Evolution of a Winegrower Owners Jim and Anita Forchini first came to Sonoma County in 1963. Jim had worked 3 years in southern California as a mechanical engineer writing contracts and procurements for NASA spacecraft programs. After 5 years of product development work in Sonoma County , Jim gradually developed an interest in viticulture as a result of being surrounded by vineyards and making wine with friends. With this new acquired interest, they invested in a small ranch in the Russian River Valley which had a mix of old vineyards and prunes. They became immersed in the renaissance of the Sonoma County wine industry that was upgrading from generic vineyards to premium varietals. After acquiring additional vineyard property in Dry Creek Valley in 1973, Jim was approaching a career crossroads. Torn between the demands of private industry, a growing family, and operating 44 acres of vineyards, Jim made a career change in 1976 to devote more time to family and become a full time winegrower with the dream of someday building a winery. After Jim's career change they purchased additional property in Dry Creek and devoted full energy to the development of their vineyards and gained recognition as quality winegrowers. In 1996 the time was right to build their desired winery. Their first year production of 426 cases of estate Zinfandel won a gold medal. Over the next four years they increased production to 3000 cases. Today Forchini Vineyards & Winery makes six award winning estate grown, produced and bottled wines and remain family owned and operated. |
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