Bruce Cohn, founder and owner of B.R. Cohn Winery and B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Co., has embraced a lifelong passion for Northern California’s wine country and its bounty. Cohn’s Sonoma County roots run deep, and he became familiar with ranch and vineyard operations at an early age. When he was 10 years old, Bruce’s family left Chicago for the Russian River Valley, where they ran Northern California’s first Grade-A goat dairy farm.

When the family moved to San Francisco six years later, Bruce graduated high school and went on to the College of San Mateo, majoring in broadcasting & communications, and finished his studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He returned to San Francisco in 1968 for a job as a television engineer at night and ran a music rehearsal studio by day. In 1970 Bruce began managing a local band called The Doobie Brothers, and the rest, as they say is history. Bruce continues to manage the now-legendary band to this day.

Entertainment world success notwithstanding, Bruce was eventually drawn back to the beauty of wine country. In 1974, to keep some sanity and preserve quality of life, he purchased 46 acres in Sonoma County that became Olive Hill Estate Vineyard, so-named for the property’s grove of 140-year-old Picholine olive trees. Bruce’s family farming background served him well as he became intensely involved with all aspects of growing grapes. He used the band’s long bus trips to study oenology and viticulture and turned the defunct dairy farm and overgrown vineyard into a viable business. A decade after taking ownership of the land—and having great success selling grapes to other wineries—Bruce started B.R. Cohn Winery at Olive Hill in 1984. In 1990, Bruce started the B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Company, making top quality olive oil from the estate’s Picholine olive trees.

Today Bruce lives on the Olive Hill Estate that has grown to 100 acres. From there he oversees the winery, the olive oil company, and The Doobie Brothers. And he’s still “Taking it to the Streets,” participating in industry shows, speaking at winemaker dinners across the country, and hosting an annual charity golf tournament and concert.