Cecil O. De Loach, Jr.

Cecil O. De Loach, Jr. (born September 14, 1938, Montgomery, Alabama) is a California grape-grower and winemaker in the Russian River Valley AVA who has contributed to the reputation and notoriety of Sonoma County viticulture.

Prior to his name-making career in viniculture, De Loach was a United States Marine Corps sharpshooter, a race-track photographer at Golden Gate Fields, a private pilot, and received a degree in Anthropology from San Francisco State University. During his childhood he was raised in Macon, GA where he attended Lanier High School, an all-boys military school. His family subsequently moved to San Francisco in 1945. He graduated from Lincoln High School in San Francisco's Sunset District in 1956.

De Loach began growing grapes in 1970 when he purchased the 24-acre Barbieri Ranch at 2150 Olivet Road in Santa Rosa, CA for approximately $60,000. The Barbieri Ranch had been planted by Itilo Barbieri in 1905. De Loach purchased the old Zinfandel vineyard from Itilo's son Louis.

In 1973 he purchased his second vineyard property, 17 acres located at 1791 Olivet Road, to which he planted Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Gewurztraminer. The site also comprised approximately five acres of 1940s-era mixed-grape vineyards (mostly Palomino and Golden Chasselas), an orchard of approximately 5 acres (Gravenstein apples, figs, Santa Rosa plums, peaches, French prunes, pears, walnuts), and a small sheep-sheering barn. This site became what is now De Loach Vineyards.

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