Here’s how Sonoma County became an LGBTQ+ wine oasis

Gary Saperstein noticed a burgeoning trend in Sonoma County in the early 2000s, one that was under the radar for most in the wine industry.

A gay man relatively new to the region and general manager of the popular Wine Country restaurant girl & the fig, Saperstein saw Sonoma County was receiving a steady stream of visitors from San Francisco who identified as LGBTQ+.

“I saw it at the restaurant as you take in an overview of your demographic,” Saperstein said. “And I just noticed an increase year after year.”

But why, he wondered, weren’t winemakers taking advantage of this audience and its potential?

“Over the years, I saw an influx of the LGBTQ+ community, whether as tourists visiting or buying a first or second home or retiring here,” Saperstein said. “I wondered why winemakers weren’t marketing to us, and I wondered if it was homophobia.”

After talking with vintners at the time, Saperstein found it was more a matter of what they were focused on, not about exclusion.

“They were more interested in agriculture,” he said. “They weren’t thinking much about marketing in those days and especially about niche marketing.”

Saperstein decided to create a tourism company to specifically welcome the LGBTQ+ population. In 2008, he founded Out in the Vineyard, which hosts four to five events a year.

Out in the Vineyard’s first event in 2008 was the Twilight T-Dance at Napa Valley’s Beringer Vineyards, and it reeled in 300 people from the Bay Area. Gay Wine Weekend, Saperstein’s biggest annual event, is a three-day affair and now draws up to 700 people from all over the country.

“I felt like we needed to have a voice here and a presence in Wine Country,” Saperstein said. “Literally, everyone makes a pilgrimage to the Castro (District, a center of gay rights activism and culture for decades) in San Francisco, and so many who visit San Francisco come up to Wine Country.”

With thousands in the LGBTQ+ community traveling to Sonoma County, Saperstein said Out in the Vineyard’s success was twofold.

“Out in the Vineyard really opened up to the LGBTQ+ community, but it also opened up the wine industry and the hospitality industry to the LGBTQ+ community,” Saperstein said.

Today, Sonoma County continues to benefit from its proximity to San Francisco in attracting LGBTQ+ visitors. The city has the highest percentage of people — 6.2% of its population — who identify as LGBTQ+, according to the analytics firm Gallup. Many are finding their way to Sonoma County as some of the 5.2 million day trippers to Wine Country in 2022, according to Sonoma County Tourism.

During Pride Month, we’re taking a look at the efforts of Saperstein and others to attract the LGBTQ+ community to Sonoma County through marketing and events tailored to them. These days, he’s joined by other wine industry professionals helping the LGBTQ+ community feel welcome, and two of the most devoted are Theresa Heredia, director of winemaking at Healdsburg’s Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery, and Jerome Chery of Sebastopol’s Fog Crest Vineyard.

‘Be outspoken’

Theresa Heredia was named Innovator of the Year by the Sonoma County Vintners trade association this spring, in part for her efforts to grow diversity, equality and inclusion in the wine industry.

“Theresa has been a champion for (diversity, equality and inclusion) not only for Gary Farrell but for the entire wine industry,” said Michael Haney, executive director of the Sonoma County Vintners. “The winery has implemented a wide-ranging diversity pledge to create a diverse workforce and support the underrepresented in the workforce.”

On its website, Gary Farrell has icons of the Human Rights Campaign and a rainbow triangle and Heredia said they’re there to signal the winery is a safe place for people of color and the LGBTQ+ community to visit.

Heredia said she’s often a speaker at events and started in 2015 working with the Human Rights Campaign, an unbrella organization which seeks to advocate for and protect the LGBTQ+ community, among other groups. She spoke at one of their donor dinners in Washington, D.C.

“I spoke about Gary Farrell and our support of the (LGBTQ+) community (and people of color),” she said.

Speaking out, Heredia said, is her modus operandi for effecting change.

“I believe in being outspoken,” said Heredia, a lesbian who said she’s determined to make the wine industry more inclusive.

“The more you’re out and proud, the more you talk about who you are, the more people will understand who you are and welcome you.”

‘Be a positive role model’

Jerome Chery, a French immigrant, said his goal is to further the LGBTQ+ community by being a positive role model for the wine industry. Immigrating to America in 1997, the winemaker worked with several wineries and joined Fog Crest Vineyard in 2013.

“I think showcasing an individual in a field that’s not traditionally held by someone in the LGBTQ+ community is a good thing,” said Chery, who’s gay. “It’s good for someone straight to see. It’s good for someone gay to see. It’s good for someone young to see.”

The wine industry, he said, is mostly male, white and straight.

“It’s just the reality,” he said. “I’m not criticizing it, but it doesn’t mean you can’t flourish in it as a gay individual.”

With perseverance, Chery has thrived in the wine industry. He studied at the University of Burgundy, earning a degree in enology in 1994. After working a harvest in Australia in 1976, he joined Napa Valley’s Newton Vineyard in 1997. His credits include Sebastopol’s Littori Winery and Napa’s Saintsbury.

The winemaker said he notices there are a lot more Pride events at wineries than there were in the past.

Wineries, Chery said, would be short-sighted not to cater to every population. Aside from making financial sense, the very nature of wine is inclusive.

“Wine is a communal, ancient beverage,” he said. “It has been around since the Egyptians were making it. It’s historic and it’s a connector.”

‘It’s about one word: equality’

Saperstein has been guiding Sonoma County’s tourism on its path of marketing to the LGBTQ+ community for nearly two decades. He was a board member of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau from from 2005 to 2018 and a board member of Sonoma County Tourism from 2013 to 2018.

The leaders in tourism realized Saperstein had a pulse on the gay community and regularly asked him for his advice, he said.

“LGBTQ+ initiatives have been part of the Sonoma County Tourism DNA since its inception in 2005,” according to Claudia Vecchio, its president and CEO.

Sonoma County Tourism’s website at sonomacounty.com has a section devoted to LGBTQ+ travel, and this has been the case from the beginning, Vecchio said. There’s a section on LGBTQ+ events, as well as many articles on trip ideas like ”5 Tips for Planning Your Big Gay Sonoma Visit“ and ”Sonoma County’s Most Gay-Friendly Accommodations.”

“The LGBTQ+ community is an important group,” she said. “It’s a travel community that’s a coveted one. They have discretionary income and once they feel welcome in a destination, they’re likely to return. It makes a lot of good business sense to welcome them and certainly during Pride Month in June, we elevate it.”

LGBTQ+ travelers account for 7 to 10% of the travel industry, which is roughly $1 billion in the U.S. yearly. according to Community Market Insights, leaders in LGBTQ+ research in tourism and hospitality since 1992.

While Saperstein said he’s pleased with how Sonoma County Tourism and Wine Country has embraced the LGBTQ+ community, he’s still pushing for a deeper understanding of equality in the world.

“I always say it’s about one word: equality,” he said. “I don’t understand why such a simple word that has such a simple meaning — everyone being treated equal, no one more, no one less – is so hard for people to understand.”

We live in uncertain times, he said. While Sonoma County continues to be a haven for the LGBTQ+ community, he said last week’s warning from the Human Rights Campaign, stating there’s a state of emergency nationally for the safety of the LGBTQ+ community, with more hate rhetoric simmering online, makes him incredibly concerned.

“Even though we live in a bubble in California,” Saperstein said, “hate lives everywhere.”

You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pegmelnik.