Winiarski

The Man who put California

on the Wine Map

This month The Arbor is featuring The Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine Supreme Knight Warren Winiarski, the distinguished Napa Valley winemaker who put California on the wine map when his 1973 Stag’s Leap Cellars triumphed over Bordeaux wines at the famed 1976 Judgement of Paris.

But Winiarski is not just a winemaker. Now 93 years old, he has a nearly 60‑year history as a wine pioneer, philanthropist and conservationist. His story is as much an inspiration as it is remarkable, and KOV is privileged to honor this man who holds a place in the California Hall of Fame for his global efforts to showcase and preserve the quality and history of California wine.

Warren Winiarski was born in Chicago in 1928 and grew up in its close‑knit Polish community. His interest in the humanities led him to attend St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, and then graduate school in political science at the University of Chicago. As a graduate student of political philosophy, he traveled to Italy between 1954 and 1955 to research Niccolò Machiavelli and other political thinkers. This is where he discovered wine.

Winiarski returned to Chicago to complete his master’s degree and work toward a doctorate. He also became a lecturer in the Liberal Arts at the University but wine’s siren call continued to attract him. In 1964, he packed up his family and headed west. It was the beginning of the fine wine growing renaissance in Napa Valley and Winiarski wanted to be part of it. Winiarski started his wine journey as an apprentice at Souverain Cellars, and after two years, joined the Robert Mondavi Winery as their first winemaker, while Michael Mondavi was fulfilling his duties in the National Guard.

While in Napa, Winiarski developed an appreciation for French wines, and this led to a vision for what he hoped to achieve in Napa; to produce Bordeaux‑ style wines with the classical structure and elegance of French first growths but exhibiting the regional character of California. In 1970, based on his experience and his growing recognition as a winemaker, he was able to find a group of investors to purchase a former 50‑acre prune orchard. They planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, naming the property Stag’s Leap Vineyards (known today as S.L.V.). In 1972, the family and another group of partners bought 44 more nearby acres as a winery site and in 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars opened its doors, not knowing that a wine revolution was about to occur in California, and in Napa Valley in particular.

The year was 1976, and Winiarski had just produced his second harvest (1973) at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars when wine merchant Steven Spurrier organized a blind tasting of top California Cabernets and Chardonnays to match against Bordeaux red wines and White Burgundies. To everyone’s surprise — especially the judges, who were among the best tasters in France — the winning wines, in both the red and white categories, were from Napa, California. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won first place among ten red wines. Today, a bottle of Winiarski’s 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon (along with a bottle of

By Nan McCreary

Warren Winiarski

Orange County Orange County

the top white wine winner, Chateau Montelena’s 1973 Chardonnay) is on display at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, chosen as one of the 101 objects that 'made America.’

The success of the 1976 Paris Tasting brought international recognition to California wines and set the region on the road to greatness that it enjoys today. During this historic journey, Winiarski — as a key member of his generation — has continued to crusade for wine quality and has offered financial support and expertise to many philanthropic organizations, including the University of California at Davis, the St. John’s College Summer Classics program, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History and the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine, where he was elevated to Supreme Knight of the San Francisco Chapter in 1986.

Winiarski has sold Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars but continues to grow grapes in his Arcadia Vineyards, which he purchased in 1996 and named “Arcadia” for its bucolic setting. The 85‑acre vineyard, located in the Coombsville AVA in southeast Napa Valley, produces classic Burgundian‑style Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Clearly, Warren Winiarski stands tall among our distinguished Supreme Knights, and we are proud to honor him in The Arbor.

Warren Winiarski in Florence Italy 1953 The Arbor (TA): When did you first discover that you had a passion for wine?

Warren Winiarski (WW): It happened in Italy when I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. I loved the spirit of wine as a daily beverage there. It was a very pleasant discovery. Growing up, my father made wine for the family during prohibition — it was legal— but we used it only as a celebratory drink during special religious and secular holidays. This impression of wine in Italy had a very lasting effect, but it became submerged when I returned to the sobriety of the Midwest, where wine was not consumed regularly with meals. But then one day a friend brought my wife and me a bottle of wine to have with lunch. It may have been an Eastern hybrid, but it didn’t matter what it was, because that day I experienced wine as something different from what I’d experienced in Italy. Yes, I’d discovered a passion for wine, but on this day the wine truly revealed itself to me. I expect that many of the members of KOV have had this experience, where wine suddenly presents itself as something extraordinary, illuminative, and even transformative. It was a pivotal moment.

