appellation sonoma county ava founded 1876 parent company constellation brands cases yr 500 000 2013 varietals cabernet sauvignon chardonnay sauvignon blanc merlot website www.simiwinery.com simi winery is a winery in california in the united states . contents 1 history 2 production 3 see also 4 references history edit the winery was founded in san francisco california in 1876 by two italian brothers giuseppe and pietro simi who had immigrated to the united states during the california gold rush . 1 they moved operations to healdsburg california in 1881 2 paying 2 250 in gold coins to buy a winery on front street . 3 isabelle simi the winery was run by giuseppe simi s daughter isabelle simi beginning 1904 . 1 after marrying a local banker isabelle continued to make wine during prohibition from 1920 until 1933 which she stored in the winery s stone cellars . one of the few california wineries to survive prohibition simi was forced to sell most of its vineyards to survive but was also one of the few companies to have wine available when sales were again legal . 2 simi opened its first tasting room in 1934 . isabel simi sold the winery to grower russell green in 1970 but continued working there . 2 in 1973 maryann graf the first woman to graduate from an american university with a degree in oenology joined simi . 4 in 1979 winemaking was taken over by zelma long one of california s most prominent winemakers who modernized and brought the winery to national prominence . 5 the winery was sold in 1981 to mo t hennessy which in turn became part of lvmh mo t hennessy . 1 beginning 1982 the winery began to re acquire its own vineyards . 2 long who continued after the hennessy sale eventually became president and ceo . 6 lmvh sold the winery for approximately us 50 million in 1999 to canandaigua brands a division of constellation brands . 7 it is now owned by icon estates constellation s luxury wine subsidiary . production edit simi winery simi owns 600 acres 2.4 km2 of vineyards in alexander valley planted in bordeaux varietal wines and the 120 acre 0.5 km2 goldfields vineyard in russian river valley planted to chardonnay clones . 8 see also edit california wine sonoma county wine references edit a b c simi winery . epicurious . a b c d history . simi winery . howard g. goldberg june 17 1987 . wine talk . new york times . women spur new trend in wine marketing . wine institute . nika hazleton feb 13 1987 . zelma of simi zelma long of simi winery . national review . simi winery . atlas of wineries . large winemaker near an acquisition . new york times . march 11 1999 . vineyards . simi winery . coordinates 38 38 39 n 122 52 21 w 38.64413 n 122.87239 w 38.64413 ; 122.87239 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title simi winery & oldid 693638871 categories healdsburg californiahistory of sonoma county californiawineries in sonoma county1876 establishments in californiahidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 3 december 2015 at 21 45 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view