Former Geyser Peak tasting room in Sonoma County reborn as Orsi Family Vineyards winery
The Orsi family owns two sizable wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties, but they haven’t had their own home to make their wines and allow visitors to try them until now.
Near the beginning of this month, Orsi Family Vineyards opened its tasting room at the former Geyser Peak tasting room on the southern edge of Healdsburg, off Westside Road at 2306 Magnolia Drive, according to Orsi executive Teri Rolleri.
The tasting room was closed last year as Geyser Peak owner Accolade Wines consolidated operations for that and several others U.S. brands to Napa-based Quintessential Wines. Geyser Peak moved its tasting room to the Healdsburg location in 2014 after the Orsi family purchased the former Alderbrook winery at the Magnolia Drive site.
"There was some talk of finding a new tenant, but prospects weren’t plenty,“ Rolleri said.
Proprietor Bernie Orsi purchased the former Starmont winery in southern Napa Valley in 2019 and quickly leased it to what’s now called The Duckhorn Portfolio to produce the Migration brand.
Orsi had been making wine at Selby Winery in Healdsburg, but it was decided to move production to the Magnolia Drive winery. It is permitted to produce 100,000 cases a year, which will allow for custom-crush opportunities around Orsi’s own production plans of 2,400 cases this year, Rolleri said. Bottling already has started at the Magnolia Drive winery, and the first crush there is set for this fall.
Bernie Orsi, coming from a career in real estate and beverage alcohol, started the Orsi Family Vineyards brand 10 years ago. He owns hundreds of acres of vineyards in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, including the 70 acres on the Healdsburg estate.
The brand makes 11 estate-grown wines, specializing in rare Italian wine grape varieties biancolella, schioppettino and negroamaro along with better-known sangiovese, montepulciano and primitivo.
The range in retail prices runs from $28 for the biancolella to $60 for the Alexander Valley cabernet sauvignon. Sales are mainly through the tasting room, club and shops such as Journeyman, Campo Fina and Diavola.
The company also produces an estate olive oil that retails for $30 a bottle and just won a gold medal in Sonoma County’s Harvest Fair.
“The key to starting a winery is to never make more wine than you can drink!” Orsi is quoted as saying in the tasting room opening announcement.
The Healdsburg tasting room is open Thursday through Monday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., by reservation or walk-in.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Before the Business Journal, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. He has a degree from Walla Walla University. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.
