Dutton Ranch

<BODY> <IMG SRC=s.gif>onoma County is an area rich in agriculture and history. Many of California's oldest names in winemaking and farming hail from this plentiful landscape. And while names like Seghesio, Martini, Foppiano and Sebastiani are synonymous with the county's heritage, few are aware that the Dutton family has also played a pivotal role in shaping the agricultural character of Sonoma County.<BR CLEAR=ALL> <BR> <IMG SRC=duttons_make.gif><BR> <IMG SRC=t.gif>he Dutton family's farming heritage goes back to the 19th century. In 1881 Warren Dutton purchased the family's first 200 acres in Santa Rosa. He was soon joined by his brother Reed Dutton. Warren had done research throughout California on prunes, knowing they had recently caught on and were bringing more income than almost any other crop. Warren planted the family's land in the best varieties of French prunes, purchased from Luther Burbank. Prunes became one of Sonoma County's most important crops, dominating orchards from Santa Rosa to Geyserville for close to 90 years. <BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=t.gif>he Dutton holdings grew so much that a Santa Rosa street near the family's property was christened Dutton Avenue. The family continued to farm the land, passing it down through generations, and gradually selling parcels to make way for the growing city of Santa Rosa.<BR> <BR> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=6 ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=220> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <IMG SRC=about_us04.jpg ALIGN=CENTER><BR> <B>Gail, 2000</B> </FONT> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <IMG SRC=warren_and.gif><BR> <IMG SRC=_i.gif> married a prune farmer," Gail Dutton recalls. "We've seen a lot of changes." Like a snapshot of Sonoma County farm history, Dutton Ranch evolved through the crops that dominated the industry. For many years the Ranch thrived on prunes, with forays into pears and hops. Warren Dutton Jr., great-grandson of Reed Dutton, grew up picking prunes and hops on the family's Santa Rosa farm. In 1964 young Warren and his new wife Gail bought their first 35 acres west of the town of Graton. Their original family home lies just a few yards from the current Dutton Ranch offices.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=i.gif>n the early days, however, most people knew the Duttons for their fruit stand in Santa Rosa, on Sebastopol Road just west of Stony Point Road. It was born from Gail and Warren's frustration with trying to sell their pears.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=p.gif>assing motorists soon helped solve that problem. Gail and young sons Joe and Steve peddled those orphaned pears, plus prunes, apples, dried fruit and gift packs, to growing crowds. Gail moved the packing machine to the fruit stand to meet the demand. A customer mailing list grew up. "It was quite a big deal for that day and age," Gail said.<BR> <BR> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=6 ALIGN=RIGHT WIDTH=320> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <IMG SRC=about_us06.jpg ALIGN=CENTER><BR> <B>Dandy, the horse, pictured here with<br> Joe, Tracy, Kyndall, Kylie, Gail, <br> Steve, Jordan, Theresa & Jake</B></FONT></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <IMG SRC=i.gif>n the 1970's the fruit stand brought Dutton Ranch several first place medals and a sweepstakes award at the prestigious Sonoma County Harvest Fair for apple racks and feature displays.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=dutton_ranch_evolves.gif><BR> <IMG SRC=w.gif>arren had always envisioned greater things for grape farming in the Russian River Valley, and troubles in the apple industry gave him extra incentive to focus on vineyard development.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=_i.gif> thought he was out of his mind," Gail remembers. Yet their first sale--$88 a ton for Colombard grapes-was encouragement enough to put more sweat and capital into vineyards. They sold their first Chardonnay harvest in 1967.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=_m.gif>y life with Warren was always an adventure," Gail said. "You never knew what we would be doing from one day to the next." And more changes were in the offing. In 1985, they sold their Santa Rosa fruit stand and the surrounding property to developers. This ended one era for the family and opened a new one, as Gail and Warren put all their effort into expanding their West County holdings. Apples and grapes were roughly equal until 1985, but wine grapes clearly became the focus since then. The Duttons farmed 1,300 owned and leased acres of grapes by 2003. <BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=the_dutton.gif> <BR> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=6 ALIGN=RIGHT WIDTH=320> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <IMG SRC=about_us07.jpg ALIGN=CENTER><BR> <B>Theresa, Steve, Jordan & Jake, 2003</B> </FONT> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <IMG SRC=g.gif>ail, Steve and Joe Dutton carry on in the footsteps of Warren, who died of a heart attack on the ranch in October 2001. The boys became interested in the family business when they were just toddlers. They grew up picking apples with their father, and selling apples, pears, and dried fruit at the family's farm stand with their mother. By the time the boys were in high school they were driving tractors and forklifts, and helping their dad oversee the family's expanding vineyards and orchards.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=s.gif>teve and Joe, like their father, have been recognized as leaders in Sonoma County farming. Both have received the 'Outstanding Young Farmer' award from the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, the same award given to Warren in 1977: Steve was honored in 1999, and Joe in 2000. And both share their father's love of agriculture and the hard work that goes along with it.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=_i.gif> never considered doing anything other than farming," Steve says, "and I plan to be farming for the rest of my life." Steve and Joe Dutton have developed their own business, Dutton Brothers Farming, which farms and manages all the properties of Dutton Ranch. Each runs his own winery as well. <BR> <BR> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=6 ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=220> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <IMG SRC=about_us08.jpg ALIGN=CENTER><BR> <B>Tracy, Kylie, Karmen,<BR> Kyndall & Joe, 2003</B> </FONT> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <IMG SRC=j.gif>oe and his wife Tracy started Sebastopol Vineyards in 1994. Steve and his wife Theresa founded Dutton-Goldfield Winery in 1998 with winemaker Dan Goldfield. Both wineries create world-class Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Syrah.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=g.gif>ail remains active in the enterprise. She manages the all-important public relations side, welcoming the royalty of the wine press to the ranch and making customers and distributors feel welcome. She maintains the Dutton role in the annual Gravenstein Apple Fair-the Duttons still farm 150 acres of apples.