Lasseter Family Winery
There is a Zinfandel block here planted in 1919 with eight varieties interplanted through it, and the estate tour drives you into it. John and Nancy Lasseter bought the Glen Ellen ground a French winemaker had founded in 1894 and farmed it organic.1
Why go
The Lasseters met at a computer graphics conference in San Francisco in 1985.1 They honeymooned in Sonoma County and moved to the valley in the early nineties to raise five children.1 By 1997 they were bottling their own Bordeaux blend and handing it out at Christmas.1 They bought a Glen Ellen winery and vineyard a French winemaker founded in 1894, and converted the farming to organic.1 2025 was their twentieth estate vintage.1
Three vineyards feed it. Justi Creek is the home site in Sonoma Valley.1 Trinity Ridge sits high on nine acres of volcanic ground in the Moon Mountain District.1 Los Guilicos carries Sauvignon Blanc and nothing else.1 The 1919 field blend puts Cabernet Franc, Alicante, Petite Sirah, Grand Noir de la Calmette, Peloursin, Lenoir, Merlot and Mourvedre in one planting.1 They have redeveloped part of the Heritage Blocks to goblet-trained Grenache, Mourvedre and Counoise.1
They pick by hand at night or in the early morning.1 The wine goes into steel or concrete tanks, French oak barrels, larger puncheons and oval oak eggs.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Estate Vineyard Tour and Tasting at $95, which takes a club cart into the century-old Heritage Blocks and comes with cheese and charcuterie.1
- Order: the rosé. It comes off dedicated Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre picks rather than being bled off a red.1
- Order: the Cellar Tour and Salon Tasting at $95 if you want the flight of five in the private salon with small bites from Chef Clinton Huntsman.1
- Avoid: the six scores on the winery's homepage. Not one of them names a publication, a reviewer or a date.
What locals & experts say
- Nancy and John Lasseter, on what they are for:
We believe that winemaking is an art form, and wine growing a sacred stewardship. Beyond farming organically, we intend to leave this land better than we found it.
1 - The winery on how it blends: the cellar sets out to make backbone lots alongside spice box lots, which then become
our color palette for blending.
1
Good to know
- Reservations are required for all three formats, booked through CellarPass, and every experience is wheelchair accessible. Groups over six are handled by phone or email.1
- The Patio Tasting is $60 for a flight of five. An older block on the winery's own vineyards page still shows $40, so quote the visit page when you book.1
- The estate also makes herbs, honey and olive oil.1
- I am not naming the winemaker. The winery's own story page gives one bio and a photo caption naming somebody else, and neither carries a surname.
Verdict
could-visit — The eight varieties in that block are Cabernet Franc, Alicante, Petite Sirah and Grand Noir de la Calmette among others, and part of the Heritage Blocks has since been replanted to goblet-trained Grenache, Mourvedre and Counoise. The rosé comes off dedicated picks instead of being bled from a red. Picking runs at night or in the early morning, and the wine ages in steel, concrete, barrels, puncheons and oval oak eggs. Nothing outside the winery has been written about any of it, its own page cannot agree on who its winemaker is, and the six scores on its homepage name no publication.