From supply chain to sustainability, Rodney Strong Vineyards knows what it takes to succeed.

Napa Valley and Sonoma, two of California’s top-growing wine regions, recently underwent their earliest grape harvest in decades. In response to a record-breaking March heat wave and early bud break, grape-picking started in July. The process typically starts in early to mid-August. 

Fortunately, wine-growers and -makers across the region turn to harvest playbooks that have withstood the test of time. 

One of them is 67-year-old Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg, California.

Rodney Strong, who had a brief stint in the Navy before dancing on Broadway in New York City, retired from performing life and established his namesake winery in 1959. He brought on Rick Sayre as winemaker in 1979. 

In 1989, the Klein family purchased Rodney Strong Vineyards. A graduate of Stanford’s MBA program, Tom Klein met Strong and Sayre a decade prior when his team at McKinsey & Company was hired to evaluate the winery.

To this day, more than six decades on, a successful harvest at Rodney Strong Vineyards strikes the balance between art and science. (Just one example of many: The preferred light pink shade of Rodney Strong’s rosé requires bringing those grapes in under the cover of night, before any heat can degrade them). 

During the final days of 2026’s harvest, Entrepreneur visited Rodney Strong Vineyards and its estate vineyard Rockaway Vineyards to learn more about the business’s approach. 

The takeaways from chief winemaking and operations officer Justin Seidenfeld and head of winegrowing Allison Dericco can ripen any business for success, whether or not they’re focused on the vine.

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