Brenae Royal marks decade as trailblazing manager of Sonoma’s Monte Rosso Vineyard

When Gallo -- the world’s largest family-owned wine company -- asked Brenae Royal to manage one of California’s most legendary vineyards, the young Black woman admits she thought the company was “out of their mind.”

At the time, she’d been only 11 months into her first job out of college: a viticulture technician role for Gallo in Sonoma County. So when the company urged her to apply for a new position managing the 138-year-old Monte Rosso Vineyard, a serious case of impostor syndrome set in.

“I told them they were crazy,” said Royal, who now oversees Gallo’s North Coast vineyard operations. “I wouldn’t get hired for that role.”

But in April 2015, she did.

Nearly overnight, the then-24 year-old Atwater, California native had become a trailblazer — not just as the youngest person to manage Monte Rosso Vineyard, but also as the first Black woman — a recognition that fills her with pride.

Changing the narrative

As of Jan. 2024, according to the Association of African American Vintners, less than 1% of American wineries are Black-owned or have a Black winemaker. While there are approximately 11,600 wineries in the U.S., just 150 are owned by African Americans.

Black vineyard managers and viticulturists are so uncommon, the association is uncertain whether measurement data has ever been collected.

Phil Long, president of the Association of African American Vintners and founder of Longevity Wines in Livermore, said nurturing diversity behind the bottle is key to reaching more diverse consumers.

"Supporting diversity in the wine industry is critical to our business,“ he said. "Not only do diverse teams provide new skills and approaches, it opens up possibilities for new communities to experience wine.”

Royal, who "didn’t grow up in an affluent family“ said she owes a lot of her success to the people who provided her opportunities to succeed and mentored her along the way.

“One of my earliest mentors gave me some advice early on that’s stuck with me all these years,” said Royal. “He said I have three things working for me and three working against me: I’m Black. I’m a woman. And I’m good at what I do. Some people are going to use that against me, while others are going to promote me for it. My job, he said, was to learn how to best showcase my authenticity.”

For those who see her as “a nontraditional success in an industry that doesn’t look like them,” Royal said “it’s important to change the narrative.

“Once you begin to realize you add value because you’re different, it can lift you up and put you in a position of power,” she added. “Change your perspective, recognize you have worth and see yourself where you want to be.”

This year, Royal is celebrating a decade as manager of Monte Rosso Vineyard, where her home is set among the historic vines on Moon Mountain — a place she calls “a little slice of heaven.”

“Sometimes I just laugh because I’m so proud of myself, but I’m also a little incredulous,” Royal said. “I’ve been in this role 10 years, and I’m not even 34 years old.”

A passion for agriculture

Raised in the Central Valley, Royal’s passion for agriculture was born in her grandmother’s garden — a “giant” edible playground teeming with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, grapefruit, tulips (her favorite) and more.

“When I was a kid, she would give me her leftover seeds every spring, and my mother —bless her heart — let me destroy our backyard planting them,” said Royal. “One of my favorite memories is eating raw tomatoes from the garden with salt and black pepper while doing puzzles with my grandmother.”

But it wasn’t until age 12, when she got involved with 4-H, and later Future Farmers of America that her interest in farming reached new heights.

Designed to help kids cultivate lifelong skills through agriculture, STEM and other impactful areas, both programs had a significant impact on Royal’s childhood.

“Once I joined FFA, it became my world,” she said. “During the spring and summers, I raised show pigs from about 8-weeks-old until they were 5 or 6 months. I would ride my bike 6 miles one way to my high school’s farm just to take care of the pigs. My family never understood why I liked coming home smelling like manure and raving about pigs!”

Royal said hers was one of a handful of Black families living in a small, rural community. But looking different provided her a platform for garnering attention — especially when she succeeded in the FFA competition show ring.

“Everyone knew who I was, knew my pig’s name and watched me when I went into the ring,” she said. “That created a position of power that still stands today. Throughout my career, I’ve been invited into rooms because I’m different and people want to know what I think and where I stand. That’s been a powerful thing.”

For college, Royal attended Chico State University, initially majoring in Animal Science before switching to Crops and Horticulture Science.

“I figured I would teach Agriculture,” she said. “If people can utilize the land they’re on, they’ll be quite successful having their own food. That’s always been my philosophy.”

