Pellegrini Wine Company is a Sonoma County-based winery that began making and selling wine in San Francisco in the early 1900’s. In 1973, the family purchased an apple orchard on Olivet Lane in the Russian River Valley, and planted one of the great Chardonnay & Pinot Noir vineyards of the area which today supplies elite producers such as Williams Selyem, Merry Edwards, and Gary Farrell with Olivet Lane vineyard designate grapes. The family’s Cloverdale Ranch vineyard north of Healdsburg in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley is the single source of fruit for their Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Cloverdale Ranch vineyard was planted in 1990 in the Alexander Valley of northern Sonoma County. It’s warm growing region that’s known for great Cabernet Sauvignon (Silver Oak, Jordan, Lancaster Estate), and Pellegrini has indeed made some outstanding vintages of Cabernet from this special vineyard in the Mayacamas mountain foothills.

Bob Pellegrini is best known for establishing Sonoma’s famed Olivet Lane Vineyard in the early 1970’s and supplying top winemakers with fruit for vineyard-designated Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Pellegrini’s winegrowing expertise is evident in this reasonably priced Alexander Valley Cabernet. It isn’t the flashiest or most concentrated California Cabernet you’ll ever come across, but there’s something special about the harmonious way that the fruit, oak, acid and tannin components of this wine come together. Every aspect is present in the right proportion, which generally indicates both quality fruit sources and the hand of gifted winemaker.