Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1249
When the already historic winery was purchased by Italian-Americans Enrico Parducci and Peter Domenici in 1941, the name was changed to Valley of the Moon—a brand with increasingly high visibility among wine consumers. Sonoma County's Gary Heck, owner of Korbel Champagne Cellars, obtained the winery in 1997 as part of his purchase of Kenwood Vineyards, not far away. Re- taining the poetic name and the brand equity that came with it, Heck completed a transformation that would bring Valley of the Moon into the modern era. A Blend of Old and New Today, the visitor-friendly winery incorporates state-of-the-art green technology into architectural footprints and stone walls from buildings built in the 1880s. The mechanical infrastructure that makes Valley of the Moon a cutting-edge contemporary winery is hidden from view, leaving the place as tranquil as it might have been a century or more ago. "Zinfandel accounts for about half the acreage here," notes Winemaker Greg Winter as he takes us on a tour. Zinfandel is also the 50,000-case winery's best- selling red, most of it hitting retail shelves as the Sonoma County Zinfandel bottling. The twisted, gnarled Zinfandel vines visible along Madrone Road are 70 years old and provide fruit for a limited-released Valley of the Moon Old Vine Zin. Underground geothermal activity in Sonoma Valley not only feeds nearby hot spring resorts but also makes the area of the winery a "banana belt," where frost protection is generally not needed. ma Gnarled 70-year-old vines contrib- ute to Valley of the Moon's excep- tional Old Vine Zinfandel.