It's June in Houston and July is fast approaching. As our gardens wilt, our lawns yellow and our air conditioners run non-stop, many of us fantasize about a land far, far away from the dripping humidity and triple-digit heat. Some jet off to island getaways while others fool themselves into believing Paris and Rome can't really be as hot in the summer as Houston. They can, with far less air-conditioning.
While attending The Post Oak Wine Experience at The Post Oak Hotel last week, the digital views of Sonoma County streaming across the huge screen made me long for fields of grapevines and early morning fog rolling across the hills. Unfortunately, a California trip to wine country is not in the budget this summer. Still, I was fortunate enough to spend an evening sipping different varietals of Sonoma County wines and talking with the growers. It gave me a taste of the scenic countryside and a glimpse into the lives of its people.

Often the subject of wine and vineyards brings to mind celebrity dabblers and centuries-old European villas. And certainly, the world of vino can be glamorous and expensive. But at the heart of viticulture is agriculture itself. The grape growers are farmers first and foremost. And those growers are dependent on climate, Mother Nature and the tens of thousands of workers without whom they could not grow, harvest and bottle the very product that is their livelihood.
California's main wine-growing regions are Napa Valley and Sonoma County, both north of San Francisco. Each region varies geologically with Sonoma being much larger in size and more rural. Napa, on the other hand, has more wineries closely located together.

While both regions have growers and producers committed to sustainability, Sonoma has really taken up the challenge. According to the Sonoma County Winegrower's website, 99 percent of the vineyard acreage in Sonoma County has been certified sustainable. And 95 percent of the vineyards are family-owned and operated with many of the farms going back a few generations.
One of the key players leading the sustainability mission is Karissa Kruse, CEO and President at Sonoma County Winegrowers. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Kruse has two decades of marketing and business development. However, her passion for the preservation of Sonoma County's status as a world premier grape growing region goes beyond just the sustainability of the vineyards but extends to the sustainability of the people involved as well.

In 2016, Kruse relaunched the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation which supports vineyard employees and their families with healthcare, childcare, affordable housing and education. She calls it social sustainability. It's a cause near and dear to her heart and one she lives out with her husband, Steve Dutton, a fifth generation Sonoma County farmer, co-owner of Dutton Ranch and also a partner at Dutton-Goldfield Winery.
Their commitment to their employees is evident in the loyalty of their team. In February 2023, a longtime staff member, Jose Aceves, was awarded Sonoma County's Vineyard Employee of the Year. He's been with Dutton Ranch since 1969. His son, Chuy Aceves, is currently the vineyard manager and human resources director at the ranch, according to North Bay Business Journal.

Kruse and Dutton are not the only major figures in Sonoma County's sustainable wine scene. A walk around the ballroom where the wine event was held showed some small boutique producers as well as a couple of giants in the California wine industry. Most wine lovers have heard of Rodney Strong Vineyards and have probably tasted a number of its wines. It was founded by Rodney Strong and his wife in 1959. Strong was a pioneer in the Sonoma wine industry producing the first single-vineyard Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignons and also the first to plant Pinot Noir in Russian River Valley. The Klein family took over operations in 1989.
I enjoyed the Rodney Strong 2016 Brother's Cabernet with a berry-forward punch that gave no indication of its 15 percent APV. It's one of the Alexander Valley cabs and it gets close to the $100 mark for a bottle. The day before, I had sampled Rodney Strong Charlotte's Home Sauvignon Blanc and found it to be an impressive value at $11 to $13 a bottle. With larger producers, there is a wider selection of varietals and tiers.
As we wandered around the room, we noticed a high density of pinot noir and chardonnay offerings. Chardonnay is never my first choice but I did like the Sonoma-Cutrer 2019 Les Pierres Chardonnay and Dutton-Goldfield's 2019 Walker Hill Chardonnay. Though I tend to stick to red wines for the most part, I found the St. Francis 2022 Sauvignon Blanc to be a refreshing change from some of the pinot noir and cabernet samples. The Breathless non-vintage Brut Rose was also an excellent choice to pair with the sushi buffet, its salmon hue matching that of the salmon nigiri. It uses two of the most popular grape varieties in Sonoma; pinot noir and chardonnay. It runs less than $40.

There were over 30 producers with each offering at least three samples. Needless to say, I did not try every single one despite doing a lot of pouring out and rinsing. I love wine but I don't claim to have the most sophisticated palate and after a while, it was a struggle to differentiate between peppery, fruity, plummy and chocolatey.
However, there were memorable stand outs. Evan Scheidler, of Jackson Family Wines' Anakota vineyard, took us through three samples of Cabernet Sauvignon from two separate small vineyards;  Helena Dakota and Helena Montana. The Helena Montana was smoother and more velvety while the Helena Dakota delivered a strong mineral kick indicative of its volcanic soil in the Knights Valley. Both wines retail for well over $100 a bottle for a reason. The vigneron for the two vineyards, Pierre Seillan, learned about terroir and winemaking in his native France and that experience has led to wines that express their soil and climate in the mouth.
My favorite out of the 20 or so wines that I tried was the 2017 Rockfall Cabernet Sauvignon from Stonestreet Estate. Winemaker Stacy Hornemann was supposed to do a wine dinner at Brennan's June 6 but it was unfortunately cancelled. Stonestreet Estate is also part of Jackson Family Wines which many people would recognize from its first established winery, Kendall-Jackson.

While the contemporary chicness of The Post Oak Hotel in Uptown added a posh vibe to the wine experience, there was still a sense of camaraderie as many of the growers have known each other for years. The vintners and producers were very passionate and ready to talk about their wines.
Meeting the people behind the wines was like meeting the vendors and farmers at local Farmers Markets. It puts a face to a product that requires a lot of sweat and tears to get out to the consumer. And as more of us become aware of our social and environmental footprints on the planet, the mission of sustainability is one we can and should embrace. For the earth and for humanity.

And, as Kruse said in her 2022 Tedx Talk, "Plan for what's next and drink the good stuff today."