The Dutton family's farming heritage goes back to the 19th century. In 1881 Warren Dutton purchased the family's first 200 acres in Santa Rosa. Joined by his brother Reed, the Dutton’s planted their property to the best varieties of French prunes, a hot commodity at the time. For many years the family business prospered on prunes, with forays into pears and hops. Warren Dutton Jr., great-grandson of Reed Dutton, grew up picking prunes and hops on the farm. In 1964, young Warren and his new wife Gail bought their first 35 acres west of the town of Graton. Their original family home is now the current Dutton Ranch offices. In the early days, most people knew the Duttons for their fruit stand in Santa Rosa, on Sebastopol Road just west of Stony Point Road. Unable to sell their fruit through normal distribution channels, Gail and young sons Joe and Steve peddled pears, prunes, apples, dried fruit and gift packs to passing motorists. They created a large mailing list, a novelty at the time, to keep their customers up to date on new developments. At the same time, Warren had the foresight to plant wine grapes, just prior to the downturn in the apple industry.
“I thought he was out of his mind," Gail remembers. Yet their first sale $88 a ton for French Colombard was encouragement enough to put more sweat and capital into vineyards. In 1985, the Duttons sold their Santa Rosa fruit stand and the surrounding property to developers. This ended one era for the family and opened a new one, as Gail and Warren put all their effort into expanding their West County holdings. Warren died of a heart attack while riding his horse in October 2001 leaving Gail and sons Steve and Joe Dutton to carry on. The boys had been involved in the family business since their childhood, picking apples with their father and working at the family's farm stand with their mother. By the time they were in high school Steve and Joe were driving trucks, tractors and forklifts, and helping their dad oversee the family's expanding vineyards and orchards. In addition to their roles with Dutton Ranch, Steve and Joe developed their own businesses. They created Dutton Brothers Farming, which manages and farms 60 of the 1,100 acres in the Dutton holdings. Each brother also has his own winery. Joe and his wife Tracy started Dutton Estate in 1994. Steve and his wife Theresa founded Dutton-Goldfield Winery in 1998 with winemaker Dan Goldfield. Both wineries create world-class Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Syrah. Gail remains active in the enterprise managing the public relations and maintaining the Dutton role at the annual Gravenstein Apple Fair. Today, the family sustainably farms 1,100 acres of vineyards and 200 acres of organic apples predominately within the Russian River Valley appellation.
