Martinelli Winery
LEE SR. AND CAROLYN MARTINELLI, OWNERS
2023 Sonoma County Barrel Auction Icons

Next month, at the annual Sonoma County Barrel Auction, Lee and Carolyn Martinelli will be honored as wine industry Icons. Sonoma County Icons are individuals who have had a significant impact on the evolution, development and perpetuation of Sonoma County wine and have helped raise the global perception for Sonoma County wines.

Lee Sr. and Carolyn Martinelli are both Sonoma County natives who met while attending Santa Rosa Junior College and have spent many years since farming the land that has been in Lee’s family for generations. Carolyn grew up on the far Sonoma coast helping her father raise sheep for wool. Lee Martinelli Sr. is the patriarch of Martinelli Winery and the sole farmer of Jackass Hill, home to the same vines that were first planted by his grandfather over 100 years ago and known for having the steepest non-terraced vines in Sonoma County. After 47 years, Lee Sr. has passed many of his responsibilities on to his children, the fourth generation; however, he has no plans to retire and pass on the responsibility of farming Jackass Hill anytime soon. He still enjoys finishing up a day’s work in the vineyard and opening a bottle of wine when the day is done.

Sonoma County Barrel Auction is the Sonoma County equivalent to the Premiere Napa Valley, a highly exclusive event where winemakers auction off 5 to 20 case lots of their most elite wine projects. "Never before, never again," is the key phrase of these auctions because in many cases (no pun intended) the barrel is a special release that the winemaker will never produce again.

While we are always excited to see wineries like Silver Oak, Williams Selyem, and Kosta Browne in attendance, there will also be some new wineries that we hope to introduce to you. In addition to benefiting the Sonoma County Vintners, the auction helps smaller wineries gain exposure throughout the country and showcase what we are making here in Sonoma County.

We have several wines below from Martinelli Winery to check out along with a few of our past lots from the Barrel Auction. You will never find these wines at any other store or retailer. They also make awesome gifts for the wine enthusiast that can be hard to shop for.