Image 1 of 6
Image 2 of 6
Image 3 of 6
Image 4 of 6
Image 5 of 6
Image 6 of 6
D U T C H
The Official Ronald Reagan Ranch Wine: A Tribute to Legacy, Land, and Hard Work
DUTCH – 2024 Saarloos and Sons Estate Syrah – High Hill Vineyard
250 YEARS OF FREEDOM
This is a profound honor.
An honor a farmer doesn’t get very often.
Today, I get to share something that’s more than just a bottle of wine — it’s a piece of our history. A bridge between the hands that built fences on this hill and the hands that still do.
DUTCH isn’t about politics.
It’s about honoring a man who loved this valley as much as we do — Ronald Reagan.
He wasn’t just a President.
He was our neighbor.
He went to the movies in Buellton, ate dinner in Ballard, and voted in Solvang. He built these fences himself, with a chainsaw, while leading the free world.
We made this wine from our own estate vines in the Santa Ynez Valley — tended, picked, and bottled by our family. It’s bold, balanced, and honest — the kind of wine that tells a story every time you open it. A story about work, humility, and the land that raised us.
In just 24 hours, DUTCH is already 84% sold out. That’s not marketing — that’s belief. It means this story, this valley, this man, still matter.
Every bottle helps preserve the Reagan Ranch, ensuring that generations yet to come can walk these trails, breathe this air, and feel that same quiet pride.
Cheers to DUTCH — this is an honor of a lifetime.
To craft something grown from our ground and give it a shot at immortality by helping protect such an iconic place… that’s as good as it gets.
Big Lar would’ve lost his mind on this one.
He would’ve been the first to grab a bottle, and the first to raise a glass.
This one’s for you, Lar.
Thank you to everyone who’s been part of this — our family, our community, and everyone who believes in what we do.
DUTCH is available now at saarloosandsons.com — the direct link is in our stories. Don’t wait.
Let’s honor those who came before us —
and prepare the way for those yet to come.
#DUTCH #RonaldReagan #ReaganRanch #SantaYnezValley #LosOlivos #SaarloosAndSons #FamilyWinery #CaliforniaWine #Legacy #HonorAndPrepare #CultWine #FromOurPlowToYourPorchb
Preserving the Legacy
President Ronald Reagan’s - 1600 sqft Adobe Home On Rancho Del Cielo
Every bottle of DUTCH helps preserve Rancho del Cielo — the place Ronald Reagan called home. Not a monument built afterward. Not a stage set. His home. A working ranch. Trees that needed trimming. Wood that needed splitting. Fences that needed mending. Pipes that needed fixing. Horses that needed feeding and caring for. There was always something to do. And the thing I admire most is that he did not seem to want somebody else to do all of it for him. The work was the privilege. I feel that somewhere deep down in my bones. I understand the pleasure of a tired back, worn hands, a new fence standing straight, a pipe that no longer leaks, and livestock fed at the end of the day that somehow appreciates you when nobody else does. A friend once told me, “If you are not taking pleasure in your work, you are not being paid enough.” I think about that all the time. Sometimes the work itself is the payment.
And maybe that is what makes Rancho del Cielo feel so human to me. The world came through that gate. Heads of state came there. History came there. And they did not arrive at some palace or enormous Presidential estate. They came to a humble ranch in the Santa Ynez Mountains where, when the meetings were over and everyone important had gone home, there was still wood to split, a horse to brush, a fence to fix and tomorrow morning’s work waiting in the dark. The office may have made him President, but this place gave him somewhere to be a man again. A husband. A rancher. A neighbor. Someone who could look across the hills at sunrise or watch the light disappear at the end of the day and remember what all of the rest of it was for.
That is why we are doing this. He was one of us here. This was his ground. This was his home. And somehow our little family winery has been given a chance to give something back to the place that gave so much to him. We grow this wine with our own hands on our own ground, put his story on the bottle, and send it into the world knowing that every bottle helps keep that home alive — the roof tight, the fences standing, the trees cared for, the trails open, the ranch intact.
Our family creed has always been to honor those who came before us + prepare the way for those yet to come. I do not know that we will ever make a bottle that lives that creed more completely than DUTCH.
We are not simply remembering history. We are helping keep the place where it happened alive.
That is what you are contributing to. Not simply a bottle of wine commemorating history. A small hand in preserving it.
Fourth, the Brielle section is powerful, but there is one line that looks unfinished on the live page:
“He would have bawled his eyes out. I know I did.”
That is what you are contributing to.
Not simply a bottle of wine commemorating history.
A small hand in preserving it.
