Remember the dot-com crash of 2000? For all its horrors, the bust provided at least one happy ending. Combined with a chance encounter on the tennis courts at Maxwell Farms Regional Park, it set the stage for a connection between two men who discovered common ground in their passion for pinot noir.
Craig Haserot had been a software salesman until the crash, while Erich Bradley was making wine – and a name for himself – at Audelssa.
“We met playing tennis,” said Haserot, “and we both wanted to make our own wine.” The two explored the possibilities. Bradley wasn’t interested in the details of owning a winery – sales, marketing, daily operations – but he loved making wine. He and Haserot realized they didn’t have to operate a full-fledged winery to produce their own wine.
In 2000, they launched Sojourn Cellars, starting with 125 cases of 2001 Glen Ellen cabernet sauvignon, which Bradley made at Audelssa. Four years later, the partners began making pinot noir from grapes picked at the Sangiacomo Vineyards in the Sonoma Coast appellation.
“This was pre-‘Sideways,’” said Haserot, referring to the 2004 film that attracted unprecedented and mostly unanticipated worldwide attention to California pinot noir. What he and Bradley were doing out of love turned out to be an incredibly fortuitous business move. Since that watershed year, Sojourn’s production of pinot noir has increased tenfold: by 2008, it had grown to 2,500 cases, compared to 1,000 cases of cabernet sauvignon. Every year, the company adds new vineyards that Bradley or Haserot has found. This year, they will produce three cabernets and six pinot noirs, a ratio that reflects their shared preference for the latter varietal.
A few weeks ago, the partners opened a tasting salon in a modest bungalow half-a-block east of the Plaza. The Sojourn Cellars Tasting Salon concept is notable for several reasons. For one thing, guests are treated to a personal, 45-minute seated session, conducted by either the winemaking staff or the principals. For another, tastings are by appointment only, allowing the staff control over the number of visitors at any given time. Perhaps most importantly, there is no charge for tasting the wines, which are served in appropriate Reidel glassware.
“We wanted to establish a comfortable, inviting location where wine lovers could gather and meet us. Our customers tend to be more wine savvy and a little wine-geekier” than average, said Haserot, so it was important to keep things on a scale that accommodates conversation.
According to Haserot, part of the significance of the Sojourn name is its connotation of “rest, relaxation and respite.” Appropriately, the label is adorned with a simple image of a high-end lawn chair.
There are no lawn chairs at the salon, but it is quite low-key, with taupe walls, bare wood floors and a wooden rectangular tasting table. The rest of the L-shaped room is modestly furnished with a leather sofa and decorated with color photographs of vineyards and winemaking paraphernalia.
Aside from the tasting room, Sojourn Cellars wines can be found locally at El Dorado Kitchen, Della Santina’s and Farm at the Carneros Inn. Most are sold directly, Haserot explained, because of the acclaim lavished on the pinots by the wine press.
In Greg Walter’s highly-regarded Pinot Report, for example, Erich Bradley was named one of “Pinot’s Rising Stars of 2006” in the 2007 Pinot Passion Awards issue. Walters, a Sonoma resident, also rated the 2006 Sojourn Cellars Sangiacomo Vineyards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir at 96 points. And while a Sun reporter and photographer were at the salon last week, word arrived that one of the cabs had just won a gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition tasting.
Sojourn Cellars Tasting Salon, 141 E. Napa St., is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment only (707.938.7212) for up to 12 guests. For more details, visit the Web site sojourncellars.com. No appointments are necessary during the Valentine’s Day weekend open house on Saturday, Feb. 14 and Sunday, Feb. 15, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., when wines will be paired with chocolates, at no charge.
