STEVE PONZO

GROWER RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE

As the 4th generation of his family to live in Sonoma, a love of the land is in Steve’s blood and he spent much of his childhood playing in his family’s small vineyard in the Russian River Valley AVA. Even though he’s lived in the County for most of his life, its vast size and diversity means he’s always able to find new places to explore – from the ocean to the mountain trails, river and the vineyard valley where he rides his motorcycle.

“I love being able to get out into all the different vineyards across Sonoma County to make sure we are getting the highest quality fruit possible.”

Steve took his first step into the wine industry by working in a tasting room after graduating. This inspired him to make his own wine with grapes from the family ranch in a garbage can – an experiment that didn’t work out as he’d hoped. As a result he decided to get hands-on experience within a cellar position at Davis Bynum and continued building his knowledge across various wineries for over 10 years. Transitioning from the cellar to the vineyard side of winemaking, he now helps source and maintain the quality of fruit from external growers.

Steve has experienced firsthand how the land affects the fruit and overall wine. He’s tasted fruit from a diverse range of vineyards all over Sonoma County – from the mountains above Sonoma to the mountains over-looking the Pacific Ocean. What he loves most about our wine here at Kenwood is the balance between winemaking practices and the land our fruit comes from, which results in wines that are never over-processed.