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A wine legend leaves us

These last few months have been tough. A friend of mine was killed in a car accident in Wine Country in December. Mark Heinemann was a great guy with a helping heart. He worked for Demptos Cooperage and knew more about wine barrels than I could fathom. And he knew the wine people of Wine Country and seemed to love them all. But another legend who just left this earth on March 14 at 86 years of age for better vineyards is James Barrett.

In 1976 I was working for TWA as a marketing executive and was just getting started in the world of wine. That particular night I was getting ready to travel home and had the unread NY Times under my arm and had just settled into my seat on the train and caught the headline: Trial in Paris Tasting Won by 2 Napa Winemakers. The Chardonnay selected as the best of all of France was from Chateau Montelena. The winemaker was James Barrett. Mr. Barrett accomplished this after purchasing an old winery in Calistoga in 1973 and restoring the winery. Then producing a winning wine in 3 years. Amazing.

That was exciting for me because having spent a lot of time in Paris with TWA, I felt that the French knew that they were smarter, more sophisticated and refined than any American, and much of their prestige was based on the culture of wine and artistic mind. you are/were symbiotic with the French.

Reading about a California red and white wine that achieved the pinnacle of critical acclaim touched my heart immensely. I enjoyed sending a business-to-business telex to our offices in Paris asking: could there be a mistake in a blind tasting done in Paris by all the French judges? God forbid the French have lost their touch, not to mention their self-esteem.

This tasting was and still is unique because it caused the commotion that was heard around the world. The French judges wanted to retrieve their tickets and destroy them, the tasting was held at the InterContinental Hotel (which was owned by Pan American Airlines) and the sponsor of the event was a wine merchant from Paris who was actually English.

Another interesting side to this story is that Mr. Barrett owned a Napa winery that sourced its grapes from a Sonoma vineyard. Mike Grgich was his winemaker and MIke turns 90 on April 1, 2013. Mike owns Grgich Hills Estates today.

Mr. Barrett did the impossible with a white wine. Prayers to his family and the company he turned into a really fine winery that made us all proud.

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