From the atlas
Seghesio Family Vineyards
At A Glance
- Where: Sonoma County, California
- Established: 1895, at Home Ranch in northern Alexander Valley
- Core grape: Zinfandel
- Also in the story: Sangiovese vines planted in 1910
- Look for: Sonoma Zinfandel, Old Vine Zinfandel and Cortina Zinfandel
- Useful first bottle: 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel
The Producer
Seghesio Family Vineyards is a Sonoma County producer whose name has been tied to Zinfandel since Edoardo and Angela Seghesio planted Home Ranch in northern Alexander Valley in 1895. Their first wines followed in 1902, and Zinfandel became the family speciality because it was planted, grown and sold through several generations of the business. The present range keeps that grape at the centre, moving from a Sonoma County bottling to old-vine and named-vineyard wines.
The estate now works with more than 300 acres across Sonoma County. That spread matters on the label: Sonoma Zinfandel is the broad regional wine, while Cortina narrows the focus to a named vineyard. The producer has been owned by Crimson Wine Group since 2011, following the sale of the Healdsburg winery, brand, inventory and vineyard land.
Place
Sonoma County is the broad address for Seghesio’s Zinfandel, and northern Alexander Valley is the more specific home of its first vineyard. Home Ranch connects the founding family to a particular valley and year, rather than treating “Sonoma” as a single uniform place. On a bottle labelled Sonoma Zinfandel, fruit can come from the producer’s Sonoma growing areas; on a named-vineyard wine such as Cortina, the vineyard name becomes part of the wine’s frame.
That distinction helps explain the range. The county bottling is built as a regional expression of Zinfandel, while an old-vine wine brings the estate’s long planting history closer to the foreground. Cortina takes the next step by attaching the grape to a named source and a separate 2023 cellar treatment.
Soil And Site
The documented site story begins with vineyards rather than a catalogue of soil types. Edoardo and Angela bought 56 acres, planted Home Ranch in northern Alexander Valley, and made their first wines there in 1902. Seghesio’s present vineyard footprint extends across Sonoma County, so the wines can move between a county designation and a named-vineyard bottling without pretending that every parcel tastes alike.
Another physical marker is the family’s 1910 Sangiovese planting, identified by the regional winegrowers’ body as North America’s oldest Sangiovese vines. Sangiovese is not the lead grape in the supplied Zinfandel range, but those vines keep the Seghesio story connected to the Italian varieties Edoardo and Angela brought into Sonoma farming.
Story
Edoardo Seghesio arrived in Sonoma County in 1886. After he and Angela established their vineyards, the family built a business around growing grapes as well as making wine. During Prohibition, that agricultural base kept the operation active as a grape supplier; after Edoardo’s death, Angela continued to run the winery.
By the mid-1970s, Seghesio processed more than one-quarter of Sonoma County’s grape crop. In 1993, the family redirected the business toward higher-quality wine production. The modern Zinfandels come from that turn: bottles made to distinguish Sonoma County, old vines and Cortina rather than a bulk-wine operation built chiefly around volume.
Vineyards And Cellar
Seghesio combines its old-vine history with current sustainable vineyard management and a sustainability certification. The practical result is a range organised by source: a Sonoma County wine, an Old Vine Zinfandel and a Cortina vineyard wine. Vine age supplies history and fruit source, but the tasting evidence—not the age statement alone—has to carry the claim about structure or finish.
In the cellar, the 2023 Cortina departed from conventional barrel élevage through the use of concrete. That choice separates Cortina from a straightforward oak-led description and gives the named-vineyard wine its own production detail. The 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel, by contrast, includes vanilla and oak among its documented aromas and flavours, with coffee and chocolate notes alongside dark fruit.
Wines
The Sonoma Zinfandel is the broad regional bottle: 2023 tasting material records ripe blackberry, raspberry and dark cherry, with mint, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and oak. Its acidity, texture, tannin and finish are all part of the documented profile, so it is more than a ripe-fruit Zinfandel.
Old Vine Zinfandel shifts the emphasis toward Seghesio’s older vineyard material. Producer notes distinguish it through fruit concentration, structure and finish, making it a different expression from the county bottling rather than simply a grander label. Cortina Zinfandel is the named-vineyard branch of the range; its 2023 concrete élevage places a specific cellar decision alongside the vineyard name.
In The Glass
Start with the 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel’s blackberry, raspberry and dark-cherry fruit, then notice the mint before coffee, chocolate, vanilla and oak broaden the aroma. On the palate, the wine’s acidity keeps the fruit moving, while tannin supplies grip and texture instead of leaving a soft, sweet impression. The finish carries dark fruit and oak-derived notes beyond the first mouthful.
Across the range, the useful comparison is structural. Sonoma Zinfandel offers the county-wide frame and a documented balance of fruit, acidity, texture and tannin. Old Vine Zinfandel is described with more concentration and structure; Cortina adds named-vineyard focus and concrete élevage. Those are three ways of approaching Zinfandel, not three claims that one bottle automatically outranks another.
A Bottle To Understand It
Begin with the 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel. It is Seghesio’s regional Zinfandel, so the Sonoma County label introduces the producer’s main grape without narrowing immediately to one vineyard. Expect blackberry, raspberry and dark cherry, followed by mint, coffee, chocolate, vanilla and oak; acidity, tannin and texture keep the fruit firm through the finish. It comes first because the bottle joins the estate’s Sonoma setting, long Zinfandel history and current range in one glass.
Anecdote
During Prohibition, Seghesio did not simply wait for wine production to return. The family remained a grape supplier and shipped grapes by rail to out-of-state home winemakers, where making wine at home was legal. The vineyard business therefore continued moving fruit while commercial wine production faced restriction. Angela Seghesio was running the winery after Edoardo’s death, and the rail shipments became part of the family’s working routine during those years. Grapes left Sonoma by train for home winemakers elsewhere, while Home Ranch and the rest of the family’s vineyard work remained commercially active.
Final Word
Seghesio is most clearly understood through Zinfandel’s changing frame: Sonoma County fruit in the regional bottle, older vines in Old Vine Zinfandel, and a named vineyard with concrete élevage in Cortina. The 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel makes that history tangible through dark fruit, acidity, tannin and oak.
Sources
- https://www.seghesio.com/story/
- https://sonomawinegrape.org/profile/the-seghesio-family/
- https://zinfandel.org/wineries/seghesio/
- https://www.crimsonwinegroup.com/brands/seghesio-family-vineyards/
- https://www.winespectator.com/articles/exclusive-seghesio-family-sells-historic-winery-45113
- https://www.seghesio.com/wine/2023-sonoma-zinfandel-375-collection/
- https://www.seghesio.com/newsletters/april-2025/
- https://www.seghesio.com/wine/old-vine-zinfandel/
- https://www.kenswineguide.com/wine_review/Seghesio-2023-Sonoma-County-Zinfandel/