“It was serendipitous,” says Sam Bilbro of the first time he met David Drummond back in 2018. Drummond, the retired chief legal officer of Google and a former football wide receiver at Santa Clara University, had recently realized a lifelong dream by purchasing a 550-acre ranch in Sonoma. But there was a problem.
“It was 2019 and the grape glut had set in,” says Drummond. “I didn’t have any long-term contracts, so it was a very lean year for me.”
Bilbro, who specializes in Italian-style winemaking, convinced Drummond to take a leap into the Italian wines they both loved. They regrafted the entire vineyard over to 46 different types of Italian grapes, many of which are quite rare in California. Six years later, and the vines are thriving. Now, the two partners are diving headlong into a new venture called Overshine Wine Co., showcasing a trio of distinct brands.
In June, Drummond purchased Idlewild from Bilbro, who has stayed on as managing partner and winemaker. Drummond also bought Armida Winery, reimagining it as Overshine, a name inspired by the hip-hop band Onyx, and their newest label, Comunità, recently made its debut.
If wine brands were musical bands
“Overshine might be Sly and the Family Stone, maybe updated with a hip-hop beat,” says Drummond, whose brother Ray Drummond is a well-known jazz drummer. “And Comunità would be more of a blend of what formed me musically, something like Robert Glasper, a jazz guy who leans heavily on soul and hip-hop.”
At the other end of the spectrum, “Idlewild would be the Clash,” says Bilbro.
Everybody under the tent
“The ethos of Overshine as a company is about openness, diversity and welcoming folks,” Drummond says. “Fine wine is sometimes exalted in a way that makes it seem not accessible to lots of people. So, we talk about doing that differently, using cultural signposts, whether it’s music, or the way we talk about wine, or the way we talk about our place, to make it clear that everybody is welcome…We’ll talk about how it feels to drink the wine, how it feels to be out there on the patio on a sunny day, listening to Grover Washington Jr.”
Introducing Overshine
“In reworking the tasting room, and fully remodeling the interior, we want it to be a spot where you want to come and spend your afternoon,” Bilbro says. “You’re not here for a transactional experience, standing at the bar, and then you get out of here. It’s more about: you come sit on the couch and lounge and enjoy your time and listen to some music, and have some great wines, and really enjoy that slice of the good life.”
2201 Westside Road, Healdsburg, 707-433-2222, overshinewines.com