De Novo Wines

Hervé Bruckert, Ladd Cahoon, and Dana Zimmerman established De Novo Wines in 2004. De Novo is a Latin term that connotes beginning again. As such, De Novo Wines is about new beginnings and the realization of dreams.

Formation of the Team
In 2003, Hervé Bruckert found himself in the throws of surviving unexpected unemployment and divorce. These major life transitions required him to engage in a careful and honest re-evaluation of his life, his values, his dreams and his individual potential to bring these dreams to fruition.

For Hervé, creating a wine business aligned directly with his strong desire to ground himself, geographically and spiritually, in Northern California while drawing upon his roots and his formative experience of winemaking in the Alsatian region of France. “My entire family is in the wine industry in Alsace, France. I saw my uncle grow his business over the years and his role modeling continues to inspire me. My grandpa had a small vineyard also, and I remember as a kid riding in a wood barrel on the back of wagon pulled by horses.”

When Hervé invited his friend, Ladd Cahoon, to join the wine adventure as a business partner, Ladd was also in the midst of major life changes, transitioning between jobs while assessing how he wanted to grow his career as well as his relationships. “I was in a place where I was willing and able to throw my natural caution aside,” he explains. “I saw this as an opportunity for friends to come together, to share in a winemaking adventure, and to do something that we don’t know how to do.”

But in fact, like Hervé, Ladd also grew up participating in home winemaking among family and relatives. During his adult years, Ladd continued to develop his burgeoning interest in wine as the son of a restaurateur and through his exposure to the wine industry as an attorney. He worked with several wineries to conduct environmental due diligence and address water quality issues.

Thanks to good timing and introductions by a mutual friend, Hervé and Ladd then welcomed Dana Zimmerman, a retired elementary school teacher who already won awards for producing Zinfandel wines from the Russian River. Dana offered his valuable winemaking expertise, as well as space in his home cellar to store the venture’s wines.


The Vineyards
Together, Hervé, Ladd, and Dana forged important connections with vineyard owners who specialize in Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel grapes.

Apicella Vineyard: Merlot
Owned by Dan and Betsy Sanchez, Apicella is nested in the foothills between Santa Rosa and Sonoma Valley, replete with lamas, emus, and donkeys at an elevation of 4,000 feet.

Canale Vineyard: Cabernet and Zinfandel
Dominico Canale’s vineyard features Old World charm in the Dry Creek Valley, just east of Healdsburg.

aCURE eSTATE Vineyard: Cabernet
Ron Siegmund’s vineyard in the Alexander Valley reflects true professionalism and perfectionism in winemaking, marked by the double-stacked vines, the solar-powered water sprinkler systems, and the great care taken to remove most of the leaves around the grapes to provide full sun exposure.

In October 2004, the team hand-picked those grapes, processed them with a manual crusher and de-stemmer, then filled three 30-gallon French oak barrels with what later resulted in their first 900 bottles of wine.


The Name, The Accolades, & Continued Growth
In honor and celebration of life’s many new beginnings, transitions, and continued growth, including their own, Ladd aptly named their new adventure De Novo Wines. As described and illustrated on the De Novo label, “Like the new moon, our wines are about beginning anew; taking stock of what life offers and savoring what you make of it.”

By the following summer in 2005, the team and the vineyard owners tasted the promise of those first De Novo wines. Shortly thereafter, they began to enter local wine competitions, including the Sonoma County Fair, winning a gold medal for their 2004 Zinfindel. De Novo Wines gradually gained more exposure among their families, friends, and colleagues, at parties and other events, and continued to receive rave reviews.

That fall, Hervé and Ladd began privately hosting their first annual harvest party at Apicella Vineyard to continue sharing their passion for winemaking with others. Each September, invited guests enjoy one day in the life of winemaking. They pick grapes in the morning, enjoy a celebratory lunch, crush the grapes in the afternoon, and fill bottles of their own to bring home wine barreled from the previous year’s crush.

With overwhelmingly positive feedback, growing award recognition, and repeated inquiries about purchasing their wines, 2006 marked the year that the De Novo team took their next steps to make the wine adventure a commercial business. During one of their many official business meetings at Café Bastille in San Francisco, the team also decided to commemorate the site and their new beginnings by naming their now-signature Bordeaux blend, Bastille (beginning with the 2005 vintage).

The following year, in 2007, De Novo submitted entries to San Francisco Wine Competition and won a double gold medal (unanimous gold by the judges) for their 2006 Cabernet and a silver medal for their 2006 Zinfandel. In February 2008, the De Novo team participated in the competition’s public tasting event, pouring their wines among the 3,000 people in attendance.

Today, De Novo Wines are available for purchase and in fine restaurants throughout the Bay Area.

“To be reborn, one needs to return to their core, to their roots and grow from there. Also, listening to my heart was a major change in my life.”

 – Hervé Bruckert

“Making wine is an inherently participatory process that people can do and enjoy together.”

 – Ladd Cahoon