TA: You must have been very enthusiastic and confident to pick up and move to Napa. Tell us about that.

WW: After that pivotal moment I began visiting stores, talking to salespeople, starting conversations with whoever would listen and reading books. I wanted to know, “What is this beverage that speaks to me?” “How is it made?” I wanted to know all the details of wine and its history. It grew into a singular preoccupation; to learn as much as I could about it. The idea of making wine myself started to have some appeal. As my name suggests “Winiarski” in Polish means something like ‘winemaker’s son’. Maybe there’s a memory effect, because I remember putting my ear to those barrels of my father’s wine and hearing the bubbles of fermentation. That memory didn’t have a profound effect like my experience at that luncheon, but it became clear that I wanted to make wine to the exclusion of everything else.

TA: Tell us about your early experiences in Napa Valley.

WW: I had three major teachers when I came to the Valley. My first job was as an apprentice with Lee Stewart of Souverain. His wines were fantastic, especially the white wines. He taught me that there is no detail too small to be ignored. To make wine well, he said, you have to be attentive to the smallest detail or otherwise you would miss something in the process of turning grapes to wine. I stayed at Souverain for two years and then went Winiarski's children, Stephen, Julia and Kas, doing a pump over at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars to Robert Mondavi when he opened his doors in 1966. I was the first winemaker, because his son, Michael had been called to serve in the National Guard before the first harvest. I was just thrown into the job after two years of apprenticeship. While Lee Stewart taught me to focus on every detail, Robert taught me that any aspiration for wine could be exceeded. These two poles — one that focused on the smallest detail, and the one that looked at the larger, strategic picture of wine and the aspiration for it — were very important lessons. My third mentor, André Tchelistcheff (widely considered the most profoundly influential winemaker

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Winiarski Family and Dr. Anthea M. Harti

Warren receiving "Spirit of California" medal for induction into the California Hall of Fame December 5th, 2017 in Napa Valley history) taught me that the goal of winemaking is to express beauty. He combined poetry and technical correctness to make beautiful wines. These three teachers were just what I needed to nourish my dreams and give them direction. I wanted not only to make beautiful wines, but I wanted them to be correct in a technical way. I didn’t want any faults or any imperfection because of lack of knowledge about winemaking and oenology. But while I wanted my wines to be 100 percent correct from a technical and scientific aspect, I also aspired for poetry and beauty.

TA: What inspired you to start Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars?

WW: In searching for properties, I discovered a wine made by Nathan Fay, who had a vineyard in what is now the Stag’s Leap district. When I tasted his Cabernet, I said to myself, “This is a great place for Cabernet.” I loved it. It was the best I’d tasted in the Valley. When he poured that wine from the barrel, it was another one of those epiphanal moments. First it was the aroma; elegant and not too forward. On the palate it had contours and structure that were extraordinary. It gave me a sense of completeness, from the beginning to the middle to the end. The wine needed nothing more. Nathan’s land was not for sale, but the prune orchard next door was. I wanted something as close to Nathan’s land as possible, so we bought it. Later, as I learned more, my eyes were opened to the reality of how complicated ground is, but at the time I just wanted something adjoining his property. I expected that with the weather, wind speed and angle of the sun being so similar — and planting the same Cabernet clones he’d used — I hoped to reproduce the experience I’d had tasting his wine.

TA: How did you become involved in the Judgement of Paris of 1976?

WW: We were making wine and British wine merchant Steven Spurrier’s assistant, Patricia Gallagher, tasted our wines and must have told him to come here. He did come, and said he wanted to collect wines for a tasting he was going to have in Paris. He selected the first Cabernet we made at the new winery — it was a 1973 — and he bought the wine and had it sent to France. By the way, after we won, I communicated regularly with Spurrier. We became very good friends, and agreed that we were “joined at the hip.”

