Arable
A documentary series that profiles a new generation of farmers, winemakers, small business owners, and advocates who are reshaping relationships between land, labor, and community in the region. Directed by Aaron Brown, presented by The Future Collective.
We hope these conversations help you understand the values of a new generation that might become the foundation of a regenerative and diversified economic future for Sonoma Valley.
OUT NOW
→ Episode 01 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷: 𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑫
→ Episode 02 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷: 𝑳𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑹
→ Episode 03 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷 : 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑴𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀
→ Episode 04 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻'𝑺 𝑮𝑶 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷𝑬𝑹: 𝑨𝑫𝑽𝑶𝑪𝑨𝑪𝒀
→ Episode 05, ”Hybrids and Community” 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝑹𝒆𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 280 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 & 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑵𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔
→ Short 01, Dry Farmed Apples: Gravensteins with Matt Niess
COMING SOON
→ Episode 06, ”Ecology and Agriculture”, 𝑱𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒓, 𝑭𝑹𝑬𝑺.𝑪𝑶 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 & 𝑬𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓, 𝑵𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓
→ Short 03, Biochar Burn 1 with Eric Mayer, Jack Sporer, and Charlie Toledo (Towa)
→ Short 04, Biochar Burn 2 with Eric Mayer and Dan Marioni
→ Episode 08, “Anthropology and Agriculture
”, 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂 𝑩𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒚, 𝑴𝒂𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒆 & 𝑨𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏, 𝑨𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆
→ Short 05, Gleaning Orchards with Marreya Bailey
→ Episode 09, “Generational Farming”, 𝑻𝒐𝒎 𝑳𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝑳𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒚 & 𝑫𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊, 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔
Episodes 01-04 documents 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷: 𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑫, 𝑳𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑹, 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑴𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀, a four-part panel discussion series moderated by author and wine historian Elaine Chukan Brown, exploring the intersection of local food and wine production, employers and farmworkers, and housing affordability and food security in Sonoma Valley.
Episodes 05-09, premiering through the end of 2026, are one-on-one conversations and short films in the field and will premier through the end of 2026. Through these episodes, 𝑨𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 continues to explore Sonoma Valley through a network of people who live, work, and care for it. Young farmers, winemakers, hospitality professionals, and small business owners, as well as elder Indigenous leaders, offer perspectives that reach beyond agriculture to questions of community, culture, identity, and our relationship with the land.
OUT NOW, EPISODES 01-05
Episode 05, Hybrids and Community, with 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝑹𝒆𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 280 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 & 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑵𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 brings together two influential voices in Northern California's fermentation and urban farming culture, Matt Niess of North American Press, a wine and cider producer focused on hybrids and dry-farmed heirloom apples, and Chris Renfro of community nonprofit, Two Eighty Project, and wine shop and venue Friend of a Friend, who sees agriculture as an act of ecological creativity and farms as interdisciplinary sites of culture-building, where wine is just one output of a larger cycle of regeneration and design.
𝑨𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 01 | 𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔: 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑵𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒔 walks through the Hallberg Butterfly Gardens in Sebastopol, home to an 80-year-old Gravenstein orchard on the property where Louise Hallberg was born and raised. Matt shows how this dry-farmed, old-growth orchard coexists with the adjacent butterfly preserve and explains why he co-ferments these apples with wild California grapes for his Wildcard bottling. He makes the case for keeping old orchards like this one standing rather than replacing them with vines: no irrigation, no spraying, and carbon staying locked in the soil, plus a chance to build a market for the agricultural diversity already growing in wine country.
𝑨𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 02 | 𝑯𝒚𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒔: 𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒐 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑵𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒔 walks through a Sebastopol vineyard first planted by Italian immigrant Domenico Callegari, whose makeshift trellises of scrap metal and TV antennas still shape these century-old, dry-farmed Baco Noir vines. Matt shares why he's filling the vineyard's gaps with low-acid aromatic whites to build a field blend rather than more Baco Noir, and why he's left a patch of native vernal pool flowers untouched to protect the specialist bees that depend on them.
Episode 04 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻'𝑺 𝑮𝑶 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷𝑬𝑹: 𝑨𝑫𝑽𝑶𝑪𝑨𝑪𝒀, presented to the community at Dos' Bar on August 13, 2025, In this conversation with author Elaine Chukan Brown, farmworker advocate Zeke Guzman shared his life's story.
