In the 1980s and 90s, Guerneville and the larger Russian River Valley “became, literally, the place where young men went to die,” says Gary Saperstein, owner of Sonoma-based event company Out in the Vineyard. He is, of course, referring to the HIV and AIDS epidemic that took the lives of so many LGBTQ+ folks during that time, as well as isolated the community even further than they had already been. As with many rural LGBTQ+ communities that developed around the nation in the 1970s, the party atmosphere of Sonoma County’s gay enclave “switched to a place of rest,” Saperstein says. “To a place away from the city, where they could live out the rest of their days in peace.”
But bucolic Guerneville, where gay men and women had escaped to “gather in the shadows” decades before President Bill Clinton first declared June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999, is now “having a rebound,” says Saperstein.
This is thanks in no small part to his dedication to cultivating the local queer wine culture. With more than 30 years of hospitality experience in wine country, Saperstein established Out in the Vineyard in 2008 with the goal of bringing his two communities together. “I was seeing an influx of queer tourists as well as people moving here—not just Guerneville, but everywhere in Sonoma County. I mean, the Castro is just 45 minutes south, but no one in the wine industry was relating to us.”
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This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
