Bobby Fetzer, 50; Rancher and Vintner Got His Start at His Parents’ Winery

Bobby Fetzer, 50, a member of the Mendocino County family that built one of the nation’s biggest wineries, drowned Sunday in a rafting accident on the Eel River, his family said.

Fetzer was rafting with one of his sons and a friend when their raft flipped and a strong current swept him away north of Dos Rios, Calif. The others were able to make it to shore uninjured. All three were wearing safety gear, his family said.

One of 11 siblings, Fetzer previously was the chief grape buyer for the winery that his parents founded on ranchland they bought in the 1950s. The family sold the business to a Kentucky liquor company in 1992.

In recent years, Fetzer had raised organic, grass-fed cattle on a 7,000-acre ranch in Mendocino County’s Round Valley and grew wine grapes on about 40 acres.

Fetzer and his wife were partners with their two sons in Masut, an organic wine bottling business that also brought their organic beef to market.