More than 30 years ago, George Unti—the son of a logger and farmer who emigrated from Tuscany—began planting his Mediterranean wine dream in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley. Unti, who had learned to prune vines and make wine with his dad in grade school, had a successful, decades-long career as a California supermarket executive.

But when he bought a house in wine country surrounded by Zinfandel vineyards and raw land, he wanted to return to his family’s agricultural roots. He and his son Mick began regrafting and replanting with a vision drawn from trips to France’s Rhône Valley and Italy.