Just as her senior year was coming to a close, Royal and her friends decided it was time to eschew their childish margarita habit and develop a taste for wine — something more age-appropriate for the “established ladies” they had become.

“At that time we had no idea what we were doing, so we would walk down the wine aisle and choose the wines based on their labels,” said Royal. “That’s when I started drinking Apothic Red, which at the time was like $8. In my mind, I was like, gosh, here’s something I really enjoy — and oh, by the way, it’s farmed.”

Royal had never seriously contemplated the connection between wine and agriculture. So when she spotted a magnum of Gallo’s Apothic Red at her school’s career fair, she was dumbstruck.

“I ran over to the Gallo representatives and screamed, ‘Do you know how much money I spend on this wine? Oh my God, my best friend and I totally bonded over it!’” she said, laughing. “I told them they had to hire me.”

Two weeks later, Royal found herself driving from Chico to Healdsburg for an interview with Gallo.

Two days after that, she was hired for Gallo’s operations viticulture internship, which covered 1,800 vineyard acres, including Monte Rosso Vineyard in the Moon Mountain District.

“When I was an intern, I didn’t understand the property and why it was referred to as ‘the crown jewel,’” she said. “All I know is that I’m on this hot mountain site being warned about rattlesnakes, and I have to put these wooden stakes in this red volcanic soil. I was so far over my head. Whenever I was told I had to work on Monte Rosso, I was like, ‘Oh no!’ I just didn’t get it.”

But eventually, she did get it, soon earning a full-time position as a Gallo viticulturist. Eleven months later, she was hired to manage Monte Rosso Vineyard — a feat she could hardly believe.

“I couldn’t understand why they believed in me and trusted me to manage this important vineyard,” Royal said.

But Stephanie Gallo, the company’s chief marketing officer, said she and the viticulture team knew early on Royal would be the perfect person for the job.

“From the start, it was clear Brenae has a visionary spirit, specialized knowledge, and an intense passion to cultivate and care for Monte Rosso Vineyard,” Gallo said. “Over the last decade, she’s embraced technology and innovation in the vineyard, while also preserving the iconic nature of Monte Rosso and its enduring legacy.”

“In the beginning, I don’t think was impressed upon me just how big of a deal it was,” Royal added. “It wasn’t until about a year into the role that I began to fully grasp the legacy I was going to be a part of.”

The legacy

Planted in 1886 by Emmanuel Goldstein, Monte Rosso Vineyard resides in the Moon Mountain District appellation, on the southwest side of the Mayacamas Range.

Enclosed within the greater Sonoma Valley AVA, the vineyard reaches 1,300 feet in elevation, where hot daytime temperatures are forgiven each evening by the cooling influence of San Pablo Bay.

Originally known as Mount Pisgah, the 575-acre vineyard was purchased in 1938 by Louis M. Martini who renamed the vineyard Monte Rosso (red earth) after its red, nutrient-rich soils. For three generations, the Martini family farmed Monte Rosso Vineyard until Gallo purchased the property in 2002.

Remarkably, some of the property’s original zinfandel and semillon vines still produce fruit. The semillon — which may be the oldest in California — is used as a blending component in Louis M. Martini’s Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, while the zinfandel is reserved for its Gnarly Vine Zinfandel.

In 1940, Martini added cabernet sauvignon to the vineyard, and today, the surviving Los Niños block is considered to have some of the oldest cabernet vines in the state.

Even beyond California, Monte Rosso is considered one of the most important, historic vineyards in the country.

“About a year into managing Monte Rosso, I really began to understand the weight of my responsibility," said Royal. "We had these really iconic buyers making wines with the fruit, and I got to work with them and learn the vineyard on a nitty-gritty scale. That really impressed upon me what a big deal it was.”

When she first got the job, Royal remembers winemakers Joel Peterson and Morgan Twain-Peterson dropping by to tell her they supported her and had her back.

“The people who’ve worked with Monte Rosso want it to continue to live and flourish, so everyone asks how they can support me,” said Royal. “They say they have a lot of hope for the vineyard’s next chapter.”

“Brenae is on the path to being one of those legendary people in California wine history, said Christopher Renfro, co-founder of The Two Eighty Project, an organization that supports diversity in agriculture and urban farming. “When you think of the lack of Black people in agricultural jobs — especially viticulture — she is a pioneer of her time. I think her showing what a Black person’s reality can be will go a long way.”

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) and Instagram @whiskymuse.