Brielle Saarloos at the Reagan Ranch
Last summer, Brielle worked at Rancho del Cielo. She was a host in Ronald Reagan’s home. She opened the gate for people who had traveled from across the country. She welcomed young people, grandparents, families, students, and leaders into the place he loved most. She walked them through that remarkably humble house. She showed them the workbench, the saddle, the worn places, the ordinary things that somehow tell you more about a man than any monument ever could. And she told them the story of Rancho del Cielo — not as some distant chapter of American history, but as a living place. His home. The place where a President could put the title down for a little while, pull on his boots, get his hands dirty, and simply be Ronald Reagan again.
I watched that summer do something to my daughter. She was learning about service. She was learning that history is carried forward by people willing to take responsibility for it. She learned that freedom is not simply something you inherit and enjoy; eventually, you have to decide what you are going to do with it. My dad admired Ronald Reagan. He never got to see his granddaughter standing in Reagan’s home, welcoming strangers through the door and teaching them about the man he respected. That part gets me. In my father’s absence, she somehow found her way to the home of a man he admired, cared for his story, taught it to others, and then came home believing a little more deeply that perhaps her own life could be spent in service too.
He would have bawled his eyes out.
I am just thinking about.
Then this summer she went to Washington, D.C. She went from talking about history to trying to contribute to what comes next. She researched. She wrote. She worked on public policy intended to improve the lives of Americans she will probably never meet. And I watched her confidence grow. Her resolve strengthened. The world started looking a little bigger to her, and maybe she started looking a little bigger to herself. That is a beautiful thing to watch happen to your child. Because at some point your job as a father changes. You spend years holding their hand, teaching them where to step, trying to keep them from falling down. And then one day you realize you are standing behind them, watching them walk somewhere you have never been. Into Rooms you have never been. You cannot clear the path anymore. All you can do is believe in them. And I believe in her. I believe she has something to give. I believe she can help people. I believe the ceiling over her life is a lot higher than she knows.
If someone from our little corner could leave these hills
and someday serve at the highest levels of this country.
THEN…. WHY CAN’T SHE?!?!
This Place Taught Her That.
At the end of this summer, Brielle and I were talking about Washington. I was asking her about the work she had done, what she had learned, what it felt like to spend a summer trying to do something useful for people she would never know. I was expecting some big answer about policy or Washington or what might come next.
She smiled at me.
And she said, “I think I liked it better up on the Ranch. I like my hands dirtier.”
I knew she was saying it partly for her dad.
But for just a second, I could not help thinking that it sounded like something Ronald Reagan might have understood.
Government work is a service to the people.
Ranch work is a service to the soul.
He Was One Of Us.
Ronald Reagan was not just a name in the history books — he was our neighbor. A rancher who mended his own fences, a husband who walked beside his wife along dusty ranch roads, a man who woke to the same crisp morning air that still hangs over these hills and ended his days under the same endless sunsets that burn across our western sky.
A Rancher that Loved This Place as Much As We Do.
We like to call him, our most famous Resident.
He once said of the Santa Ynez Valley, “This is where I come to find peace. The beauty of these hills, the quiet of this land — it reminds you of what matters.” For Reagan, the ranch wasn’t an escape; it was a compass. It pointed him toward humility, perseverance, and service. And he believed, as the old saying goes, that “the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse.” He didn’t just quote it — he lived it. He rode to clear his mind, to work through problems, and to remember that leadership is never about the title — it’s about the work.
And that work was real. At Rancho del Cielo, Reagan built an entire fence line out of retired telephone poles. He cut each pole to size with a chainsaw, hauled it into place himself, dug the post holes, and set every one by hand. Not because there wasn’t someone else who could do it, but because he believed the land you love deserves your own sweat in its soil. There were no camera crews for those moments. Just a man, a fence, and the stubborn ground of his own property.
He Was One Of Us.
Life at Rancho del Cielo was shaped by the rhythms of the land: mending wire after a winter storm, clearing brush under the summer sun, splitting logs for the fireplace, repairing a leaking roof before the next rain. He once said, “Hard work never hurt anyone — in fact, it’s the gift that keeps you honest.” For him, hard work wasn’t a chore — it was a privilege. It grounded him. It reminded him that your life truly begins the moment you decide to live it in service to others. That belief — that service is the highest calling — would guide him as a leader and inspire millions of Americans to look beyond themselves.
Here in the Santa Ynez Valley, we don’t just grow grapes — we grow history. We cultivate connection. We tend meaning like a vineyard, season after season, year after year. And with DUTCH — the only wine ever created to honor President Ronald Reagan — we raise a glass not just to the 40th President of the United States, but to the enduring values that shaped him here, in this quiet, windswept corner of California.
So when we were asked to create a wine bearing his name, we didn’t treat it like a project.
