PJ Rex

Founder and Managing Member of the Deerfield Ranch Winery LLC, General Manager, CFO, Strategist, and Editor.

PJ was born in Newton, Iowa, a small factory town, 30 miles from Des Moines. After highschool she moved to Chicago but left the next winter when her sports car got frozen in ice. Leaving the car behind, she headed for Berkeley, California, to attend the University of California, enjoy a better climate and meet a California Boy.

At Cal, she met Robert Rex, having completed high school in Los Angeles, told her he was from L.A. Robert, freshly out of Cal with a degree in Chemistry, owned tobacco shops and factory manufacturing gourmet pipe tobacco, was a lover of fine wine (a wine geek before the term existed), a business consultant to a startup winery in Berkeley, and worked on cars for family and friend. PJ was one of his clients with her 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider. As a thank you gift for fixing her car, PJ, gave Robert  a wine making kit, knowing he was a good cook and lover of fine wine. This is how all this started, 51 years ago with a winemaking kit, and a bunch of books on how to make wine.

In 1982, Robert and PJ decided to turn their winemaking hobby into their profession. PJ was managing a trust department for a local bank and was ready for a career change. They found an old ranch compound on a magical peace of property in the Sonoma Valley, called Deerfield Ranch. They got married under the 300-year-old oak tree in the back yard at and have been there for 41 yeares. Robert turned a small horse barn on the property into their first winery. They opened Deerfield as a Bed and Breakfast and sold all the wine they made to their B&B guests. Their combined entrepreneurial spirit, business experience, and their enthusiasm to share their lives with others has turned whatever they have done into a success.

In 1994 they, with six family owned wineries, opened the first Co-op wine tasting room in the country in Kenwood. The Coop tasting room was an epiphany. They learned that if they let the general public know that they made great wine they could probably make a living doing just that. Having outgrown their 500 case winery at the Ranch, in 2000, they bought 47 acres of prime Sonoma Highway frontage property adjacent to the Ranch. They dug a 23,000 square foot wine cave where they age up to 2,000 barrels of wine for Deerfield and its clients. Since then the Deerfield Ranch Winery has grown from 500 cases per year to 8,000 cases brand and another 8,000 cases for other wineries and growers.

The new property is as magical as is the original Deerfield Ranch. It has a beautiful forest, a unique wetlands habitat and wonderful views. It is a jewel of the Sonoma Valley and a perfect home for the Deerfield Ranch Winery. A highlight is is a magnificent Grand Room in the center of the wine cave, where in a club like atmosphere, guests lounge on couches, leather chairs and grand tables, taking wine tasting to a whole new level.

Behind every great man is a great woman. This has never been truer than at Deerfield Ranch Winery. PJ is the one who made it happen. She recognized Robert’s talent for winemaking and pushed him in that direction. With her marketing and business experience they make a perfect team.