Martinelli
3360 River Road
Windsor, CA 95492
(707) 525-0570
Winemaker: Courtney Wagoner
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The Martinelli family has been growing grapes and making wine in Sonoma County since the 1880s. The Martinelli family
produces small lots of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, and Zinfandel produced from estate grown grapes. These vineyards are
meticulously farmed by Lee Martinelli Sr., and his two sons, Lee, Jr. and George, continuing five generations of the proud family
legacy of care-taking the land.
Helen Turley helped shape the Martinelli vineyards and winemaking style during her tenure as consulting winemaker from
1992 to 2010. The Martinelli‘s worked with Helen from beginning to end; analyzing soil samples, choosing rootstocks, varietals
and clones that were best suited to a particular growing site, employing seasonal primping and pruning in the field, and
creating the final blends for the finished wine. Bryan Kvamme was hired in 1996 as assistant winemaker and eventually took
over the reins as winemaker for Martinelli in 2007.
The Martinelli vineyards are located in Russian River Valley, Green Valley of Russian River, and Sonoma Coast Appellations.
The terroir of each vineyard is what creates the “personality” of each wine and showcases the full range of diversity between
them. All of the vineyards are heavily thinned to yield between one to three tons of fruit per acre. At harvest time the grapes
are hand selected according to taste and are fermented with wild yeast in French oak barrels. The wines are minimally
handled with true handcrafted artistry; they are neither hot nor cold stabilized, and are unfined and unfiltered.
