Fred Peterson’s first wine growing experience was a job he took in a friend’s vineyard in Mendocino County. That was in the winter of 1973 after Fred decided to take a leave of absence from UC Santa Cruz to try and figure out what to do for a living. This work and a few agriculture classes from Mendocino Junior College opened his eyes to the challenges and satisfactions of grape growing and winemaking. He moved back to Santa Cruz and worked in the cellar and vineyard for Bargetto Winery, then traveled to New Zealand where he worked a harvest as a cellar foreman for Corbans Winery in Gisborne.

After a couple of months visiting the wineries and winegrowing areas of Australia, he returned home to California and worked harvest at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena. He returned to school at UC Davis in January 1976 in the department of Viticulture and Enology, graduating with honors in June 1978. In addition to taking classes, Fred assisted in the Viticulture field studies and worked with a number of professors on their research projects.

Next he took a job as a vineyard supervisor for Paul Masson Vineyards in Monterey County. Working for a large, corporate winery/vineyard turned out to be not that satisfying, and when an opportunity opened to be vineyard manager and assistant winemaker at Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Fred didn’t hesitate to accept. Under the mentorship of Dick Graff, Fred was quickly promoted to winemaker and general manager of the winery.

The opportunity to move to the Dry Creek Valley to develop vineyards came about at the beginning of 1983 when he and Bill Hambrecht formed Hambrecht & Peterson Vineyards. Beginning with planting vineyards on Bradford Mountain (where Fred built his house and still resides), Fred’s role grew, and he was involved in managing and developing over 650 acres of vineyards in Dry Creek, Alexander, Russian River and Anderson Valleys. He also was consulting for a number of other vineyard properties, including Ridge/Montebello in Cupertino, and Stagecoach and Chimney Rock vineyards in the Napa Valley.

Fred started Peterson Winery in 1987, in the tiny red barn on Lytton Springs Road at the Norton Ranch vineyard. Initial production was very limited. The winery began as almost a hobby, only offering the wines for sale in 1993. January 1995 was the “official” start for Peterson Winery LLC, and though Fred continued to do some vineyard consulting, he left managing and developing vineyards to focus on his own wines and winery. Later that same year, Ridge Vineyards purchased the Norton Ranch from Bill Hambrecht, calling it Lytton Springs Vineyard West. Ridge also hired Fred to be consulting vineyard manager, and became Peterson Winery’s landlord.

In January 2006 Peterson Winery opened for business at Timber Crest Farms further up in Dry Creek Valley, having outgrown the tiny red barn for production and looking for an opportunity to have a space to host visitors.

Although the red barn no longer houses the winery, it remains an important part of Peterson Winery’s history and is represented on every wine label along with a backdrop of Bradford Mountain, the Peterson family’s estate vineyard. Fred acquired the 35-acre Bradford Mountain property in 1984 and today sustainably farms 10 varietals there.

Fred’s son Jamie began working full-time with his father in 2002 as assistant winemaker, after having worked harvests in both Australia and New Zealand. In 2006, after the move to the larger Timber Crest building, Jamie was promoted to winemaker and took over the production responsibility. Fred’s daughter, Emily, after getting her degree from UC Santa Cruz in Environmental Studies/Sustainable Agriculture, worked for the winery but has since stepped away to raise a family.

Fred has been a director for several grape grower and winery organizations over the past 35 years including the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association. He was a firefighter/engineer/EMT for 32 years with the Geyserville Fire Protection District, and currently is a director for the Northern Sonoma County Fire District.

When not at the winery, working in his vineyard or on a sales trip, Fred can usually be found at his home and garden on Bradford Mountain. Fred’s wife, Kathleen Stewart, recently sold The Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, which she’d founded in 1987.

Peterson Winery produces an average of 8,000 cases annually of approximately 24 different wines; many of these are sourced from small estate vineyards in the area.