The Analytical Artist: Meet Rogelio Alvarado of Dancing Crow

Rogelio Alvarado doesn't like talking about himself. After 30 years of making wine in Northern California, rising to head winemaker at a prestigious Sonoma County estate, and becoming one of the most respected figures in Mendocino County's winemaking community, he'd still rather be in the cellar than on a stage.

"I just want to make wine," he'll tell you. And he means it.

Rogelio’s work speaks for itself. His obsessive attention to detail, the analytical mind, the deep understanding of how grapes become something transcendent—it's all there in the glass.

The Long Apprenticeship

Rogelio came to Mendocino County, California, from Michoacán, Mexico when he was 14 years old. Over the next three decades, he worked his way through the wine industry from the ground up—bottling lines, cellar work, production roles at wineries like Asti, Fetzer, and Beringer, and years at custom crush facilities where he watched thousands of wines come and go, each one teaching him something new.

It's an education you can't get in a classroom. Working every part of the process means understanding what happens when you over-press, noticing the difference between fruit picked at midnight versus noon, seeing what goes wrong and what goes right. Rogelio absorbed it all.

Rogelio spent 15 years laboring over other people's wines. Local winemakers who'd come through would taste his samples, see his meticulous notes, and watch how he approached problems. They kept telling him the same thing: "You should be making your own wine."

He finally listened. In 2017, Rogelio became the head winemaker at Blue Rock Vineyards in Sonoma County, where he spent seven years crafting Bordeaux-style wines. He was good at it—really good. But the pressure, the travel, and the time away from his family in Ukiah, where his wife teaches elementary school and his three kids were building their lives, started to weigh on him.

So he made a choice that a lot of ambitious people wouldn't make: he stepped back. He returned to what he loved most about winemaking, which was the craft itself.

Labor of Love

Rogelio is equal parts scientist and artist. Every decision in the cellar has a reason behind it, rooted in data, instinct, and three decades of hands-on experience.

When he doesn't understand something—a fermentation moving too slowly, an aromatic profile that's not quite right—he goes home and finds eight YouTube videos from winemakers around the world. He listens to podcasts about the problem. He calls up colleagues and asks questions. Last year, he traveled to Italy to better understand Italian winemaking philosophy, simply because he loves Italian wine and wanted to know more.

Scott Kirkpatrick, who runs the business side of Dancing Crow Vineyards, didn't go to college for winemaking either. Like Rogelio, he learned by doing. But their approaches couldn't be more different. "I shoot from the heart," Scott says, "Rogelio wants to know all the facts, and know exactly why things are happening."

That precision has transformed Dancing Crow's winemaking. Rogelio's curiosity and dedication to understanding every variable means the wines are more technically dialed in than ever before. For a winery focused on minimal intervention–on letting the grapes speak for themselves–having someone who knows exactly what needs to be done (and what doesn't) makes all the difference.

"One of my favorite things about Rogelio is that even though we take completely different paths to where we want to go, we always end up in the same place," Scott says. "And we both love wine."

Rogelio Alvarado at work in the cellars at Dancing Crow Vineyards.

Coming home

Walk into almost any winery in Mendocino or Lake County and mention Rogelio's name, and people light up. Over 30 years in Ukiah, he's become one of those people who seems to know everyone, and whom everyone genuinely respects. He helps people find jobs in the industry, coached high school soccer for years, and until recently played travel soccer himself. He follows his regional Mexican soccer teams religiously and will talk your ear off about the game if you let him.

His wife teaches at the local elementary school, his kids grew up in Ukiah and now have kids of their own. Rogelio has built a life here, raised a family, and become part of the fabric of the community. When he left his position as head winemaker at Blue Rock Vineyards in Sonoma County, it was a deliberate choice to return to Ukiah and to the hands-on craft of winemaking. The prestige of a head winemaker title mattered less than being close to his family, his community, and the work itself.

That sense of belonging and the understanding of what really matters shows up in the wines Rogelio crafts. There's no ego, no need to impress. The same humility that makes him step back from the spotlight drives his winemaking: let the grapes speak, don't get in the way, make something people will actually want to drink.

Lake County's Secret Weapon

Here's something most people don't know: Clear Lake is the oldest lake in North America. Over thousands of years, sediment from the surrounding Mayacamas Mountains washed down and settled on the lake's shores, creating soil that's unlike almost anywhere else in California.