<BR> <BR> <IMG SRC=g.gif>ail is clearly proud of all that her boys have done to keep Dutton Ranch on the world map of fine wine. She cherishes the chance to usher still another generation into the family tradition. She dotes on Steve's twins, daughter Jordan and son Jake, and Joe's daughters Kyndall, Kylie and Karmen. "My goal is to turn it all over to the grandchildren," she said. <BR> <br> <TABLE WIDTH=750 BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR> <TD COLSPAN=2 ROWSPAN=2> <IMG SRC="images/layout_01.jpg" WIDTH=104 HEIGHT=53></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/layout_02.jpg" WIDTH=21 HEIGHT=51></TD> <TD COLSPAN=2> <IMG SRC="images/layout_03.jpg" WIDTH=529 HEIGHT=51></TD> <TD ROWSPAN=2> <IMG SRC="images/layout_04.jpg" WIDTH=96 HEIGHT=53></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD COLSPAN=2> <IMG SRC="images/layout_05.jpg" WIDTH=22 HEIGHT=2></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/layout_06.jpg" WIDTH=528 HEIGHT=2></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/layout_07.jpg" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=27></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/layout_08.jpg" WIDTH=103 HEIGHT=27></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/layout_09.jpg" WIDTH=21 HEIGHT=27></TD> <TD COLSPAN=2> <IMG SRC="images/layout_10.gif" WIDTH=529 HEIGHT=27></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/layout_11.jpg" WIDTH=96 HEIGHT=27></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD COLSPAN=2 VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=104> <script language="JavaScript"> document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/index.shtml") || (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com") || (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/index.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=index.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_home_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=index.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_home_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/about.shtml") || (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/about.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=about.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_about_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=about.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_about_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/green.shtml")|| (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/green.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=green.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_green_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=green.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_green_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/wineries.shtml")|| (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/wineries.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=wineries.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_wineries_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=wineries.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_wineries_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/accolades.shtml")|| (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/accolades.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=accolades.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_accolades_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=ag_pavillion.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=ag_pavillion_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/links.shtml")|| (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/links.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=links.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_links_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=links.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_links_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } document.write ;if((location =="http://www.sonic.net/~dutton/contact.shtml") || (location =="http://www.duttonranch.com/contact.shtml")) { document.write("<A HREF=contact.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_contact_on.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } else { document.write("<A HREF=contact.shtml TARGET=_top><IMG SRC=but_contact_off.gif BORDER=0></A><BR>") } </script> </TD> <TD VALIGN=TOP> <IMG SRC="images/layout_13.jpg" WIDTH=21 HEIGHT=420></TD> <TD COLSPAN=3 VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=625> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=6 WIDTH=620> <TR> <TD ALIGN=RIGHT> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> </FONT> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <IMG SRC=header_home.gif><BR> <BR> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=6 ALIGN=left WIDTH=320> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <img src="home02.jpg" width="300" height="206"> <BR> <B>Warren & Gail Dutton</B></FONT></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <IMG SRC=w.gif>arren and Gail Dutton purchased their first parcel of land over thirty-five years ago near the little town of Graton. This became the home ranch, which was planted to apples and Chardonnay grapes, an area once regarded as too cold to ripen grapes. Today, the Dutton family farms over 1300 acres, 1,150 acres of grapes and 150 acres of apples all within the Russian River Valley appellation. <BR> <br> <br> <br> <br> </FONT> <table align=RIGHT> <tr> <td> <table cellpadding=10 width=300 bgcolor=EEEEEE> <tr> <td align=CENTER> <font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" size="2"> <b><a href=slide.shtml>Click here</a> to view our slide show.</b> </font> </td> </tr> </table> <font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" size="2"><br> <img src=home01.jpg> </font></td> </tr> </table><br><br><br> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2> <IMG SRC=t.gif>he Dutton Family is proud of what they have achieved and continue to produce the highest quality fruit possible through careful use of environmentally friendly management practices. We encourage you to learn more about Dutton Ranch and the more than twenty wineries that are proud to use the Dutton Ranch designation on their label.  </FONT> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23> | <A HREF=index.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>Home</FONT></A> | <A HREF=contact.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>Contact Us</FONT></A> | <A HREF=about.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>About Us</FONT></A> | <A HREF=green.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>Green Farming</FONT></A> | <A HREF=wineries.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>Wineries</FONT></A> | <A HREF=ag_pavillion.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>Ag Pavilion</FONT></A> | <A HREF=links.shtml TARGET=_top><FONT FACE="ARIAL, HELVETICA, SAN SARIF" SIZE=2 COLOR=0B3B23>Links</FONT></A> | </FONT> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </BODY>