Bill Nachbaur

We are tiny like an acorn. Our winery is framed by tall oak
trees. Our wine is aged in oak barrels. So ACORN seemed the
perfect name for our winery.


Bill traded in his law books for books on viticulture, pruning
shears, and a tractor when we purchased Alegría Vineyards in
1990. In the early years, he was in the vineyards every day, and
Betsy helped out on weekends, but within a few years she too was
ready for a change and joined Bill full time.


At first, we sold all of our grapes to other wineries, and they
produced highly prized Alegría Vineyard-designated wines. Then in
1994, we decided to make some wine ourselves and established
ACORN Winery. Our first release, in 1996, was our 1994
Sangiovese.


Gradually, we kept more grapes for ACORN and added other wines.
Now we make seven different wines—Russian River Valley Heritage
Vines Zinfandel from the original 1890s vineyard, Russian River
Valley Axiom Syrah, Russian River Valley Cabernet Franc, Russian
River Valley Sangiovese, Russian River Valley Dolcetto, two
proprietary blends—Medley and Acorn Hill, and a flavorful Rosato
(a dry Rosé). We still sell half our grapes to other wineries.
Several of them vineyard-designate the wines.


Our production remains small, at about 3,000 cases each year. All
our wines are made from grapes we grow ourselves at Alegría.
Every wine is a field blend, following the ancient tradition
represented in the mixed planting that is our original 120-year
old vineyard. Every wine is made by co-fermenting multiple
varieties. We like to say that our wines are blended from the day
they are picked. This is what sets ACORN wines apart.


Today, after 25 years, we continue to find alegría living in the
middle of our vineyards, enjoying the cool Russian River Valley
climate, and continuing a long tradition by sustainably growing
premium quality grapes and producing acclaimed award-winning
wines.