Lee Martinelli Jr.’s great-grandfather started growing grapes and making wine in the Russian River Valley in the 1880s. These days, the Martinelli clan farms about 500 acres of grapes with a tasting room in a landmark red barn on River Road.
What’s brand new this year are the 1,200 hemp plants, close cousins of marijuana, sprouting from a carefully tilled acre of soil, where they displaced some apple trees.
They’re about a foot tall now, protected by deer fencing and plastic sheeting to stifle weeds. They should hit five feet when harvest time arrives in the fall, accompanied by the same distinctive aroma as cannabis.
Martinelli, a fourth-generation rancher, said he’s comfortable being in the vanguard of nine growers — Santa Rosa Junior College and eight private parties — registered to raise hemp commercially for the first time in Sonoma County.
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