Founder Joe Martin fell in love with Sonoma Valley and established St. Francis Vineyard in 1971, planting 22 acres of Chardonnay and the first 60 acres of Merlot in Sonoma Valley. After achieving great success as a grower, Joe opened his own winery in 1979 with his business partner Lloyd Canton.
Their first winemaker, Tom Mackey, joined St. Francis in 1983 and was renowned for elevating both the quality and style of Sonoma Merlot as an ultra-premium, stand-alone varietal. He also cultivated an in-depth understanding of every Sonoma appellation, enabling the winery to acquire and develop new vineyards and expand their wine portfolio.
In 1988, St. Francis partnered with the Kopf family. The Kopf family has long been admired for their commitment to quality and historic family legacy in the wine and spirits industry.
Today, a new generation of winemakers, Katie Madigan and Chris Louton, continues their long tradition of luscious, elegant, fruit-driven wines from Sonoma County grapes. They farm more than 400 acres of Certified Sustainable estate vineyards in Sonoma Valley and Russian River Valley, each with varying compositions of loam, clay and volcanic soils. They also nurture long-term relationships with top Sonoma County grape growers, giving the Winery access to some of the region's most coveted old vines Zinfandel and other varietals from acclaimed vineyards.
St. Francis Winery & Vineyards operates according to the three pillars of sustainability: environment, equity, and economics. The goal - to share amazing wines and delicacies from the heart of Sonoma County while preserving this mecca for future generations.
