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Erich Bradley is a founder and Director of Winemaking for Sojourn Cellars. He focuses on employing meticulous farming methods and believes in minimalist winemaking. Erich describes his winemaking style as “New World with Old World sensibilities.” Erich spends much of his time and energy in the vineyards, working closely with Sojourn’s exceptional growers to produce distinctive wines that express vineyard and vintage in the bottle.

A native of Palo Alto, California, Erich became interested in wine while helping his family develop their vineyard on a small ranch in Sonoma Valley. Prior to that, Erich studied Bio-chemistry at the University of Chicago and Philosophy and Modern European Intellectual History at the University of California at Irvine. This led him to an initial career as high school teacher and tennis coach. Since moving to Sonoma in 1998, he has studied winemaking at the University of California at Davis and viticulture at Santa Rosa College. He has also benefited greatly from the mentoring of winemakers Richard Arrowood and David Ramey.

When Erich takes time away from winemaking and the vineyards, you can usually find him on the golf course or in his kitchen cooking up French and Italian country classics for his friends and family. Erich is also on the board of directors as Vice President for Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Association.