Mike Lucia is no newcomer to the Sonoma wine scene. He has been laying tracks in the world of wine since he first landed in Healdsburg as a teenager back in ‘92 and started rubbing shoulders with local winemakers during after-school restaurant gigs. Before long, Mike worked harvest with DeLoach in the Russian River Valley, an experience which led to jobs at many other well- respected wineries such as Ridge. Sometime in the late ‘90s, Mike fell in love with the wines of Burgundy and sought to find a similarly nuanced, terroir-driven experience at home.
In 2007 he accepted a position at Goldeneye Winery before even graduating from the Enology program at Fresno State. He knew there was potential as he tasted wines around Anderson Valley and thought to himself, “These wines taste like everything I’m looking at outside the window.” After three fruitful years in Anderson Valley with Goldeneye, Mike took on the role of Associate Winemaker at Copain Wines — a move that brought him back to his Russian River roots while still allowing him to source the fruit he loved from Mendocino. In 2014 Mike started a side project producing the kind of wines he loved to drink and always wanted to make......and so Rootdown was born --- A brand name which refers to the influence of the soil on wine, particularly in organic winemaking. Mike has always been more interested in what the vine’s roots are drinking rather than how the sun is interacting directly with the fruit.
In 2018 Mike saw an opportunity to create a value brand calling it: Es Okay. Which is based on organically sourced fruit to make interesting White, Rosé and Red blends.
In 2019 Mike was fortunate enough to become a partner in a vineyard in Mendocino County that happens to be America’s smallest AVA called Cole Ranch. Thus, the brand Cole Ranch was created and formed from the original 1970’s plantings of Riesling, Merlot and Cabernet.
The future is bright for Rootdown and Cole Ranch. Since the partnership with Cole Ranch, Rootdown has planted, made and shifted the brand to Jura inspired wines. We are proud of the Trousseau, Pinot Noir, Poulsard, Savagnin and Chardonnay that are coming from Cole Ranch. And we are honored to make Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from almost 50 year old dry farmed vines.
For all wines, Mike harvests his fruit to lead with earth and texture, rather than only fruit. Stylistically, these wines have low alcohol, high acid and more delicate, brighter color. His style remains very decidedly hands-off, allowing the grapes and specific sites to speak for themselves. He ferments the wines with native yeasts, no new oak, and sulfur only in amounts equal to what is found naturally on the vine. Mike’s technical prowess as a winemaker is finely tuned, but he usually prefers to let curiosity inform what happens with his Rootdown wines. He is constantly having fun “making decisions that he shouldn’t make,” and always playing with “What if?”
