Being Foolhardy
Exceptional small production, old-vine and single-vineyard wines from celebrated Washington State vineyards
Foolhardy Vintners is the partnership of Jonathan Edelman and Dan Sogg, two friends with a shared love of wine. Our friendship started freshman year of college and our love of wine took root growing up, around the dinner table. We started Foolhardy to make the kind of wines we both enjoy: ripe and vibrant, balancing freshness and fruit purity. Wines we like to share with friends. We believe that the keys to quality are simplicity and attention to detail. It starts with outstanding vineyards that consistently yield our wines with ripe, juicy flavors.
We chose Washington State because of the unlimited potential in the vineyards and the tremendous dynamism of the local wine culture. Winemaking is a long, painstaking process that demands a leap of faith. We feel our years of hard work and attention to detail will reward those who try Foolhardy, and hope you find as much pleasure drinking our wines with your friends and family as we enjoy making them.
Dan & Jonathan
Walla Walla, Washington
Winemaking
Great winemaking should be transparent, showcasing the energy and vibrancy of ripe fruit above all else. Our wines are vibrant and balanced, emphasizing fruit purity and are crafted to pair beautifully with food.
We partner with outstanding Bordeaux-varietal vineyards that consistently yield fruit with ripe, juicy flavors. Visiting our vineyard sources comprises a twelve-hour, 200+ mile circuit from Walla Walla across the Columbia Valley and we put in the miles throughout the season to meet every farmer and walk every row. We taste throughout to nail picking decisions that capture the best of the fruit—its freshness and structure.
Even as a two-man operation we spare no effort in the winemaking, sorting fruit and exhaustively tracking fermentations—the expression of flavors, the development of mouthfeel—using gentle extraction techniques that highlight generous, soft tannins. We use judicious quantities of the finest French oak that frames the wine, lending texture rather than overt flavor.
We are tasting exhaustively and systematically throughout the process, selecting the best barrels and most expressive blends from each vineyard. This rigorous attention to the blending process allows us to maximize the potential of every vintage and has enabled us to craft superb single vineyard wines from some of the Columbia Valley’s most lauded vineyards, as well as stand-out Cabernet Sauvignon blends.
Vineyards
We work with the following Columbia Valley vineyards:
Bacchus North of Pasco, nestled along the Columbia River. (White Bluffs AVA)
Conner Lee In the sandy loam soils south of Othello. (Whaluke Slope AVA)
Elephant Mountain Located on gently rolling hills in Wapato at 1,400 feet. (Rattlesnake Hills AVA)
Evergreen In the limestone soils north on the Columbia River near George. (Ancient Lakes AVA)
Gamache Sitting above the bluffs overlooking Basin City. (White Bluffs AVA)
Red Willow The westernmost vineyard in the Yakima Valley appellation; one of the foundational growers of Washington State. (Yakima Valley AVA)
Southwind Located at over 1000 feet on soils over fractured basalt bedrock just west of Milton-Freewater, Oregon. (Walla Walla Valley AVA)
The Foolhardy
Dan Sogg
Winemaker
Dan jumped into the wine business right after college. After a brief stint in retail, he worked a year in production at a chateau in Bordeaux. He spent nine years as an editor at Wine Spectator and the last sixteen years as the US representative of Tonnellerie Cavin, a French cooperage located in Burgundy.
Image: Richard Duval
Jonathan Edelman
Chief Sorter | Winemaker
Jonathan began his career as a chef, graduating from culinary school in Paris and working in Michelin-starred restaurants in France before transitioning to the tech industry. Throughout his career he has maintained his love of food and wine. Prior to launching Foolhardy, he was previously a partner in a Sonoma Cabernet label and spent twelve years working the harvest at Remoissenet Pére et Fils in Burgundy.
Image: Richard Duval
Sustainability
Since 2025 Foolhardy is proud to Sponsor BIG Recyclers, a Walla Walla 501(c)(3) community recycling organization whose mission is to create a sustainable future by diverting recyclable glass and natural cork from landfills.
Glass is 100% recyclable, endlessly, without losing quality - which saves raw materials (sand, soda ash), reduces landfill waste, saves up to 30% of energy needed for production, and lowers emissions. Recycling natural cork is important for environmental sustainability as it keeps a biodegradable, renewable material out of landfills and locks in stored carbon.
BIG has recently celebrated the milestone of having diverted over 1 million pounds of glass—much of which generated by wineries and tasting rooms in the Columbia Valley—from landfill. As of February 2026 we have diverted well over one thousand pounds thanks to our tasting room visitors.