Celebrated California Zinfandel winemakers, chefs, and supporters gathered on August 22 at Appellation Healdsburg for the annual Project Zin event, raising $400,000 for the Down Syndrome Connection of the Bay Area (DSCBA). This was the 16th annual event, founded by Clay and Carrie Mauritson of Mauritson Wines alongside James Beard Award-winning Chef Charlie Palmer.”
2026 marked a bittersweet milestone as Brady Mauritson, the inspiration behind Project Zin, began his freshman year at Clemson University through ClemsonLIFE, a selective postsecondary program whose name stands for Learning Is For Everyone. Clay Mauritson closed the evening by turning his son’s milestone outward, announcing the Brady Mauritson LIFE College Scholarship to help families who cannot afford postsecondary programs.
“Society has told us for too long that our loved ones bring with them a disability, but this couldn’t be more false,” said Clay Mauritson. “College gives students the dignity of risk, the freedom to try new things, the right to make mistakes, to learn, and to succeed on your own. Every young adult deserves that dignity. That is why we need a scholarship fund.”
Project Zin began in 2011, following Brady’s diagnosis of Down syndrome at the age of two and a half. What started as a modest gathering that raised $25,000 in its first year has become one of Sonoma County’s most successful charitable events. The event features exactly 21 Zinfandel producers, a number chosen for Trisomy 21, the extra copy of chromosome 21 found in Down syndrome.
The 2026 edition marked a homecoming to Appellation Healdsburg, the culinary-first resort Chef Palmer opened in 2025 with hospitality veteran Christopher Hunsberger, which served as the weekend’s presenting sponsor. Saturday’s live auction and paddle raise took place in The Grange, the property’s barn-inspired event space.
The 2026 event pushed the total raised past $4 million to date. “What we’re doing at Project Zin is helping so many people and so many kids,” said Chef Palmer. “To welcome Project Zin home to Appellation Healdsburg, a place we dreamed about for nearly a decade, has been one of the greatest honors of my career.”
Michelle Slape, the new executive director of DSCBA, spoke as both an advocate and a parent of a son with Down syndrome. “There’s a question I’m frequently asked by families that stays with me,” said Slape. “What’s going to happen to my child when I am gone? We want to provide the peace of mind that their child will have a community, they’ll have opportunities and they’ll have people who believe in them…