Bruce Cohn

Founder of B.R.Cohn Winery, Manager of The Doobie Bros.

Spring 1965

        Although born in Chicago, Bruce's parents moved to the Russian Rover Valley when he was a small boy where they operated the area's first grade-A goat dairy farm. A later move to San Francisco brought him to Lincoln High School in the mid 1960's exposing Bruce to that era's vibrant Bay Area music scene, paving the way for his future entry into the rock 'n roll arena. Bruce attended College of San Mateo, majoring in broadcasting & communications, finishing his studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1968. He retuned to San Francisco as a television engineer at Channel 20, working nights while by day he ran a music rehearsal studio with his brother, Marty, who was house engineer at Pacific Recording Studio. It was there, in 1969, they met the Doobie Brothers. Bruce sent a demo tape to Warner Bros. Records, and the rest, as they say, is history. Bruce continues to manage the now-legendary band and during the mid-'80s, he also managed Ambrosia, Bruce Hornsby, and the hugely successful San Francisco-based hard rock act Nigh Ranger.

        But notwithstanding this success in the entertainment world, Bruce was drawn back to the wine country. In 1974 he purchased 46 acres in the town of Glen Ellen that evolved into Olive Hill Estate Vineyards, named by Bruce for its 125 year-old grove of picholine olive trees that had been imported from France in the mid-1800s. Although the previous owner had planted grapes on the property, it had earlier been the site of a dairy farm, echoing Cohn's very first home in Sonoma County and suggesting to Bruce that this particular piece of paradise was exactly where he was supposed to be. Bruce's extensive farming background served him well as he became directly involved with planting, pruning, grafting, trellising, and all other aspects of growing grapes. A decade later, in 1984, after Bruce had enjoyed success selling his grapes to other wineries, he started B.R. Cohn Winery. It has since become renowned for balanced, elegant wines, that maintain and unusually consistent standard of excellence year to year. He also produces world class olive oil from those same picholine olive trees that gave his vineyard its original name.

        Bruce brought his two life passions together in 1987 by inaugurating the B.R. Cohn Charity Fall Music Festival. Each year, wine lovers and music fans alike flock to the Sonoma Country estate to revel in the beautiful wine country setting while enjoying top music acts, with all proceeds benefiting the Valley of the Moon Children's Foundation and other youth charity organizations.

        Bruce lives nearby his Olive Hill Vineyard Estates with his family where, in his spare time, he restores vintage American cars.

        In recognition of his many accomplishments, Bruce Cohn was inducted into the Abraham Lincoln High School Wall of Fame in May 2006.