The producer
Fred Cline opened Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in 2007 carrying his grandfather's surname, not his own. Valeriano Jacuzzi had arrived from Casarsa, in Friuli, northeastern Italy, in 1920, bought 161 acres in Contra Costa County, and during the Depression planted a section of it with Zinfandel, Carignane, and Mourvèdre for home use. Fred grew up on that farm in the early 1970s, learned to read what the vines needed, studied Agricultural Management at UC Davis, and built a winemaking career before returning to the grape choices from those Depression-era rows. The winery in Sonoma, on Arnold Drive near the southern end of the valley, carries Valeriano's name and his grape choices forward.
The range leans into Italian varietals that rarely appear on California labels: Primitivo, Barbera, Sagrantino, and Arneis alongside the Zinfandel and Mourvèdre that Valeriano first planted. Tom Gendall, born in Christchurch, New Zealand, has led the cellar since 2019, following a vine-led approach that favours freshness and fruit expression over extracted weight. Fred and Nancy Cline's seven children carry the tradition on.
Known for
California-grown Italian varietals: Primitivo, Barbera, Sagrantino, and Arneis alongside Zinfandel and Mourvèdre
Notable facts
- The Jacuzzi name on the label belongs to Fred Cline's maternal grandfather, Valeriano Jacuzzi, not to the winery as a brand invention.
- Valeriano Jacuzzi worked at Jacuzzi Brothers Inc. in Berkeley, the factory that developed the bath spa that turned the family name into a household word; the winery carries the other branch of that story.
- Valeriano planted his first vines in 1936 under a California home-winemaking permit that allowed no more than 200 gallons, roughly 84 cases, per year.
- The original 1936 planting used the same three grapes, Zinfandel, Carignane, and Mourvèdre, that Fred Cline later built the winery's grape choices around.
- Fred Cline's seven children are all involved in carrying on the winemaking traditions he learned from his grandfather.
From the atlas
Jacuzzi Family Vineyards
At A Glance
| |
| Producer | Jacuzzi Family Vineyards |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Location | Sonoma, California |
| Focus | California-grown Italian varietals |
| Winemaker | Tom Gendall (Head Winemaker since 2019) |
| Signature bottle | Can of Zin |
The Producer
Fred Cline opened Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in 2007 carrying his grandfather's surname, not his own. That choice is the key to understanding what the winery is: a Sonoma producer built around Italian grapes, Zinfandel, Primitivo, Barbera, Sagrantino, Arneis, and Mourvèdre, grapes that Valeriano Jacuzzi would have planted by hand in northern Italy before he ever set foot in California.
The range sits at the approachable end of the California spectrum. These are not collected, reserve-tier bottles. They are wines built for the table, drawing on a varietal language most California producers ignore. Sagrantino from Umbria, Barbera from Piedmont, Arneis from Roero: each one planted in California soil and made under a Sonoma label that most people associate with a whirlpool bath rather than a vineyard row.
Tom Gendall has led the cellar since 2019. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, he worked at notable wineries before arriving in California in 2011 and joining Jacuzzi as Assistant Winemaker in 2016. His stated approach is vine-led: watch what the vines ask for, and respond accordingly.
Place
The tasting room is on Arnold Drive, Highway 121 in Sonoma, a road that runs through the southern edge of Sonoma Valley toward Carneros. That corridor carries the maritime air off San Pablo Bay, which moderates summer heat and slows ripening. The Italian varietals Jacuzzi plants are suited to that kind of climate: grapes from regions of high diurnal range and warm but not torrid summers, where acidity holds and the fruit does not go soft.
The winery's origin, however, lies east of Sonoma in Contra Costa County, where Valeriano Jacuzzi farmed 161 acres from the 1930s onward. That inland geography is warmer and drier, and it is where Zinfandel first became a Jacuzzi grape. Current sourcing details across the full range are not confirmed, but the Italian-varietal logic threads from Contra Costa to Sonoma across three generations.
Soil And Site
The Contra Costa County farm where Valeriano planted in 1936 is the only confirmed vineyard site in the packet. Specific soil profiles for current Jacuzzi vineyard sources are not documented. What the range reflects, whatever the soil beneath, is a commitment to varietals that demand warm days and cool nights to stay balanced: Sagrantino needs sun to soften its tannin, Barbera needs cool air to keep its acidity, and Zinfandel needs drainage to avoid overproduction.
Story
Valeriano Jacuzzi left Casarsa, in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy, in 1920 with his wife Giuseppina and the remaining Jacuzzi family. They settled in California, and Valeriano returned to work at Jacuzzi Brothers Inc. in Berkeley, a factory that made water well pumps and eventually developed the bath spa that turned the family name into a household word. Valeriano's branch of the family took a different course. He bought 161 acres in Contra Costa County and farmed them through the Depression years, eventually planting vines in 1936 with help from his older children.
