Kastania Winery site is now home to Parum Leo

Angela, meanwhile, grew up in the South Bay before moving on UC Santa Barbara to study political science. She then moved to Washington D.C. to attend American University where she earned a master’s in public policy. She has worked extensively for elected officials, from Diane Feinstein to the assessor/recorder of San Francisco County, as well as nonprofits such as United Way. Currently, when not hosting at Parum’s tasting room and even doing wine deliveries, she works in government relations from the corporate side.

Angela and Laurence meet at a wedding at his family’s property in Calistoga roughly a decade ago, and had an immediate connection. Seven years later, they have three little girls, who they hope will inherit the winery.

“My dream has always been to have a small business we can pass on to our kids,” said Angela.

Agriculture is part of the Donald’s heritage, as both of Laurence’s parents grew up on farms.

“We love that our children are getting to learn where their food comes from and get to run around the vineyard,” she said.

To this end, the Donald’s hope to continue Hoot’s work towards sustainability, a certification he received just prior to selling the vineyard.

“I gained a great appreciate for natural farming while working at a biodynamic vineyard in New Zealand,” said Laurence. “We are hoping to move towards an organic certification at Parum.”

The name Parum Leo means little lion, a nod to Laurence’s favorite wine varietal, pinot noir. While it is said that “cab is king,” he felt at Parum, they could shift that view.

“Our pinots can hold their own,” says Laurence. “But they are more subtle and graceful than cabs, so our local mountain lions seemed like the way to go.”

Laurence’s first inclination was to simply offer four or five pinot noirs, but he likes to mix things up and figured customers would too. Because he had so much experience with sauvignon blancs in New Zealand and chardonnays here in the North Bay, it was natural for him to start producing those wines.

“I have always gravitated to this region because of the pinots,” said Laurence. “They are difficult to grow and I like that challenge. Chardonnays are a must have in our area, and sauv blancs are something my parents first discovered at Cloudy Bay Vineyards, in the Malborough wine region of New Zealand. Our merlot is an homage to Angela’s mother, who passed away from cancer recently.”

Just as the Donalds were taking over their new winery, Sonoma County was hit first with fires and then by then by COVID. The pandemic actually ended up being the perfect beginning for Parum as it gave them a chance to get everything up and running prior to the crowds starting to visit.

“We were lucky to get our permits quickly and because much of that first harvest was smoke-tainted, it gave them a chance to do a practice run with the fruit so we could get familiar with all the equipment,” said Laurence.

Parum is currently open Thursday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment only, although those are easy to book. They offer two tasting choices – the “Signature” tasting, as well as the option to buy a bottle or three of Parum’s wines and do your own tasting in their bucolic picnic area location under an old oak tree in the lower portion of the vineyard. While we were visiting, we wandered down to check out the picnic area and found several families who were visiting to enjoy an afternoon of wine tasting, games and quality family time.

The “PL Signature” tasting is $20 per person and comes with an assortment of olives, cheese and crackers, which was a nice touch and assisted us in determining which of the wines was a light afternoon sipper and which were bold food-pairing wines. The current tasting includes their 2020 Anderson Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($21), 2018 Russian River Chardonnay ($26), 2018 Russian River Pinot Noir and 2019 Santa Clara Valley Merlot. We added Parum Leo’s fifth wine, their 2018 Pinot Hill Pinot Noir. One fee is waived with each purchase of three bottles of Parum’s wine.

During our visit, we received a nice mixture of wine introductions and pours from both Laurence and Angela. They exhibited a great juxtaposition, with Laurence passionately expounding on a lot of the technical information, as well as thoughtfully answering our winemaking related questions, while Angela simply, yet elegantly explained what she liked about the wines, including a great preview of the difference between Parum’s two pinot noirs. She called the Russian River an everyday drinker, while the Pinot Hill is more bold and will definitely go well with a meal.