The Story
1974
...a moveable feast...
My Dutch father relocated our American family to Paris where bottles of wine, not milk or soda, adorned our dinner tables. As a teen I tasted my first Côtes du Rhône in a smoky, Parisian café and while I probably didn't realize it, this was the genesis of my lifetime métier. Not surprisingly, Hemingway's iconic quote resonates; "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
1985
tasting, tasting, tasting...
Back in the states, I earned my Agronomy degree and cut my teeth in all things "Grands Vins de France" working for a venerable French wine importer, and regularly tasting Chambertin, Pommard and Morgon Cru.
1993
bom dia Portugal...e...Napa Valley!
Here I led a unique venture in Portugal's remote Douro Valley working with indigenous grape varieties. Later I learned "all things Napa Valley Cabernet" working directly with Tim, Michael and "Mister" Robert Mondavi.
1999
the entrepreneurial bug bites us
My late wife Susan and I started making our own wines by resurrecting a vineyard in chilly west Marin County. Susan had studied & worked in Italy, was the Wine Director for a prestigious restaurant group, and brought her amazing palate and insight to our wines. We didn't have deep pockets, take investor money, or have relatives fund the winery. Instead, we bootstrapped it, worked our asses off, nimbly juggled our credit cards and delivered our wines out of the back of our SUV in between coaching our daughters' soccer teams. In large part, our European experiences led us to craft balanced, textured, low intervention wines that are not overpowered by high alcohol, sugar or oak.
With our "Pey-Marin" wines, we established coastal Marin as a serious place to make terrific Pinot Noir. We also made Marin's first Riesling and later a local fav called "MARIN WATER" – a dry rosé from Marin-grown grapes. Unfortunately, that dry-farmed Marin vineyard succumbed to the California drought, illustrating how difficult it is to run a family agricultural business.
2004
that's a "textbook" Cabernet Sauvignon
We started TEXTBOOK in Napa Valley in 2004 with 300 cases of impeccably balanced Cabernet Sauvignon from an Oakville vineyard next door to the iconic Screaming Eagle. It garnered superb critical acclaim and an enthusiastic following of wonderful devotees. When TEXTBOOK production hit 25,000 cases in 2019 it became too large to manage so I sold it to a respected international wine group. I still advise them today.
2021
back to the future?
After living through northern California's devastating drought and wildfires I decided the first vineyard I would purchase must be in a high-altitude, cool location that had plentiful water, diverse soils and very old vines. I wanted gnarled old-vines of character, not the clonal copycats so prevalent today. So where did I go? To the chilly hills of southern Burgundy – to the fabled hillsides of Morgon and Fleurie.