Posts by Mark Blanchard

Harvest has ended, the leaves are falling from the trees and the crisp autumn air fills our breath. It’s a festive time of year when we gather with friends and family, create celebratory feasts and toast to the season with glasses of fine wine. This year, more than ever, we all deserve a chance to…

This is a story that I wish I wasn’t writing about. It’s a story that I feel like I’ve already shared, but unfortunately, it’s a story that I had to live through a second time. In 2017 Sonoma County was devastated by fires that burned countless homes and businesses and ended with the heartbreaking loss…

I woke up to the sounds of heavy winds pounding against my bedroom window.  I woke up to a cell phone with no service, yet dozens of missed calls and texts from my wife, still at the hospital where she works midnight shifts as a nurse.  The messages simply read, “Are you OK!?” I woke…

The Story of our J Cole Blend And the One Named Celebrity of Healdsburg James and I are often asked why we didn’t name our company Blanchard Brothers Wines, instead of Blanchard Family Wines. After all, we are the sole founders and owners. However, we know in our hearts that from the beginning there has…

(And How I Learned the Difference between Merlot and Chardonnay) James and I weren’t fortunate enough to be born into a wine legacy, or into wealth, or even into a family from California. So I suppose from birth we already started with a disadvantage in the wine industry. In fact, our parents weren’t even wine…