For 2025, Wine Industry Advisor is expanding the Wine’s Most Inspiring People (MIP) articles into a monthly series. We will be profiling individuals from within our industry who showcase leadership, innovation, determination and inspiration — both within the industry and in society at large. If you would like to nominate someone for MIP consideration, fill out the form here.
Julie Pedroncelli St. John ― Revitalizing a Century-Old Family Winery
By Laurie Wachter
Viticultural regions elevate signature varietals to serve as their ambassadors to the wine world. In Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley AVA, Zinfandel is the hallmark wine that represents its terroir. The Italian settlers who migrated here in the late 1800s took advantage of the Mediterranean climate of warm days and cool nights to plant vineyards with grapes such as Zinfandel and Petite Syrah and craft the rich, dark red wine that reflected the winemaking traditions of their homeland.
Just such an Italian family started a winery in the early 1900s to make wine for their North Beach store in San Francisco. Prohibition put an end to their plans, so Giovanni “John” Pedroncelli, Sr., and his wife, Giulia, bought the shuttered Dry Creek winery and 25-acre vineyard in 1927. It has been home to the Pedroncelli family ever since, making Pedroncelli Winery one of Sonoma County’s oldest family-owned wineries.
Generational leadership
In 2022, John and Giulia’s granddaughter, Julie Pedroncelli St. John, assumed the role of president when her father, Jim Pedroncelli, retired. As the third generation to lead the winery, her pride in the family’s 98-year heritage became the driving force behind restructuring the portfolio, packaging, pricing and go-to-market strategy. She also hired a new general manager, invested in their hospitality center and added new equipment.
“When my Dad retired at 90, my sister and I saw things that needed to be taken care of,” she explains. “We decided to invest first in a new label, which hadn’t changed for 11 vintages, then the cellar and the hospitality area. My grandfather’s brother was a stonemason, and his handiwork is seen around the winery, so we used that as a theme in the hospitality area.”
These investments have proven their worth, yielding a brand revival that is delivering core business growth in a market where many others are struggling. Pedroncelli St. John’s experience as a winery ambassador challenged her introverted nature while giving her the hands-on market understanding to achieve these results.
Reflecting on her career path in the wine business, Pedroncelli St. John says, “It certainly was a man’s world when I first stepped into it 40 years ago, but I think it really has changed. Women were always part of it, and today, we are a woman-owned winery and have a woman winemaker.”
Preparing for the future
Pedroncelli St. John is equally proud of her family’s long history with the AVA’s Zinfandel varietal. “I have a lot of memories of playing in the vineyard ― building grapevine houses in the fall and pretending to make wine at harvest. The original old vine Zinfandel is still in a small corner of our vineyard. Although they’re more than 100 years old, this handful of vines is still producing fruit!” Overall, Pedroncelli sustainably farms 100 acres, including all five Bordeaux reds and Sauvignon Blanc.
Pedroncelli St. John loves putting threads together to figure out what will work for the family business. With Pedroncelli Winery’s centennial just two years away, she’s weaving the family threads into a plan for the future. “We’re certain that we want to carry on the legacy, even with the challenges at hand. We’ll have to be flexible to continue in a way that will make it work as a family business and map out our strategy for the future for our fifth-generation members.”
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If you would like to nominate someone for MIP consideration, fill out the form here.
Laurie Wachter
Based in Northern California’s wine country, Laurie Wachter brings over 30 years of expertise in consumer behavior and direct-to-consumer marketing analytics to her articles about the business of food, wine and beverages.