Episode 03 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷 : 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑴𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀, presented to the community at Dos' Bar on August 6, 2025, was a conversation on the intersection of wine, farming, and the pillars of employment, housing, financial stability, health, and education. Christopher Renfro, co-founder of The Two Eighty Project, Lucy O'Dea of Feed Cooperative, farmworker advocate Maria Saldaña Membrila, and Elise Gonzelas of the Catalyst Food Security Initiative, and author Elaine Chukan Brown gave us incredible insights on how connections between local leadership and community members can build new systems, programs, and businesses in ways that fix temporary need while building towards long term sovereignty, stability, and security.
Episode 02 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷: 𝑳𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑹, presented to the community at Dos' Bar on June 25, 2025, was the second in the four part series on local food and wine production, employers and farmworkers, housing affordability and food security, with moderator, Elaine Chukan Brown author of The Wines of California and panelists Cody Citrus of Paul’s Produce, David Rothschild of Las Vivas Wines, Los Paisanos Vineyard Management, Emma Lipp of Valley Bar & Bottle, Valley Swim Club, and Daniel Chavez of Daylight Vineyard Management Services.
Episode 01 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒙 𝑫𝒐𝒔’ 𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝑳𝑬𝑻’𝑺 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷: 𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑫, presented to the community at Dos' Bar on April 24, 2025, brought together the distinct perspectives of Melissa Bucklin of Oak Hill Farm on the inherently extractive and exclusive nature of local food production; Saskia Tingey of Hamel Wines on land ownership and decision making around viticultural practices; Christian Cain of Perennial Grazing, whose sheep grazing practice is rooted in mutualism between animals and plants; Charlie Toledo (Towa) of Suscol Intertribal Council, who has led the creation of land-based projects to preserve Native American culture and human rights, and Elaine Chukan Brown (Inupiaq and Unangan-Sugpiaq), whose work as an author and global educator is at the forefront of using wine as an entry point to self-determination that leads to social justice.
COMING SOON 06-09
Episode 06 brings regenerative winemaker Jack Sporer and biochar producer Eric Mayer into conversation around a shared vision of ecological farming rooted in accountability, collaboration, and place. They critique greenwashing and elitism in wine and climate culture, calling for deeper shifts in economics, policy, and ecological relationships.
Episode 07 is a conversation between Lauren Feldman, co-owner of Valley Var + Bottle and Valley Swim Club and Dan Marioni of Marioni Wine, who are on two sides of a shared local ecosystem—farming and hospitality—who are deeply invested in the land, people, and rhythms of Sonoma Valley. Their conversation reveals a mutual concern for how place-based work is increasingly invisible and undermined by economics and bureaucracy, even as it is valued and romanticized by consumers.
Episode 08 follows cider maker Aaron Brown and winemaker Marreya Bailey as they reflect on building creative, small-scale beverage projects rooted in community, intuition, and experimentation. Grounded in DIY practices, wild fermentation, and artistic process, both navigate the challenges of staying independent within an industry shaped by scale, compliance, and classism.
Episode 09 is a conversation between Tom Larsson and Dan Marioni, who both come from multi-generational Sonoma County farm families whose agricultural roots date back to the 1800s. Over time, their families shifted from diversified crops like prunes, apples, and dairy toward grape growing, a change that brought financial stability but narrowed the region’s agricultural identity. They reflect on the land’s transformation from small, interdependent family farms to a landscape shaped by monoculture, rising costs, and lifestyle vineyards.
CREDITS
Produced by Kim Jones
Directed by Aaron Brown
Executive Producer, Angela Ryan
Co-Executive Producer, Aiko Sophie-Ezaki
Jan Reichle, Director of Photographer
Camera Operator, Conor Hagen
Aaron Brown, Editor
Matt Wood, Sound Mix
Color Grade, Ryan Carmody
Title Design, Hayden Shiebler
Music, Matt Baldwin
A Sonoma Docent Council & Vale Studio Production 2025
Sponsored by Catalyst Fund.