Family Owned and Operated

Chateau Diana Winery was founded in 1981, but its beginnings were crafted along a career path that would take Tom Manning, and later, his young family on a coast-to-coast journey.

Tom was orphaned as a child and raised by his aunt. Though he never finished high school, he was a hard worker from the age of 14. Sales seemed to come naturally to Tom and he moved through the sales ranks of various companies. Eventually, he found a natural fit within the wine industry.

With his young wife Diane and his expanding family, Tom lived in various states, eventually settling in beautiful Northern California. Residing first in San Francisco, Tom was lucky to be involved in the early days of a rapidly growing wine retailing group, Trader Joe’s. The owner personally selected Tom to develop Negociant Wine Brands.

With the rapid sales and success that Tom enjoyed, he seized the opportunity to open his own winery facility in 1981. Affectionately named after his wife, Chateau Diana was born in Healdsburg, CA. Craig, their eldest son, joined Tom and Diane in this exciting venture. Over the next two years, the Mannings developed new wines within the Chateau Diana brand while also looking for a more permanent home for their winery.

In 1983, a dream was realized with the purchase of the LeBaron Ranch encompassing 60 acres in the Dry Creek Valley. 30 years later, the Manning family honors the LeBarons’ legacy of maintaining a family-owned winery. The business continued to grow with a sales office in Southern California, which their daughter Dawn runs herself. In 1991, their other son Corey joined his sister in the family business.

The period between 1999 and 2001 held many changes for Chateau Diana and the Manning family, saddest of which was the unexpected loss of winemaker, Craig Manning. The continued growth of the business within this family struggle, including necessary expansions to the winery facility, was shouldered by Dawn, Corey, and Craig’s wife, Donna. Their dedication and commitment to hard work is a deep family conviction and is key to the accomplishments at Chateau Diana. When walking the grounds of Chateau Diana, you can feel the love and care Craig Manning put into the winery before his passing. He is gone but never forgotten.

BLack Oak

A century-old Oak tree stands guard over our vineyards. Three generations of the Manning Family have enjoyed the gift of this Oak tree. It was the inspiration for our brother Corey when creating the Black Oak label over 20 years ago. As an avid gardener, he also planted Black Oak trees at his home. This deciduous tree has deeply furrowed bark and on mature trees is nearly black. The thick, almost black bark is marked with deep furrows and irregularly broken ridges. The moss around the trunk appears black, which is where the tree gets its unique color in maturity.

On October 9th, our brother Corey and many others lost their homes in the Sonoma County Fires. On the first visit to his house, he noticed that the Black Oak trees were still standing but were charred truly black from the fire. Each week he returned to the site and one day, he noticed that underneath the charred trees were signs of green buds and rebirth. It was then that he realized that the Black Oak tree uses fire as a source of oxygen and regenerates itself to a healthy state of its true self. Now, as the Black Oak trees start to rebirth themselves, they stand guard over his home as he waits to rebuild. We don't always know why we create something until much later, but now we know why our brother created the Black Oak label as our winery's flagship brand. It is to show him and all of us that after a tragic loss where everything is taken from you, we have what we need to use the tragedies in our lives as oxygen and rebirth ourselves. Like the Black Oak tree, we are all marked with broken ridges from the journey of life, but no matter what is thrown our way, we are reborn and we grow. Majestic grace and unwavering beauty in the belief of the power of love give us the ability to rise after we fall.

Click the link below to purchase Black Oak Cab, 707 brands and Chateau Diana Sparkling Moscato