Style Points

The Croquet Invitational & Charity Auction (photo courtesy of Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards)

In the early 1980s, when Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards founder Brice Jones was looking for a signature theme that would brand his winery beyond just the wine, he noticed other vineyards had polo grounds or bocce courts.

So he decided on croquet, which meant shelling out over $100,000 to install two well-groomed, laser-calibrated courts in front of the Russian River Valley winery.

“Go to any croquet club in England and they will know Sonoma-Cutrer,” says Michael Orgill, president of the Sonoma Croquet Club. “Everywhere in the world they know about the courts at Sonoma-Cutrer, except in Sonoma County.”

But if there’s one week a year in Sonoma County when you can delve into the cult-like world of competitive croquet, it’s this week.

On Monday May 14th, the North American Open kicks off a week-long, head-to-head competition between the best croquet players in the country. Then on Saturday May 19th, the Croquet Invitational and Charity Auction stages a day of wine sipping, high-stakes bidding and all-white pageantry that raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which has received well over $10 million from the event since it started in 1985. The record-breaking year was in 2000, when the annual fundraiser brought in over $1 million at the live auction.

It’s quite a lot of fuss for a game of mallets, balls and wickets that many Americans remember as a casual childhood pastime that might have occupied a few summer afternoons.

“It’s basically billiards on grass,” says Orgill.