Vaughn Duffy Wines

It started just a few years ago in an apartment in San Francisco. That's where Sara and I first lived together and fell in love. She was finishing her Master's degree in speech-language pathology and I worked at Bacchus & Venus in Sausalito, selling wine to tourists and an unusual batch of locals. At night, I wouuld drive home from work over the Golden Gate Bridge and usually arrive with a leftover bottle or two from the day's tastings. We would eat dinner and drink the wine, unwind from our day, and think about our future.

It didn't take long before we both fell hard for Pinot Noir. California producers such as Patz & Hall, Loring and Siduri became our benchmarks. Wines from the great Santa Lucia Highlands vineyards of Pisoni, Garys' and Rosella's were liquid treasures, and trips to the Anderson Valley soon become regular excursions. 

Maybe it was because Sonoma County was in between our little apartment and Sara’s hometown of Ukiah in Mendocino County, but it soon became the focus of our desire to relocate. We loved San Francisco and always will. But we were ready to do without weekly parking tickets and winter in July. We wanted to eat just as well and rent a place that actually had room for more than a card table for dining. We also knew that Sonoma County was home to some of the world's best Pinot Noir. 

Suddenly it was 2007 and we were engaged and driving a U-Haul to start a new life in Sonoma County. I worked as a harvest intern at Siduri, and Sara adjusted to life away from her vast network of friends in the Bay Area. The adjustment was hard at first, but we soon established ourselves anew in this beautiful county, and we officially began life together as husband and wife in 2008. 

This is how Matt Duffy and his bride, Sara Vaughn, started in the wine making business. Matt is an exceptional young winemaker who has decided his future lies in the production of great Pinot Noirs and Pinot Noir Rosés. I met Matt at Vinoteca in Sonoma and instantly fell in love with his wines and his attitude. To me, finding the next great winemaker is a good deal of what this business is about and I think Matt has the chance to be one of those. I recommend that you buy his wines now while the prices are reasonable, because I don't think they'll always stay that way.