Meet the Founding Family

Werner and Helle Siegert met at a college Christmas dance for foreign students in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965. Recent immigrants from Austria (Werner) and Denmark (Helle), they married in 1968 and soon welcomed three daughters—Katja, Christa, and Annika.

The Siegerts’ connection to the land began early. As a boy in Vienna, Werner spent long days hiking the surrounding woods and evenings at local outdoor wineries, or Heurigens. In California, after his day job as a sales executive, he tended a neighbor’s plot, growing vegetables so plentiful the girls sold zucchinis instead of lemonade on the corner.

In 1986 the family moved to Quito, Ecuador, for Werner’s work. They often vacationed at a hacienda called La Cienega, which we take to mean “lovely pond.” Years later, ready to retire, their eldest daughter Katja suggested a return to California to live on the land and grow grapes. In 1994, Werner and Helle found a breathtaking property in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley with sweeping views, grand oaks, and a pond. They named it La Cienega.

Establishing the Vineyard

Set on 43 acres in the southeastern corner of Alexander Valley, the vineyard began in 1997 when the Siegerts planted 16 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon. The first harvest in 2001 showed classic Alexander Valley character, and for nearly two decades La Cienega sold its reserve-quality, hand-harvested grapes to top Napa and Sonoma wineries. Werner also tended small blocks of Merlot, Malbec, and Zinfandel to hand-craft a couple private estate barrels each year.

The family often dreamed of crafting wine to sell commercially. In 2015, Katja and her husband Sam Newman joined the business and embarked on creating the vineyard’s own label. They planned to make one barrel of estate Cabernet Sauvignon in 2018 to see how it tasted. Sadly, that same year during harvest, just after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, Helle succumbed to health problems and joined her Viking ancestors. While the family mourned, harvesters brought in the largest, high-quality crop of La Cienega’s history – a whopping 93 tons. As fate would have it, the family would be making much more than one barrel

Inaugural Estate Release

The family partnered with Foppiano Winery, one of Sonoma’s oldest family-run wineries, and award winning winemaker Nova Perrill to craft the wine. Early barrel samples of the 2018 Cabernet revealed vibrant fruit and remarkable depth. After 18 months of barrel aging, the inaugural La Cienega Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was released in fall 2020—elegant, rich, and complex (or, as Helle liked to say, “the good sh—t”). Each bottle bears a special inscription honoring her memory, and each subsequent vintage honors a member of the family.

In October 2024, while traveling in Europe, Werner joined Helle in heaven. Today their daughters and grandchildren continue to care for the vineyard, preserving a legacy of land, family, and exceptional wine for generations to come.