Fred Cline spent time on that farm in the early 1970s, working the rows his grandfather had planted. The grapes were the same ones an Italian immigrant would have grown at home: Zinfandel, Carignane, Mourvèdre. Fred went on to study Agricultural Management at UC Davis, where he met his wife Nancy. He spent decades building a winemaking career before returning to the grape choices of his grandfather's farm. In 2007, he opened Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma, naming the winery after Valeriano and extending the Italian-varietal line into Primitivo, Barbera, Sagrantino, and Arneis alongside the original Zinfandel and Mourvèdre. Fred and Nancy's seven children carry the tradition forward.
Vineyards And Cellar
The Italian-varietal focus shapes both what gets planted and how the range is approached. Primitivo, the southern Italian grape closely related to Zinfandel, produces wine that is described as fresh and youthful rather than concentrated and extracted. Barbera, known in Piedmont for high natural acidity and deep colour, brings a different structural note to the reds. Sagrantino, from the Umbrian hill town of Montefalco, is one of the most tannic grape varieties grown anywhere and demands careful timing in the cellar to avoid hardness.
Tom Gendall's philosophy is to follow the vine's signals rather than impose a winemaking template. The practical consequence across the range is wines that lean toward fruit expression and drinkability rather than age-first architecture, with the Cabernet Sauvignon as the exception: that bottle carries tannic weight and is built to continue developing after release.
Wines
The range divides into Italian-focused reds, a Zinfandel-led blend, and a group of whites.
Can of Zin is 80% Zinfandel and 20% Mourvèdre. It is the bottle that most directly echoes the 1936 Contra Costa planting, which used exactly those two grapes. At 13.5% alcohol, it is built for early drinking: blueberry and dark cherry on the nose, with violet, clove, and a thread of mint, and a fruity, youthful register throughout. The Mourvèdre adds grip and a darker, more savoury note to what would otherwise be a purely fruit-forward Zinfandel.
Primitivo occupies the lighter, more approachable end of the Italian reds: fresh and immediate rather than dense or extracted. Barbera is aromatic, with bright fruit flavors and a long, subtle finish. Sagrantino is the most demanding bottle in the range: a grape with thick skins and aggressive tannin that needs time or the right food to come into focus.
Cabernet Sauvignon stands apart from the Italian-varietal core. Deep purple with an almost inky centre, it carries dark black fruit, spice, and a long, tannic finish. It is the bottle with the most declared aging potential in the range.
White wines including Pinot Grigio, Arneis, and Moscato are in the portfolio, though their sensory profiles are less fully documented.
In The Glass
Can of Zin opens with blue and dark red fruit, blueberry and dark cherry given brightness by a violet top note. Clove and mint pull the nose away from sweetness and toward something more herbal. In the mouth, the wine is round and fruity, with the Mourvèdre component adding a meaty, slightly darker undercurrent and a firmer edge than Zinfandel alone would give. The finish is relatively brief and fruit-led.
Primitivo comes across as fresh and youthful: light on its feet, without the concentration that some California reds pursue. Barbera leads with its characteristic acidity and deep plum colour, the kind of wine that cuts through rich food rather than demanding attention on its own. Sagrantino is the structural opposite: dense tannin requiring either patience or a fatty preparation to soften it.
The Cabernet Sauvignon is the range's formal wine. Dark fruit and spice on the palate, tannic grip through the mid-palate, and a long finish that holds after the fruit has cleared. It is the bottle built for a cellar rather than an immediate opening.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with Can of Zin. It is 80% Zinfandel and 20% Mourvèdre, which is the same pairing Valeriano Jacuzzi planted in Contra Costa County in 1936, and it is the bottle connecting the winery's Italian-American heritage to the glass. The Zinfandel gives blueberry, dark cherry, and a slightly spiced sweetness; the Mourvèdre gives grip, a savourier note, and a darker edge that stops the wine from reading as simple fruit. At 13.5% alcohol, it does not overwhelm. Drink it now, without ceremony, with food or without.
Anecdote
In 1936, Valeriano Jacuzzi planted a section of his 161-acre Contra Costa County farm with vines, working alongside his older children at the depth of the Great Depression. California law allowed home winemakers a permit for 200 gallons per year, roughly 84 cases, and no more. He chose Zinfandel, Carignane, and Mourvèdre: the grapes an immigrant family from Friuli would have grown in a kitchen garden, brought to California clay and planted in hard times because wine was part of the table, not a luxury. Forty years later, his grandson Fred Cline worked those same rows as a young man, learning to read what the vines needed by watching what Valeriano had put in the ground. When Fred opened Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in 2007, the Italian varietals his grandfather had chosen were still the centre of the range.
Final Word
Jacuzzi Family Vineyards makes a clear argument: that California has room for Italian grapes, and that the argument started not in 2007 but in 1936 on a Contra Costa County farm during the Depression. Fred Cline named the winery after his grandfather, not himself, and the range follows that logic. Sagrantino, Barbera, Primitivo, Arneis: grapes that barely appear on California labels, grown here because a family from Friuli decided they belonged.
Sources
- https://www.jacuzziwines.com/about-us
- https://www.jacuzziwines.com/people
- https://www.jacuzziwines.com/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/2003714/
- https://americanwineryguide.com/winery-reviews/jacuzzi-family-vineyards-review/
- https://winespies.com/sales/636-jacuzzi-family-vineyards-2006-cabernet-sauvignon