New Winery Planned
An exciting announcement from the Roche family to yours!
To keep up with the rapid growth of the Roche brand, our family decided in 2013 to embark on a plan to build a new production facility on one of our vineyard properties in southern Sonoma Valley. A modern, state-of-the-art facility is planned with a production capacity of up to 30,000 cases annually. The new winery’s design includes administrative offices as well as a tasting room which will be open daily to host visiting Roche customers. Construction is set to begin in 2017. Both during and following the construction of the winery, we will certainly continue operating our popular downtown Sonoma tasting room.
Construction will begin in 2017 on the winery’s Administration/Fermentation Building as well as on the Barrel/Tasting Room Building
Preliminary plans are for both buildings combined to make up approximately 17,000 square feet in size and to offer a capacity of 30,000 cases to be produced on site annually
The new winery will be located at the end of East Bonness Road nestled among the Roche vineyards in the Carneros appellation just ten minutes south of downtown Sonoma. We believe that this location will be absolutely ideal for our customers. Visitors will be able to sip our wines while enjoying views of our family’s Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards. Although we will have extra capacity to provide custom crush services for other wineries, our family is building this sizeable facility with the future growth of our brand clearly in mind.
The new winery site will be surrounded by vineyards in the Carneros appellation. Co-located on the property and just steps away is the Roche family’s Vineyard Estate vacation rental. The new winery property is located just off of Arnold Drive at the end of East Bonness Road and a 10-minute drive from downtown Sonoma.
Also located on the property, just a short walk away is Roche Winery’s popular vacation rental. Surrounded by our vineyards, this 3-bedroom ranch home with beautiful landscaped gardens, pool and hot tub, gourmet kitchen, and numerous additional amenities, will serve as a wonderful retreat for visiting winery customers. Our Roche Winery Vineyard Estate can be booked online and is available to rent year-round.
Many details of the new winery property are still to be finalized, however, some highlights of the plans include:
- Construction of two separate buildings, one 8,000 square foot building designated for a tank room and administrative offices; the other 9,000 square foot building dedicated to barrel storage, a barrel room, and a tasting room
- Outdoor landscaped tasting spaces, with welcoming firepits and comfortable seating for guests with views of the family’s Carneros vineyards and neighboring hills
- Modern winemaking facilities including an on-site wine laboratory
- Vineyard-facing indoor tasting spaces for private pourings and gatherings
- Over 180 Sequoia Redwoods have been planted around the property framing the vineyard and winery sites
- 35 mature olive trees have already been planted throughout the property
Our popular downtown Sonoma Tasting Room will of course remain open to welcome guests and serve our customers both during and after the construction of the new winery. Our family looks forward to providing both a downtown Sonoma Tasting Room as well as an authentic estate winery experience. We’ll be happy to continue to provide those visiting downtown Sonoma a welcoming, relaxed spot to sip Roche wines just steps from the Plaza, or for those wanting to see the home of Roche Wines, we can now welcome them daily to the winery.
We would just like to thank all those who have supported our family-owned and family-run winery over the years and for your encouragement to take this great leap forward! My family and I look forward to keeping you updated when the construction begins.