2022 Pedroncelli Winery Estate Red Blend Endurance Dry Creek Valley 750 ml

Pedroncelli has been farming Dry Creek Valley since 1927. They were the first winery to put the Sonoma County appellation on their labels, a founding force behind the Dry Creek Valley AVA, and the owners of roughly 115 acres of estate vineyards on the hills and benches where the family started nearly a century ago.

Pedroncelli has been family-owned and operated through all of it—surviving Prohibition, postwar consolidation, and the boom-and-bust cycles of modern California wine without losing sight of what they do best. Long before “heritage winery” became a branding exercise, Pedroncelli was quietly building a reputation in Dry Creek Valley as a producer who owned some of the most coveted sites in the area.

The Endurance is their reserve tier, built in the Super Tuscan style: 70% Sangiovese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, from estate vines between 27 and 30 years old. The Sangiovese comes from the Home Ranch Vineyard, a hillside block just west of the winery with well-draining soils and a sheltered microclimate specifically suited to the variety. The Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the East Side Vineyard, the gently sloping bench land that flanks the valley floor to the west.

In the cellar, the varieties were handled separately. The Sangiovese spent 18 months in neutral American oak, preserving its acidity and floral character. The Cabernet got 20 months in French oak, 30% new, building the structure that anchors the blend. Both were fermented in small tanks with daily pump-overs for thorough extraction.

The Super Tuscan style works particularly well in California. The growing season is longer, the sunshine more consistent, and Dry Creek Valley’s warmth suits Sangiovese’s ripening needs in a way few places in the world can match. The 2022 vintage added another dimension—warm and dry, with drought-reduced yields that concentrated the fruit into smaller, more intense berries.

The result is a wine with dark cherry, blackberry, and dried herbs on the nose, a current of licorice and spice underneath, and a full, polished palate with fine-grained tannins and the linear acidity that Sangiovese brings to a blend.