Delphinium Wine Co.: A Sparkling Sonoma Reawakening
I’ll admit it…I’m a bubble slut. I’ve never turned down a good sparkling wine. I just absolutely adore how some wines shimmer before they’re even poured.
Before the cork sighs and before the glass sings, and the bubbles begin their sensual dance…some wines already carry poetry. Delphinium Wine Co. is one of them.
Founded by Courtney Humiston, a seasoned sommelier and wine writer turned vintner, Delphinium is more than a new sparkling label, it’s a love letter to Sonoma’s coast, and to the quiet, bone-dry elegance of French crémant, brought west with precision, patience, and reverence.
This is not your average California sparkler, this is sea spray and citrus, mineral tension and memory, a bottle as graceful as the flower it’s named for.
Who Is Courtney Humiston?
If you’ve followed the California wine scene for more than a moment, you’ve likely read something by Courtney Humiston.
Once a rising sommelier at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen and a writer for Wine & Spirits Magazine, Humiston has long held a deep understanding of what wine means, not just how it tastes.
In 2023, she made a quiet pivot away from writing and toward the vines. She shifted toward making something she couldn’t only describe, but pour, and now, in 2025, we have the first vintage of Delphinium Wine Co.
This gorgeous wine is inspired by Crémant, but rooted in Sonoma. Crémant, for those of you who don’t know (no judgement here), is the gentle cousin of Champagne…sparkling wines made using the traditional method (méthode traditionnelle) but outside the Champagne region.
They tend to be drier and lower in pressure, often more expressive of terroir. Delphinium embraces that ethos.
The first release blends Sauvignon Blanc which is crisp, aromatic, and nervy with Chardonnay which lends more structured elegance, and subtle toast. Fermented with native yeast, aged on lees, and bottled without aggressive dosage, this sparkling wine tastes like coastal air caught in glass.
Humiston sources grapes from cool-climate sites close to the ocean, where fog rolls in like a silk scarf and mornings begin with salt on the skin. She isn’t interested in overt fruit, she’s interested in texture, lift, and salinity.
This is sparkling wine made for oysters, sea urchin, and quiet reflection. Maybe a nice little windy picnic at Bodega Head, and a pause in a world moving too fast. The wine is named for the delphinium flower…a bloom that is both hardy and delicate, a symbol of joy and remembrance.
Just like the wine.
Why This Matters Right Now
The sparkling wine world is in flux. Champagne prices are surging, Prosecco is over-sweetened and over-exposed, and poor Cava is caught between luxury and discount.
Then…there’s this…Delphinium, like a breeze.
It breaths to life a sparkling wine that’s quiet again. It speaks in minerals and florals, and not god awful marketing campaigns.
What if wine could be both elegant and elemental?
Schott Zwiesel Crystal Champagne Flutes
For a wine this delicate, glassware matters. These flutes preserve the structure, mousse, and aromatics of any méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine.
A sommelier such as myself might recommend a wider glass such as these Sauvignon Blanc glasses. It might dissipate the bubbles faster, but you can enjoy the aromatics of the wine easier.
Delphinium isn’t trying to take over the market, it’s not trying to be the next Veuve or even the next Roederer Estate. The production is small and very intentional. It’s entered the market just trying to say there’s room for grace and still time for craftsmanship to take the stage. Honestly, there’s still an audience for wines that don’t shout, but sing.
Only a few hundred cases exist. Each is hand-labeled, hand-riddled, hand-loved.
This is not wine made for scale, but for memory.
Humiston has said her goal with Delphinium is simple:
“To make wine for food. For joy. For California.”
And that’s really what it is. A sparkling wine that belongs on the table, next to grilled peaches or Dungeness crab (if your husband isn’t allergic to them, unlike mine!) or a wedge of sheep’s milk cheese. This is a wine you open not to impress, but to unwind and unfold, and remember.
This is the kind of wine that doesn't ask for attention, it earns it.
We Still Need Wines Like This
Not every bottle needs to be loud or mass produced or have all their point ratings slapped on the side like a bumper sticker.
Really, not every vintage needs to be viral, some wines just need to be true.
Delphinium is that. It’s the kind of wine that brings wine lovers back to the beginning, to the land and texture. It’s the kind of wine that reminds us why we drink in the first place.
If you find a bottle, grab onto it and maybe get two (one to hold, one to drink). Pop it like a promise, gently, so you don’t loose all the carbon dioxide, and toast to the coast that made it possible.
