Steve, Gail, Warren & Joe, 2000
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 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.
Warren
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 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.
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.
Gail
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 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.
 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.
 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.
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.
 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.
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.
 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.
Steve, Jordan, Theresa & Jake
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 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.
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.
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.
Kyndall, Tracy, Karmen, Joe
and Kylie at the Apple Blossom Festival
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 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.
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.
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.
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