Southern California where Jim had worked the past 3 years as a mechanical engineer writing contracts and executing procurements for NASA spacecraft programs. From 1963-1976 Jim worked in Sonoma County doing product development for two major manufacturing companies. It was during this period he slowly developed an interest in viticulture as a result of his Italian heritage, being exposed to the surrounding vineyards, and making wine with friends. With this growing interest, Jim & Anita invested in a small 24 acre ranch in the Russian River Valley in 1971 which had a mix of old vineyards and prunes. They soon became immersed in the renaissance of the Sonoma County wine industry that was upgrading from generic vineyards and prune orchards to premium varietal wine grapes. After acquiring additional 20 acre vineyard property in Dry Creek Valley in 1973, Jim was approaching a career crossroads. Torn between the demands of private industry, a growing family of 3 children, and operating 2 vineyards,.....Jim made a career change in 1976 to become a full time winegrower with the dream of someday building a small winery. They traded up to aquire 67 acres in Dry Creek, maintained their 24 acres in the Russian River Valley, and devoted themselves to operating and replanting both vineyards to premium varietal grapes while preserving some of the older Zinfandel vines. In 1996 the time was right to build their desired winery. Jim took several short courses at UC Davis and did extensive self study. Their first year production of 426 cases of estate Dry Creek Zinfandel won a gold medal in the West Coast wine competition. Over the next four years they increased winery production to 3000 cases. Today, Forchini Vineyards & Winery produce six estate grown and bottled wines and remain family owned and operated. Jim is the winemaker, Anita handles the office, son Andrew is the vineyard manager, and 2 other children help out part time with events.
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Russian River Terrace, 24 acres |
Dry Creek Bench, 67 acres |
Purchased in 1971. Located south of
Healdsburg, 1/2 mile east of the Russian River. A historic ranch with older mixed vines and prunes planted at the turn of the century. Re- planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Petite Sirah and new additions of Zinfandel with 4 acres of old vine Zinfandel still in production. This vineyard receives many summer days of late breaking fog which provides a cooling climate and excellent location for the early maturing Pinot Noir & Chardonnay grapes and yields long hang time & complex flavors for the later maturing Zinfandel. |
Purchased in 1976.
Located north of Healdsburg on the elevated eastern bench land above the Dry Creek valley floor. This historic ranch of mixed old vines had a record of grape growing dating back to 1886. Re-planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and new additions of Zinfandel with 2 acres of 50 year old Carignane and 12 acres of 100 year-old Zinfandel still in production. This well drained gravelly clay loam has a southwest exposure and receives full sun late into the evening making it an ideal location for fully ripe clean fruit of intense varietal character on Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Moveable semi-automatic estate bottling line. 4 man crew, 70cs/hr, pallet to pallet.
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Three thousand cases of estate wines are produced annually. Twenty- five percent of the vineyard production is used for estate wines; the balance of grapes is sold to other wineries. Winemaker, Jim Forchini, believes winemaking begins in the vineyard and vineyard design and management plus terroir influence the quality of the fruit, not just terroir alone. Jim believes the winemaker's job is to direct the wine towards a signature style which results from choices made in processing equipment, extraction techniques, and cellar decisions. He is a big proponent of co-fermenting grape varietals together rather than blending completed component wines after fermentation. He believes this results in more complex flavors & structure. Wines are aged a minimum of 18-22 months in small 228L. French & American oak barrels. New oak is balanced with neutral oak to enhance fruit flavors and wines are polished filtered. Jim believes bottling is extremely important. They own their bottling line and have total control over this final process. The winery has ten 2-ton open top stainless fermenters, 16,800 gallon barrel storage capacity, 8,000 gallon stainless storage capacity, and complete in-house capability for bottling & labeling 500 cases of wine per day.
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Jim sorting red & white grapes @ 5tons/hr for co-fermentation of Papa Nonno
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