Why Revive Rabbit Ridge?

Restoring Rabbit Ridge Wines: A Journey of Resilience

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From San Diego track fields to the world's top tables, Erich Russell’s journey in wine began as a passionate hobby in the early 1970s. While coaching track and field, he spent summers working cellar shifts and entering amateur winemaking contests. In 1979, a single taste of the winemaker's homemade wine at Chateau St. Jean changed everything: Erich left teaching behind and stepped into a professional career that would take him through Chateau St. Jean, Simi, and Belvedere before founding Rabbit Ridge Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma County in 1981.

 

Rabbit Ridge quickly became a California icon. Erich was named Connoisseur’s Guide Winemaker of the Year in 1998, and the winery earned a permanent spot among the legendary “Five R’s” of Zinfandel — alongside Ravenswood, Rafanelli, Ridge, and Renwood. Three Rabbit Ridge wines cracked Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the World, the 1997 Zinfandel was crowned Food & Wine Magazine’s Best Red Wine Value of the Year in 1999, and over three million cases were sold worldwide. Rabbit Ridge wines were poured at the White House, served as a house wine at Disney World, the Chardonnay was featured at The French Laundry. The Russell’s also hosted a Winemaker’s Dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach and were invited to stay as guests for the weekend.

 

Frustrated by skyrocketing grape prices and declining quality in late-1990s Sonoma, Erich looked south. In 1998, he began buying vineyard land in Paso Robles at a fraction of Napa or Sonoma prices. That same year, while pouring Rabbit Ridge at one of Disney’s top restaurants in Orlando, he met Joanne James, a St. Petersburg native who would become his wife and partner. Together they built a state-of-the-art winery in Paso Robles in 2002 and farmed premium grapes there for two decades. Severe drought and financial hardship eventually forced a heartbreaking decision: the Russell’s sold the Paso Robles winery and vineyards to an investment group that promised to expand the Rabbit Ridge brand nationally — promises that were never kept. Funds were diverted, bankruptcy followed, the property was lost to the bank, the production license was revoked, and the beloved Rabbit Ridge label went dark. Refusing to give up, Erich and Joanne kept making wine under their family name and launched Passione Divina, an innovative line blending California and Italian grapes alongside 100% Paso Robles offerings.

For years, bringing Rabbit Ridge back felt impossible. Then, in 2023, the perfect partner appeared: Al DeRose of DeRose Winery in Hollister, California. With nearly 100 combined harvests of experience, Erich Russell and Al DeRose are once again crafting Rabbit Ridge wines the way they were always meant to be — bold, authentic, and affordable. The comeback begins now. The first new releases — including Napa Valley Zinfandel and Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon — arrive Fall 2025. Rabbit Ridge is back, and ready to toast its return with exceptional wines you have come to know.