The Dancing Crow vineyard sits at 1,400 feet elevation on the western edge of Clear Lake, in an area called Big Valley District. The soil here is dense, high-magnesium black clay—the kind of soil that holds onto water with serious grip. For most grape varieties, this would be a disaster: roots sitting in wet soil typically lead to rot and disease.

But Sauvignon Blanc thrives here. The grape actually likes having "wet feet," and that deep water availability is what makes Lake County Sauvignon Blanc so distinctive.

Lake County gets brutally hot, regularly hitting over 110 degrees in the summer. Without that water source, grapes would ripen too fast, sugars would spike, and you'd end up with a heavy, high-alcohol wine that tastes more like fruit juice than wine. But because the vines have access to deep water, they ripen slowly and steadily even in the heat. The hot days develop flavor complexity, while cool evening breezes pulled in by the lake help the vines recover overnight.

The result? Grapes that hit full flavor at the exact same time sugars are still low and acidity is still high. It's a winemaker's dream, and it's why Rogelio can make a Sauvignon Blanc that's only 12% alcohol but still packed with flavor, aromatics, and texture.

Lake County remains one of California's most underrated wine regions. The grapes that grow here often end up in higher-priced bottles from more famous appellations, but the quality speaks for itself.

Rogelio attempting to hide behind the Dancing Crow Vineyards crew — shy as always!

California Grapes, French Accent

The founder of Dancing Crow, Tony Cartlidge, grew up in England vacationing in the south of France. His vision for the winery was simple: make wine that you could order by the carafe at a French café on a Tuesday. Not trophy wine, not special occasion wine, not designed to win awards or impress other winemakers (although it does both) — just really good wine that people would want to drink every day. Rogelio took that philosophy and ran with it, bringing his decades of technical precision to create something that feels effortless.

It's fitting, really. Rogelio doesn't want to be the star of the show—he'd rather the wine speak for itself. He's spent 30 years learning how to step back at exactly the right moment, to guide rather than dominate. In the cellar and in conversation, he prefers to stay quiet and let his work do the talking.

That means Sancerre-style winemaking: focused on brightness, aromatics, and drinkability rather than power and weight. It's the antithesis of the big, grassy, high-octane New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs that dominated the market for years. This is the kind of wine you want to just keep sipping from that carafe all day long.

It's fitting, really. Rogelio doesn't want to be the star of the show — he'd rather the wine speak for itself. In the cellar and in conversation, he prefers to stay quiet and let his work do the talking.

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Bright, aromatic white wine with notes of fresh citrus and gardenias.

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About the Wine

Rogelio's approach to this Sauvignon Blanc is all about restraint. After harvest, he destemmed the fruit and gave it eight hours of skin contact—just enough to add texture and complexity. He then fermented it in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures to preserve all those delicate aromatics. The wine stayed on the lees (the dead yeast cells that settle at the bottom of the tank) for five months, which enhanced the mouthfeel and gave the wine a subtle richness without any heaviness. To us, this slight creamy feel makes us think of Key Lime pie: tart fruit meets a hint of custard. Yum.

The result is everything Rogelio has been working toward for 30 years. In the glass, you'll find juicy lemon-lime with delicate notes of stone fruit and melon on the nose, lots of crisp acidity, and a touch of grounding minerality. It's precise without being sterile, aromatic without being showy, and refreshing in the way that only a wine with serious acidity and low alcohol can be.

Rogelio recommends pairing his Sauvy B with oysters on the half shell (Hog Island, anyone?), tangy goat cheese, or herb-roasted chicken—really, anything bright or fresh that lets the wine shine. We think it's also perfect for a Tuesday afternoon when you just want to pretend you’re in a French café with something cold and delicious in your hand.

On the back of each can, we wrote "The Analytical Artist—intentional in craft, big in corazón." After spending time with Rogelio and tasting his wines, we couldn't think of a better way to describe him. This is a winemaker who chose craft over prestige and community over ambition. Someone who, after 30 years, still just wants to make really good wine.

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• Sustainably-Grown

Sauvignon Blanc

Dancing Crow Vineyards, Clear Lake, CA

Crisp, aromatic Sancerre-style white with notes of yuzu, gardenias, and grapefruit. A Cali wine with a French accent.

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