We saw it for what it was: a responsibility.
A chance to carry forward not just a legacy, but the character, humility, and work ethic of a man who believed that the greatest titles in life are still husband, neighbor, and friend.
DUTCH is our tribute to that spirit — born from the same hills he called home, crafted with the same care and intention he poured into every acre of his ranch.
TASTING NOTES
2024 DUTCH — The Official Ronald Reagan Ranch Wine
Saarloos + Sons — Windmill Ranch | Ballard Canyon AVA
Varietal: 100% Estate Syrah
Vineyard: Saarloos + Sons — High Hill Block — Estate Grown
AVA: Ballard Canyon, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County
Appearance
The 2024 DUTCH Syrah stands in the glass dark and confident, with an inky garnet core and a fine violet edge that catches the light. It looks exactly like what it is: young, serious Syrah with years ahead of it. Give it a swirl and the wine moves slowly down the glass, leaving deep ruby tears behind. There is weight here, but also polish. Nothing rushed. Nothing overdone. Just a wine that feels built to last.
Nose
The first impression is generous — blackberry, black plum, mulberry and black cherry — followed by the savory character we love from High Hill. Cracked black pepper, lavender, worn leather, dried herbs and a little smoke begin to emerge with air. Underneath it is graphite, warm stone and that cool herbal note that always takes me back to mornings in the Santa Ynez Valley. It has that thing great Syrah can do: power and perfume at the same time. Serious, but never too serious.
Palate
The palate opens broad and rich with black cherry, blueberry, plum and blackberry, followed by cocoa nib, espresso and black olive. Then the vineyard starts talking. Rosemary, pepper, iron and crushed stone run straight through the middle of the wine. The tannins are firm and fine-grained, giving DUTCH plenty of backbone without making it hard. It has strength, but it does not need to announce it. That may be my favorite thing about this wine.
Finish
The finish is long and steady. Dark fruit slowly gives way to peppercorn, cedar, cocoa, violet and a touch of anise. Then you swallow, wait a second, and realize the wine is still there. I have always believed a finish tells you whether a wine has anything left to say. DUTCH does.
Aging Potential
This is drinking beautifully now, but I would absolutely put some away. The concentration, acidity and tannin give it the structure to evolve for decades. Over time, the fresh blackberry and plum will move toward dried fig, leather, cedar, earth and savory spice. Properly cellared, I would expect beautiful drinking through the 2030s and 2040s, with well-kept bottles capable of carrying beyond that.
And with this particular vintage, there is another reason to wait.
This is the 250 YEARS OF FREEDOM — 1776–2026 edition.
Imagine opening one ten, twenty or thirty years from now. The wine will have changed. You will have changed. Maybe the people around your table will have changed too.
But the bottle will still tell the story.
Overall Impression
The 2024 DUTCH is everything I want from High Hill Syrah: dark fruit, pepper, earth, structure, restraint and a sense of the ground underneath it. There is a lot of history on the outside of this bottle — Ronald Reagan, Rancho del Cielo, America’s 250th — so the wine inside had better deserve it.
I think it does.
Reagan’s life at Rancho del Cielo was famously grounded in ordinary ranch work — riding and brushing horses, clearing brush, digging trenches, working outdoors and maintaining the ranch himself. That humility and attachment to the land are part of what make his connection to this valley so tangible.
We cannot make history.
But we can grow something worthy of carrying a little piece of it.
Estate grown. Family farmed. High Hill Syrah. From our plow to your porch.
The story may be historic. The wine is ours.
Our Family Creed
Our family creed says: We live to honor those who have come before us, and to prepare the way for those yet to come.
With the 2024 DUTCH, we’re doing both — honoring the man, preserving his land, and watching the next generation carry his legacy forward.
Why Now Matters
Only 50 cases of DUTCH were made this year. When it’s gone, it’s gone forever. We make DUTCH once a year, in Reagan’s honor, and each vintage will never be repeated. Most bottles will never see a store shelf — they’ll be opened at kitchen tables, poured for friends, and gone.
When you open a bottle, you’re stepping into the same golden light that touched these hills when Reagan rode home. You’re breathing the same canyon air. You’re tasting the same valley that grounded a President.
So when you raise a glass of the 2024 DUTCH, know that you’re not just drinking a wine — you’re holding a piece of the Reagan Ranch in your hand. A piece of history you can taste, share, and help preserve. And with only 50 cases available, this bottle will be gone long before the story ever ends.
Here’s to Ronald Reagan. Here’s to the Santa Ynez Valley. Here’s to the hands — past, present, and future — that keep the work alive.
Honored beyond words,
Keith Saarloos
