About
History
Brothers John and Steve Dragonette and close friend Brandon Sparks-Gillis (hereinafter “we”) formed Dragonette Cellars in order to pursue a mutual, long held dream to make wine in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. However, before embarking on this journey, we did our homework; seeking out and obtaining a wealth of knowledge of wine tasting, wine sales and winemaking at the feet of some of the finest retailers and winemakers in the world. Then, having established that this winery was exactly the project to which we could devote our working lives, we moved our families (a combined three spouses, three children, three dogs, and a cat) to the Valley, so we could be close to the land and its bounty. 2005 was our first commercial vintage, and we have been expanding since.
We are 100% hands-on in our venture. We have no employees, and each of us contributes our time, effort and hard physical labor to the end product, our wines. In fact, we would not have it any other way, for we all feel that a day working with our wines or the vines is the best kind of day. We are passionate and committed to crafting the finest possible wines from this very special Valley, one of the handful of great appellations in the world.
In Pursuit of the Authentic - Our Philosophy
Our logo represents the old alchemist symbol for the "elixir of life" or "drinkable gold".
In medieval times, it was believed that gold contained medicinal properties, and the alchemists sought a process by which gold could be dissolved into a liquid which could be ingested to obtain its healing properties. While we claim no medicinal or magical properties of wine (other than the ability to transform an ordinary day into a day of celebration and joy), we do note that the formula for the elixir of life required utmost patience - there was simply no way to speed up the process.
We feel winemaking must also adhere to certain truisms - one must obtain the finest grapes possible and handle them with utmost care during their elevage (French for "upbringing"). As a result we thought the symbol a propos for our project.
It is our goal to create an authentic expression of the land and to produce wines which compete on the world stage. Our vineyard sources are farmed meticulously on a per-acre basis, with vineyard work often augmented by our own hands. Once in the winery, the fruit is minimally but carefully processed, then aged until the moment we feel the wine is ready for blending and/or bottling.