Dry Creek Vineyard sits on Lambert Bridge Road in Healdsburg, on the property that David S. Stare chose in 1972 as the site for the first new winery built in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley since Prohibition. Stare had been working as a civil engineer in the Boston area when a trip to France and the wines of the Loire Valley and Bordeaux redirected his life. He moved his family across the country and set about building something in Dry Creek Valley that had not existed there for decades. The winery he built went on to establish several California wine firsts and remains one of the most recognized names in Dry Creek Valley.

David Stare and the founding of Dry Creek Vineyard

David S. Stare came to winemaking through a French detour. In June of 1970 he and his family spent two weeks in France, where the wines of the Loire Valley and Bordeaux made an impression that overrode his career trajectory as a civil engineer. He returned, did his research, and chose Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County as the site for his winery.

The move was deliberate and the result was direct: Dry Creek Vineyard, which opened in 1972, was the first new winery built in the valley since the days of Prohibition. The valley had a long winemaking history before Prohibition wiped it out, and Stare’s arrival was the first significant step in its revival. He arrived not just with a winery in mind but with a specific vision for the wines — Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire style, Zinfandel from the old vines that had survived in the valley, and Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style blends that the climate and soils could support.

The winery that put Dry Creek Valley on the map — first new operation since Prohibition, first Sauvignon Blanc in the region, and the originator of the Meritage name.

Firsts: Sauvignon Blanc, Meritage, and the Dry Creek Valley AVA

Stare planted Sauvignon Blanc at Dry Creek Vineyard when no one else in the region was growing it, establishing the winery as the first to introduce the variety to Dry Creek Valley. The resulting wine, styled in the manner of Loire Valley Fume Blanc and labeled as such, became one of the winery’s most enduring signatures. The Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc helped demonstrate that California could produce world-class Sauvignon Blanc and that the Loire reference point was a legitimate model.

Stare also played a central role in establishing the Meritage designation. Meritage — a portmanteau of “merit” and “heritage” — was coined as a category name for American wines made in the Bordeaux style from the classic Bordeaux grape varieties, and Dry Creek Vineyard was among the first to use it officially. The designation filled a gap in the American wine labeling system for blended wines that did not qualify as varietals under existing law, and it gave producers a way to market Bordeaux-style blends on their own terms.

Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel and what the AVA produces

Dry Creek Valley earned its AVA designation in 1983, formalizing a growing reputation built substantially on Zinfandel. The valley runs roughly eight miles north to south, bounded by benchland ridges on the east and west, with alluvial fans at the valley floor and volcanic and sedimentary soils on the slopes. The result is significant variation within a small area: valley-floor Zinfandel tends toward rich, plummy, and immediate, while slope Zinfandel from older vines carries more structure, complexity, and aging potential.

Dry Creek Vineyard has been producing Zinfandel from this environment since before the AVA existed, working with old-vine blocks that in some cases predate Prohibition. Old vines produce less fruit per vine and fewer clusters per shoot, which concentrates the remaining fruit and produces the kind of intensity that younger, higher-yield blocks cannot match. The winery’s Zinfandel lineup spans multiple expressions of the valley’s range, from the rich and accessible to the structured and age-worthy.

Pairing Dry Creek Vineyard wines with food

Dry Creek Vineyard produces wines across two broad structural profiles that call for different pairing approaches. The Fume Blanc — high acid, herbaceous, with the citrus and stone fruit character that distinguishes California Sauvignon Blanc from the grassier Loire style — pairs naturally with seafood, fresh goat cheese, green vegetables, and salads where acidity is welcome. The acid in the wine acts as a seasoning on the palate, brightening flavors the way lemon does in cooking.

Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel pairs differently. The variety’s natural high alcohol and ripe fruit concentration mean it needs food with equal weight: grilled lamb, slow-braised short rib, barbecued meats, aged hard cheeses, and spiced preparations where the wine’s warmth and fruit provide counterbalance to strong flavors. Old-vine Zinfandel with structure can handle the same range as Cabernet Sauvignon at the dinner table. The Meritage blends occupy the middle ground, built for roasted meat, game, and aged cow’s-milk cheeses.

Dry Creek Vineyard: common questions