The first thing Sofia Carrera will tell you is that she is not brave. "Brave is jumping out of a plane," she says, standing between two rows of Albariño vines that replaced the Chardonnay her father planted in 1991. "This is just stubbornness with a business plan."

Carrera ripped out 12 acres of productive, profitable Chardonnay in 2022 — a move her neighbors called reckless and her distributor called "professionally suicidal." She replaced it with Albariño, a white grape from Galicia in northwest Spain that thrives in cool, foggy, maritime climates. Climates, in other words, exactly like Edna Valley. Three vintages later, her 2024 is the most-requested white wine at four SLO restaurants, and her waiting list has a waiting list.