La Chertosa

La Chertosa is named for the magnificent 14th century Renaissance monastery in the Tuscan valley of Farneta, Italy where the Sebastiani ancestral roots began. Here Sam’s grandfather Samuele Sebastiani learned to make wine in the “Old World” style.

Samuele came to Sonoma in 1895, and found that Sonoma closely resembled faraway Farneta in three ways; it boasted a mild Mediterranean climate, featured red soils similar to Farneta; and was blessed with gently sloping hillsides. Noting these similarities, Samuele planted grapevines and in 1904 founded Sebastiani Winery, one of the first wineries in California.

It was here that both Samuele’s son August and his grandson Sam, learned the art of making wine in the Classic Old World style.  "Old World" style encompasses all the instruments to blend and create a harmony of pleasing notes, a style which was much better understood by the winemakers of the old world. 

La Chertosa wines are made in the "Old World" winemaking style. Sam's experience of forty-six years as a winemaker and more than twenty visits to his family’s ancestral village have influenced his winemaking style, fermentation and aging techniques, creating wines of complexity and finesse.

Samuele employed the time-honored techniques taught him by the Chertosinian monks in Farneta, to create in Sonoma, the winemaking style Sam continues in crafting the harmonic flavors in La Chertosa wines.