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During his 37-year career with the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, Ben met future partner Bruce Perry. Through their common passions—cooking and wine—they became fast friends. They joined together to make wine as a hobby in their garages. They made and experimented with many varietals, but both found Pinot Noir to be their true passion.
Seduced by those captivating aromas and elegant nuances, Ben and Bruce volunteered to work during harvest at a friend’s Sonoma County winery specializing in Pinot Noir. There they honed their craft and never looked back.
Today, the Papapietro Perry cellar is simply a more elaborate version of Ben’s garage where he started making wine more than 35 years ago. “Authentic, not pretentious,” says Ben. “Confident, but not too serious. Humble. The winery is an extension of my home and personal hospitality.”
Maybe that is why one corner of the cellar is a kitchen where family favorites are prepared for the staff, and the occasional lucky friend who drops by at lunchtime. In Ben’s words, “cooking and wine are indistinguishable.” He simply cannot imagine one without the other.
In the 1990s, when their first vintage was ready to sell, the partners turned to Bruce’s wife, Renae for her marketing expertise. Renae was working as a software-product marketing executive for a high-tech company in the San Francisco Bay Area when Papapietro Perry started to take off. It didn’t take much encouragement for her to exchange urban life for rural Sonoma County and join Bruce and Ben in their new venture. Renae now manages marketing and sales for the winery, along with other business operations.
Bruce and Renae have easily adapted to country life, sharing their property with their dog Nola. As a couple who followed their dream, they know how fortunate they are to be doing what they love while living in one of the most beautiful places in California.
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