Acorn Winery

Located in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, Acorn Winery is tiny like its namesake, producing less than 3,000 cases annually. All the grapes for Acorn's wines come from Alegría Vineyards, which surrounds the winery.

Acorn's wines include Zinfandel, Dolcetto, Sangiovese, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Rosato (a dry rosé), plus Acorn Hill and Medley, both proprietary blends. Every wine Acorn produces is a field-blend.

A field blend is when multiple grape varieties are grown, harvested, crushed, and co-fermented together. The melding of flavors from the different grapes starts at the very beginning of the winemaking process—on the day the grapes are picked.

When Bill and Betsy Nachbaur purchased Alegría Vineyards in 1990, they became stewards of property that has been farmed since the 1850s. They started began by reviving the century-old Zinfandel field-blend vineyard. Then they planted 18 acres of new vines. Alegría Vineyards now includes 27 acres planted with Zinfandel, Syrah, Sangiovese, Dolcetto, Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet, and many lesser-known varieties. 

The original 1890s vineyard is a “field blend” where complementary varieties are planted among the Zinfandel vines. All the varieties are picked together, so the wine is blended from the day of harvest. They continued the field-blend model with our new plantings, so every Acorn wine is a field blend.

In 1996, they established Acorn Winery and released their first wine.