Organic and Regenerative Wines with Winery Sixteen 600

A few weeks ago we sat down with Sam Coturri of Winery Sixteen 600, a family-owned vineyard who pioneered organic farming and winemaking practices right in our backyard in the Moon Mountain District of Sonoma. They craft small-batch, single-vineyard wines using fruit sourced from organically farmed vineyards, all carefully managed by Sam’s father and founder Phil Coturri and his vineyard management company.

At Sunflower, our current curation focuses on still wines that are farmed organically, regeneratively, or a thoughtful blend of both. These wines are all entirely local—they are effectively our neighbors, and we love being able to champion the incredible work happening right down the road. Regenerative farming in winemaking is a holistic approach to vineyard management that focuses on restoring soil health, increasing biodiversity, and improving the natural resilience of the land. Rather than simply reducing environmental impact, regenerative viticulture actively improves ecosystems through these intentional practices.

In Sonoma County, we are proud to be in one of the world's leading sustainable wine regions. Many growers are embracing regenerative practices as the next step beyond sustainability, helping protect the region's agricultural heritage while producing high-quality wines that reflect a thriving, resilient landscape. As Sunflower grows, we look forward to evolving our selection alongside the industry's best innovations, but we are thrilled to anchor our current collection in these exceptional farming philosophies.

Please enjoy this short interview with Sunflower owner Jame Hahn and Sam Coturri in our new series Caffè Conversations 🍷✨ 

Watch the whole interview on Instagram HERE.

JAMES: Alright dude so ah, well Sam Coturri, legend in the valley here making delicious wines. And I think one of the more important things to talk about is the farming behind the wines that you guys decide to do. Totally organic regenerative, sometimes both, sometimes either?

SAM: I mean you know we always get caught up in all of these technical terms on like what the farming is, yeah. Everything is certified organic – but you know I think regenerative farming practices have been something that my dad has been pioneering for 45 years. You know its the simple you know, the simplest way of looking at it is if you are putting more back into the soil than you are re-taking out than you regenerated and that's, you know that’s the baseline. Everything else comes from that. 

JAMES: I mean that’s kind of like us humans. We should be leaving the place better than we found it right?

SAM: That’s the idea in general. I mean the cool thing is that most of the vineyards that we get to farm we sit up on top of the mountain and you look out on the bay and there’s you know, eight million people out here and everything that we do up there affects those people. And when you think about it like that, you know, there’s decisions on how to farm and you know what you’re doing become a lot easier. 

JAMES: Yea and the interesting this is you’re making a lot of those decisions how you just said it based on how it’ll affect those people, not necessarily how it’ll affect the bottom line right? Some people put that first right?

SAM: Yea 

JAMES: I mean like how much margin can you make on a –

SAM: There’s this interesting dichotomy and like sustainability, a little less sustainability where you know it also has to be economically sustainable. We've you know and for the longest time the organic farming had this sort of reputation that it was more expensive for lower yields and you know maybe that’s true but the margins are really tight. It’s not a big difference, both cost wise and yield wise with conventional farming. And at the end of the day the wine that people want to buy and drink these days is farmed this way more than any other so in the end the bottom line actually is served by farming this way more than you know maybe big chemical would like you to know. I'm going to get in trouble for that one!

JAMES: After our last conversation, we made a decision every wine on our list actually fits into one of those categories. 

Sunflower Caffè is proud to pour the Sixteen 600 Enrico Valentine Rhone Rose. It is described as having notes of wild strawberry, taste mineral, sophisticated, crisp and elegant. Enjoy a glass (or bottle) at Sunflower next time you are in. View our menu for more details.