Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery

Since 1985, Ferrari-Carano has been a leading producer of world-class, nationally-acclaimed wines. Vintage after vintage, the wines exhibit a remarkable consistency of style and elegance. Don and Rhonda Carano’s uncompromising commitment to quality and excellence is a reflection of their desire to produce memorable wines that enhance the pleasures of gracious entertaining.

The fact that the winery’s name incorporates the word “Vineyards” is a deliberate way to emphasize that grape source and terroir play important roles in the final product. From a small, 30-acre plot of grapes purchased in 1979, to today’s 19 estate vineyards in six different appellations totaling over 1,500 acres, Ferrari-Carano owns some of the finest wine growing properties in all of California.

Directed by Don Carano and orchestrated under the supervision of Steve Domenichelli, Director of Vineyard Operations, Ferrari-Carano’s vineyard practices are extremely labor intensive. Steve and his team implement irrigation and nutrient regimes, trellis system and canopy management, rootstock and clone combinations, and pruning and cane selection for each vineyard site and each block within a vineyard. Because of Sonoma, Napa/Carneros and Mendocino County's diverse geological makeup, even within one vineyard parcel there may be several different types of soil with different degrees of nutrients for vines and water-holding capacity.

Steve and his team have long practiced sustainable farming techniques, such as recycling organic matter for use as mulch in the vineyards, planting cover crops and other plant species to avoid soil erosion and to add desirable nutrients back to the soil as well as attract desirable insects, and integrating animals to naturally enhance biodiversity and nutrient recycling.