Guthrie Family Wines
Sonoma County region
Making decidedly different style wines than what you would find in most traditional wines from Napa Valley and Sonoma
Nature, science, creativity, and family. These are the things that Blair and Caroline Guthrie love about making wine. Established in 2013 by this passionate husband and wife duo, Guthrie Family Wines is the epitome of a ‘boutique family winery.’ Working together, the couple crafts extremely limited quantities of interesting, exciting, and age-worthy wines from select vineyards in Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Their wines are meant to be an expression of the vineyard and vintage - with no two bottling ever the same and none made by recipe. To Blair and Caroline, wine is art, and the wines they make represent everything they love and believe in: love for wine, family, and this dream they are living everyday in wine country.
Blair and Caroline met while working the 2009 Sonoma Valley harvest at Paul Hobbs’ winery. Blair, originally from New Zealand, had a degree in viticulture and enology, and winemaking experience in Australia. Caroline, who was raised in Houston, Texas, was also working toward a career in wine, and had just worked a harvest in Argentina before returning to California to hone her skills under the tutelage of Paul Hobbs. The pair married and immediately started building their presence in the wine industry.
Caroline’s father, Michael Stewart, had started Stewart Cellars, another ultra-boutique winery, in 2000 in Napa Valley. The reins were eventually passed down to the second generation, and Caroline and her brother, James Stewart, run the winery today, while Blair Guthrie manages all the winemaking and viticulture operations for the family brand. Blair also currently makes wine for Slingshot Wines and Hollis Wines in Napa Valley. While Caroline and Blair Guthrie are still dedicated to building the family brand, they dreamed of collaborating on their own wine label and ultimately established Guthrie Family Wines.
Guthrie Family Wines is still a small side project, allowing Blair and Caroline to experiment and get their hands dirty, making wines in a decidedly different style than what you find in most traditional wines from Napa Valley and Sonoma. They don’t follow trends, but instead let the vineyards and the conditions of a certain vineyard for a give year tell them what to do with the wine. Many of the varietals they work with are Rhône-style, and all of the wines are made in very limited quantities. Overall production for Guthrie Family Wines is just 600 cases each year.
We are delighted to feature this new Garagiste winery to our Garagiste Wine Club members and hope you enjoy one of their latest releases. Cheers!
