TOM EDDY Tom Eddy, longtime Napa Valley winemaker and winery consultant, was recently raised from Master Knight to Supreme Knight by order of the Grand Council of the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine. Eddy, who joins a long list of luminaries who have influenced and/or contributed to KOV, joined our order in 2014 as a member of the Houston Chapter. Eddy has a long and storied history in Napa. As a teenager, he “caught the wine bug” when his family moved to Davis, California, home of the prestigious University of California at Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology. After graduating from that program, where his classmates included trailblazers Mike Martini, Tim Mondavi and the Wente brothers, Eddy honed his winemaking skills at several large wineries in the Napa area, including Inglenook. Seen as a rising star in the industry, he was offered (and accepted) a position as general manager and director of winemaking at the well-respected Souverain Winery in Sonoma County. He was only 29 years old and, at the time, the youngest director of the California Wine Institute. “I threw myself into everything,” Eddy recalled. “It was exhilarating.” From Souverain, Eddy went to Christian Brothers Winery, where he took over winemaking duties from Brother Timothy, legendary California winemaker who had helped put Christian Brothers on the map. Under Eddy, sales increased from 6,000 cases of wine per year to 250,000 cases annually, and the average bottle price rose from $7 to $20. Tom made sure the Brothers understood the importance of French oak barrels for Cabernet!
In 1991, Eddy left Christian Brothers to start his own brand, Tom Eddy Winery, located on 22 acres in Calistoga. Since then, he and his wife, Kerry have worked together to develop wines under four brands: Tom Eddy Wines, their flagship wines sourced from the finest Napa Valley fruit; Elodian, a second-tier Cabernet brand made as a tribute to Kerry’s ancestors who sailed from Nova Scotia to the gold fields of California during the gold rush; Parcel One, which honors the winery’s location as Napa’s most Northwestern parcel at the Sonoma county line; and TENZ, a Sauvignon Blanc sourced from grapes at carefully-selected vineyards in Marlborough, New Zealand. Currently, Eddy oversees winemaking and marketing of 3,000 cases of wine per year. He also serves as a wine consultant for wineries throughout the country and abroad. His name is legendary in Napa Valley — and beyond — and he comes to KOV with a long list of credentials that are an inspiration to young winemakers today. Always eager to help, Eddy shared his 40-plusyear history of Napa winemaking with The Arbor magazine. Please join us in welcoming Tom Eddy to our distinguished circle of Supreme Knights.
By Nan McCreary continued >>>
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The Arbor
