Violet's Paradise

Violet's Paradise Wines: Monte Rosso, with a Grower's Touch

Violet's Paradise is the debut label from Brenae Royal, launched in 2024 after more than a decade working in Northern California vineyards. It's a grower-led project centered in a historic site—Monte Rosso Vineyard in Sonoma County's Moon Mountain District—where elevation and volcanic red soils shape wines with natural depth and definition.

Brenae Royal: From Vineyard Leadership to Founder

Royal's story is a practical one: she came up through agriculture, studied crops and horticulture, and built her career running large-scale viticulture in Sonoma before taking on major vineyard operations in Napa. Her time at Monte Rosso is central—nearly 11 years leading farming there in progressively senior roles—while her work has also earned meaningful recognition in the wine press.

Farming and Winemaking: Organic Commitment

Violet's Paradise reflects Royal's belief that the most important decisions happen in the vineyard. Under her leadership, Monte Rosso began shifting from certified sustainable farming toward certified organic, reaching full organic certification in 2025. Winemaking is handled with longtime collaborator Marc Gagnon, whose résumé includes top Napa estates. The shared aim is simple: pick the right blocks, farm them thoughtfully, then keep the winemaking clean and restrained so the vineyard carries the message.

History in the Vines, Clarity in the Glass

The appeal here starts with Monte Rosso itself—an old California vineyard with real patrimony, including rare, early plantings and a track record for distinctive hillside reds. Royal's lineup leans into that identity: old-vine-anchored bottlings, tiny-production lots, and a few genuinely uncommon threads, like Sémillon from vines dating to the 1880s. There's also a quiet sense of purpose behind the label, with Royal using the project to support mentorship and an agriculture scholarship—an extension of the same community-minded approach that shaped her career in the vineyard.