Sonoma County SOMM Camp 2025

There are trips you take because they are part of the job. And then there are trips that mark something. When Meridith May of The SOMM Journal invited me to join SOMM Camp 2025 in Sonoma County, I accepted without hesitation. What I did not say out loud yet, was that this would be my last trip as wine sourcing manager at Ahold Delhaize. A chapter was quietly closing. Another, was about to begin.

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July 30 — Arrival

The plane from Charlotte connects through Phoenix before landing in Santa Rosa — a small, unhurried airport that immediately signals you have arrived somewhere that does things at its own pace. I like that about Sonoma. I had been here before, but the place still manages to feel like a discovery.

That evening, we gathered for the opening dinner at Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg. One of Sonoma’s pioneering estates, Rodney Strong has been a fixture of Alexander Valley since the 1960s. But what struck me was not the history. It was how deliberately they are looking forward. The winery has invested heavily in sustainability and technology. The commitment feels genuine rather than foreced. Over dinner, the conversation kept returning to the same question: what does it mean to make wine responsibly in a region facing an increasingly uncertain climate? A fitting opening for a camp that would spend the next three days asking difficult questions.

I did not know anyone at the table that evening. By the end of it, I had met people I would not forget. Shannon Saulsbury, Krishna Chapatwal, Nicole Haarklau, Arthur Pescan. A group of true professionals who wore their knowledge lightly, which is always the mark of the real thing.

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July 31 — A Full Day in Sonoma

I was up before six. The mornings in Sonoma in late July are something to enjoy. Coming from Charlotte, where summer mornings arrive heavy and humid, stepping outside into cool, fog-wrapped air envigorates. I put on my running shoes and went into the vineyards.

By 8:30 we were at DeLoach Vineyards in Santa Rosa for the first seminar of the day: Crossing Borders & Common Threads — A Comparative Tasting of Cool Climate Wines from Sonoma County and Victoria, Australia. The Australian producers brought to the table — Chalmers, Attwoods, Handpicked Wines — were unfamiliar to me, which made the analysis sharper and more honest. When you have no preconceptions, you taste differently.

At noon, we drove to Ram’s Gate Winery for lunch. Ram’s Gate sits at the southern edge of Sonoma County, near the Carneros appellation, close enough to San Francisco Bay that on a clear day the geography of it makes perfect sense. The estate is striking and the setting, with views rolling toward the bay, is the kind that makes you want to stay far longer than the schedule allows. The seminar focused on sustainability and its effect on the wines, and the wines made the argument better than any presentation could.

The afternoon took us to MacMurray Ranch in Healdsburg for a seminar on terroir — The Tapestry of Terroir: From Sustainability to Soil. The range of wines poured, including further expressions from Attwoods and Chalmers, continued to build the picture of what the camp was really about: not deciding which region wins, but understanding why the question itself is interesting.

Dinner that evening was at St. Francis Winery in Santa Rosa. A warm, generous end to a full day.

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August 1 — The Last Day

Another early run. I was starting to understand Sonoma’s rhythm.

Breakfast was at Banshee Winery in Geyserville, where the seminar Style Mavens tackled how microclimates and elevations shape flavour profiles across the county. The lineup was broad: Pinot, Cabernet, Chardonnay from across Sonoma’s many appellations. One wine quieted the room.

The Merry Edwards Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. I am not given to hyperbole about individual wines, but this one had that quality you rarely encounter. A completeness, a sense that nothing is missing and nothing is excessive. It is the kind of wine that does not ask for your attention. It earns it.

Lunch was hosted by Trinchero Family Estates at Asahi Sushi & Kitchen in Healdsburg. A welcome change of pace, a lightness after days of immersion.

Then came the afternoon, and the moment I keep returning to.

The Truck Talk and Vineyard Immersion, sponsored by Sonoma Valley Winegrowers, brought us into conversation with George Martinelli of Martinelli Winery. The Martinelli family has been farming in Russian River Valley since the 1880s as Italian immigrants who planted roots, literally and otherwise, and never left. To hear him speak about the land was to be reminded why any of this matters. There is a kind of knowledge that only comes from time. Not from study, not from travel, not from tasting thousands of bottles. From staying. From watching the same hillside across decades. That afternoon felt like a privilege.

The closing dinner was at Dutton Ranch in Russian River Valley. The Dutton family, another generational pillar of Sonoma, provided a fitting final chapter.

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After

A few weeks later, I formally left Ahold Delhaize and launched Vintaflow.

The best wines don’t just carry a place — they carry time. Three days in Sonoma reminded me that what makes a wine. It is what accumulates, slowly, across generations. You can’t rush that. You can only pay attention while it’s happening.

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Sonomo County SOMM Camp 2025 was organised by The SOMM Journal. Thank you to Meridith May for the invitation, and to Shannon Saulsbury, Krishna Chapatwal, Nicole Haarklau, and Arthur Pescan for the company and the conversation.