As a lad, I grew up in Tivy Valley, a small valley in Southern California, at the edge of the Sierra foothills at the outflow of the Kings River. My family had a small farm, and the Kings River flowed through it, it was a tropical paradise. We lived and swam in those warm waters, the scent of ripe blackberries and the bloom of buttonwillow wafted through the air. My mother made blackberry wine. The wild brambly nose of Pinot Noir still takes me back to those days of blackberry wine.
As the pages of time whisk by, I found myself the owner of a full-service air charter named Alaska Travel Air with a DeHavilland Beaver Floatplanes fleet fulfilling people's exotic dreams of high adventure in faraway places. Fishing - Hunting - Flightseeing, with a base of operations off Lake Hood on the Anchorage International Airport, the most extensive seaplane base in the world!
In between flights, I was invited to lunch by a young lady who has become my wife for the past 42 years, Ms. Suzi Arago. The restaurant, Simon and Seafort's, was located in the suburbs of Anchorage. My date ordered a bottle of Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir. At the time in 1978, Mondavi was pretty at the top of the heap. Perhaps it was the Blackberry wine or maybe cupid's arrow; however, Pinot Noir, with its Blackberry essence, has been like a guiding light.
Once my nine lives were spent, it was apparent that a more suitable adventure was in order, so Suzi and I settled upon winemaking. To study the art, we lived in Napa Valley and Dry Creek Valley. Then Lord and behold, we showed up in Anderson Valley! Never before had we gone from one boutique winery to the next and found a pleasant Pinot Noir consistency.
With life still turning the pages, we found ourselves immersed in the distinguished pedigree of Roma's Vineyard. We knew if we were to enter this kingdom of the high art of excellence, and like Mondavi, put it, “We must cultivate a passion for perfection.”
After purchasing the property on Lone Tree Ridge, we commenced developing the vineyard. We turned to Ted Bennett and Deborah Cahn of Navarro Vineyard for Pommard cuttings and consulted with Josh Chandler of Lazy Creek Vineyards for his expertise. Be that as it may, with Josh's knowledge, I as well obtained the former owner and founder of Lazy Creek Wines—Hans Kobler’s old-world technology to boot. After nineteen years of winemaking with ten years under the tutelage of Josh Chandler, I am confident to be standing at the threshold of excellence, making great wines from our vineyard above the clouds.
