WILLIAMSON FAMILY
. . . four generations have chosen Healdsburg . . .
We Came for a Business Trip
We came here from Australia for a business trip.
That was the plan, anyway.
Then we discovered the valleys of Northern California—and stayed.
It didn't take long to understand why. Nature had already done much of the work. Within a relatively small area, Napa and Sonoma offered an extraordinary collection of soils, elevations, temperatures, and microclimates capable of growing many of the world's great wine grapes.
Napa Valley, with its powerful Cabernet Sauvignon, reminded us of Bordeaux's Left Bank. Dry Creek Valley, with its warmer days and distinctive soils, brought to mind the Merlot-driven wines of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol.
Russian River Valley had something entirely different. Its cool climate was remarkably suited to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, while the rocky hillsides surrounding the valleys offered conditions well suited to Rhône varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.
And the remarkable thing was that these different worlds were all within a short drive of one another.
Making Wine—But Not Just Wine
We make French-style wines because, in many cases, that's what our vineyards seem to ask us to make.
But we don't try to make French wine.
We make California wine with a French sensibility.
Our vineyards are sustainably farmed, with an emphasis on low yields and fully ripened fruit. We make single-vineyard, single-varietal wines to understand what each site can produce. Those wines then become the building blocks for our blends.
Some follow familiar traditions—Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Others take a different path, including Sparkling Malbec and Sparkling Shiraz.
And because wine has always been about the table for us, our chefs create food to go with it.
We don't sell our wines through stores or restaurants. We share them with our wine-club members, around dinner tables, at winery events, and on trips around the world.
What started as a business trip became a new life.
We came to California to make wine. We stayed because we discovered a place where we could make wine our own way.
Yep.
Been there. Done that.