TA: How did you feel when you learned that you’d won at the Paris Tasting?

WW: I had forgotten all about Stephen Spurrier. I knew he was going to have a tasting, but I just thought it would be at the school he had in Paris. I didn’t know about the competition or the comparison of California and French wines. I was in Chicago at the time, and my wife, Barbara, called and told me there’d been a tasting in Paris and that we’d won in the red category. I had no idea what the other red wines were, or who the judges were. My answer, because I was busy, was “That’s nice.” But then, as the phone started to ring and people started asking about the wine, I began to realize how important this was in the scope of the whole universe of wine. We knew we were making good wines. We knew we were making beautiful wines. But how beautiful? To have the French tell you they were beautiful was wonderful. I didn’t want to get carried away and lose my grip on reality, but we were happy.

TA: How did the Paris Tasting affect the wine world?

WW: I call it a Copernican Moment. We now had an alternative to a hierarchy that was artificial — with France at the top of that hierarchy and the others below — and the alternative is that wherever there is great ground, good grapes and good winemaking, there is a possibility of making beautiful wines. The Glass Ceiling is no longer there. We can try, try and try, with the materials and knowledge we have, to compete on a high level. Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Australia and others have great places to grow grapes with very distinctive sites, and the wine world is no longer limited by that artificial hierarchy. We can aspire in ways we didn’t dare aspire to before. The Paris Tasting opened up new avenues for excellence. The tasting did something else; it lifted wine out of the “booze” category, where it had been for so long and degraded by prohibition. After the tasting, we had an opportunity to edify wine and change the vision of its capabilities.

TA: What has been your role in the wine industry since selling Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars?

WW: We sold Stag’s Leap in 2007. Our family had been discussing it for 10 years with counselors, and the time had come. I am still growing grapes. In 1996, I purchased land from Mike Grigch because I thought the ground was very good. The vineyard’s subsoil is made from diatomaceous earth, and is unique in the Valley. It was the source of some of Mike Grgich’s notable Chardonnays. I grow my grapes for Stag’s Leap, which puts my brand name “Arcadia Vineyards” on the wine.

TA: Your wine, as a winner in the “Judgement of Paris,” is on display at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Tell us about that?

WW: This happened about 20 years ago. On one of the anniversaries, I called and asked them what they planned to do about recognizing the Paris Tasting. It was a landmark in American agriculture, and I suggested they celebrate by having a bottle of each wine — ours and the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay — at the museum. They liked the idea, and everything grew from there. We also realized that what is accomplished in the wine industry won’t be noticed by everyone in the world unless we tell people about it. Now people know that wine and grapes have a high place in history. For so long, during Prohibition, wine was just “booze.” Wine is the only beverage that gives people a feeling of completeness. That’s not booze.

TA: Where do you see the California wine industry going in the future?

WW: We have this thing called climate change. I am financially supporting the University of California at Davis in updating the original Winkler Scale, a technique for classifying the climate of grape growing regions (based on heat summation or growing degree days). It was created at UC Davis in the early 1940s, and was very helpful and indispensable in lifting up the California wine industry. It needs revision because there are ways of measuring physiological changes in the grape berries and the vines that we didn’t have before. Now we can take into account the influence of clouds, atmospheric moisture, wind speed and duration of temperatures, for example. The revision is ongoing right now; it’s a more comprehensive approach.

TA: Tell us about your role in KOV?

WW: I haven’t been very active lately because of the pandemic, but I used to go to all of the events that I could. KOV is absolutely an important organization. Whenever I am asked to recommend an organization that loves wine and the pleasures of wine, I tell them about KOV. And I show people The Arbor. The magazine talks about the uplifting qualities of wine and how people spend time devoted to it. The Knights of the Vine and The Arbor have both shown in the clearest possible way that wine is not booze!

TA: What a wonderful life you’ve had! And what a wonderful contribution you’ve made to the wine industry in California, and the world. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to talk with us.

WW: I’ve had good questions, and people who are interested. Thank you for prodding me into having this discussion.

For more information on Warren Winiarski and his many accomplishments, visit www.warrenwiniarski.com.