Honoring Victor Trentadue: A Lifetime of Roots, Generosity, and Community

At Wine Country to the Rescue, we are proud to honor the people who don't just support our mission from a distance but who are woven into the very fabric of Northern Sonoma County. Victor Trentadue is exactly that kind of person.

If you have ever attended Wine Country to the Rescue, you know the magic of the setting. The rolling Alexander Valley vineyards stretching to the horizon. The vine-covered arbors. The towering redwoods. The warmth of the Sala de Leon Pavilion glowing in the evening light. You know Trentadue Winery.

Victor Trentadue holds his Honorary Firefighter of the Year Plaque

But behind the beauty of that property is a story that runs far deeper than the vines. It is a story of an Italian immigrant family that came to California with almost nothing, found their way to Sonoma County, and planted roots so deep that four generations later, their legacy continues to shape the land, the wine, and the community around them.

Victor Trentadue is the keeper of that story. And in 2022, Wine Country to the Rescue was proud to name him our Honorary Firefighter of the Year.

From Lucca to the Alexander Valley: A Family's Journey

Victor Trentadue's maternal ancestors made their home in the walled city of Lucca in the Tuscany region of Italy until economic hardship in the early 1900s compelled them to seek a better life in America. They settled in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley, joining a growing community of Italian immigrants, and it wasn't long before Victor's great-grandfather Giuseppe Santini became renowned among his neighbors for making an outstanding table wine.

Victor's father Leo was born in San Francisco and grew up on a ranch in Santa Clara, where he farmed apricots and cherries until he was drafted into World War II at the age of 18. After serving two years and recovering from injuries sustained in battle, Leo returned to farming. When suburbia began creeping into Santa Clara in the early 1950s, Leo and his wife Evelyn decided to sell the ranch and move to Sonoma County. They chose Sonoma County because Evelyn had family originally from Lucca, Italy, who had lived in the Dry Creek Valley since the late 1800s. In 1959, the Trentadues bought an existing ranch in Geyserville. Victor was two years old.

Victor Trentadue enjoying a the auction during Wine Country to the Rescue

Born to Farm

Victor Trentadue, Leo and Evelyn's only son, inherited the Trentadue gene for farming. From the time he was old enough to reach the pedals, he was out in the fields. Leo tied wooden blocks to the tractor pedals so Victor's short little kid legs could reach them.  He learned to drive at age eight, and he never really stopped.

With encouragement and advice from Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards, who had become a lifelong friend of the family, Leo and Evelyn opened Trentadue Winery in 1969. Victor worked alongside his parents through every season, learning every aspect of the land and the craft. He has been involved in the winery since he was twelve years old. Today, Victor owns Four Seasons Vineyard Management, which custom farms more than 800 acres of vineyards in Sonoma County, including the 200 acres of estate vineyards that are part of the Trentadue Family Trust. The winery his parents founded now produces award-winning wines distributed across 37 states and Canada, most recently earning Best of the Best at the 2024 North Coast Wine Challenge.

But for Victor, the land has always mattered more than the accolades.

The Home of Wine Country to the Rescue

For years, Trentadue Winery has been more than just a beautiful venue. It has been a home. Victor's generous decision to host Wine Country to the Rescue at his family's property has been one of the cornerstones of the event's growth and success. The sweeping vineyards, the old-world Italian charm, and the warmth of the grounds create an atmosphere that no rented banquet hall could ever replicate.

When guests arrive at Trentadue Winery on a July evening and feel that unmistakable sense that something special is happening here, that feeling is inseparable from the Trentadue family's hospitality and their deep commitment to Northern Sonoma County.

Victor didn't just lend us his property. He lent us his family's legacy.

Honorary Firefighter of the Year, 2022

In 2022, Wine Country to the Rescue presented Victor Trentadue with our highest individual honor: Honorary Firefighter of the Year. It was a recognition long overdue and enthusiastically deserved.

The Honorary Firefighter designation is reserved for those who have gone above and beyond in their support of Northern Sonoma County firefighters and the communities they protect. Victor earned it not through a single act of generosity, but through years of quiet, consistent commitment. Hosting our event. Supporting our mission. Opening his family's land to a community that needed a place to come together and celebrate the people who keep them safe.

Receiving that honor in 2022 placed Victor in the company of some of the most dedicated supporters this event has ever known. And in true Victor Trentadue fashion, he accepted it the same way he does everything: as a farmer, a neighbor, and a proud member of the Northern Sonoma County community.

A Steward of the Land and the Community

The Trentadues are farmers first and foremost, dedicated stewards of the land and generous supporters of the community they call home. That spirit of stewardship is something Victor has lived his entire life. He understands better than most what it means to tend the land, to protect it, and to fight for it when fire season arrives and the hills around Alexander Valley turn dry and golden.

His support of Wine Country to the Rescue is a natural extension of that commitment. The firefighters we honor every July are the same men and women who protect the vineyards, the farms, the homes, and the families of this community. For Victor, supporting them is not a gesture. It is a responsibility he takes personally.

Victor and his sons Steven and Tyler, fifth generation farmers, are carrying on the family's farming tradition that has stretched over a century in California. The next chapter of the Trentadue story is already being written, right here in the Alexander Valley, where it has always belonged.

Thank You, Victor

To be named Honorary Firefighter of the Year at Wine Country to the Rescue is to be recognized as someone who has given something real and lasting to this community. Victor Trentadue has given us his land, his hospitality, his family's name, and decades of quiet, steadfast generosity.

We are proud to have honored Victor in 2022. And we are grateful beyond words that this beautiful corner of Sonoma County, the place his mother insisted they call home all those decades ago, is where our community comes together every summer to celebrate the firefighters who protect it.

Victor, on behalf of everyone at Wine Country to the Rescue and the Northern Sonoma County Fire Foundation: thank you. This event would not be what it is without you.

Wine Country to the Rescue returns on Saturday, July 18, 2026 at Trentadue Winery in Geyserville. Tickets are on sale now and sell out every year. Get yours at winecountrytotherescue.com