Digging into the History of Napa Valley, you begin to find a small cache of collaborators and pioneers that built the legacy of a small farming community into a world class wine region. Looking back at a few of our heroes, these people influenced the work of many of the best winemakers the world has ever known, but few remember the extent of their reach.
The Vine Whisperer: We recently profiled wines from the prolific Mondavi family- but many people have never heard of Ivan Schoch. Like Mondavi, his family was a part of the Italian Swiss Colony that shaped the farming culture of California from the Central Valley northward, the Italian Swiss Colony was also the largest producer of wine in California during the 50s. Ivan Schoch’s father Benno was the first person to export California Wine to South America. Ivan grew up in the Valley, and was responsible for teaching some of the original producers in the valley how to plant and manage their vineyards-including selecting sites for Hanzell Vineyards and Joseph Phelps. Schoch purchased To Kalon Vineyards after the death of Martin Stelling, for whom he managed the vineyard, providing grapes to both Beaulieu Vineyards and Charles Krug Winery until 1962, when he sold most of the vineyard to C.K. Mondavi & Sons.
When Robert Mondavi started his own winery, Ivan Schoch was one of Robert's two investing partners. The Rainier Brewing Company bought out Schoch’s Mondavi shares in 1968, and Schoch purchased his own winery, Souverain on Howell Mountain, which gave Mike Grigich his first winemaking job.
The Secret Hero: Ask any winemaker in Napa for their list of heroes and Philip Togni will be on that list. He got his winemaking start largely by being in the right place at the right time. Working for Shell Oil in the early 50s, he found himself in Europe trying to figure out something different to do than working in the oil industry. He happened to be introduced to Maynard Amarine in Spain who was the first hire of the UC Davis after prohibition, teaching the valley how to properly taste and analyze wine. Under Maynard’s advice, Togni became a member of the first graduating class of the University of Bordeaux’s Diplôme National d’Oenologie, studying under the great Émile Peynaud.
After working in France at Lascombes, Meynard then encouraged Philip to come to Napa, where he landed a job as winemaker at the new Mayacamas Winery. This was the start of a career that became a part of the upward trajectory of California as a whole, with Togni working at Gallo, Inglenook and Chalone. In the 1960s, he helped start Chappellet, one of Napa’s first high elevation vineyards on Pritchard Hill, and created the famous 1969 bottling of Chappellet which was awarded 100 Points by Wine Advocate.
Today Philip is joined by his daughter, Lisa, producing their own eponymous label on Spring Mountain, making wines that remind us of what Napa Valley is capable of.
The Maestro: André Tchelistcheff- a Russian scientist who worked at the Pasteur Institute was brought to California by George de Latour to help them make clean, biologically sound wine.
Tchelistcheff arrived to bring sanitary and sound technology to California and became almost single handedly responsible for paving the road of craft that allowed Napa to become one of the most important places on the planet for the exploration of Cabernet. Tasting old vintages Beaulieu Vineyards wines today shows you what the aging potential that Cabernet Sauvignon is capable of- and long a favorite wine of collectors who know old Napa. Tchelistcheff consulted on nearly every important project in Napa and Sonoma: Beaulieu, Charles Krug, Louis M. Martini, Buena Vista, Firestone, Schramsberg, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Heitz, Simi, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Hoffman, Jordan, Quilceda Creek, Sequoia Grove, Villa Mt. Eden, Conn Creek, King Estate, Rodney Strong, Niebaum Coppola to name a few, and mentored winemakers like Louis Martini, Robert Mondavi, Joe Heitz, August Sebastiani, John Daniel, Mike Grgich, Richard Peterson, MaryAnn Graf, Warren Winiarski, Rob Davis, Michael Silacci, Mike McGrath, Jan Shrem, Rick Sayre, Marco Cappelli, Heidi Peterson Barrett, and Jill Davis- to give a short list.
Tchelistcheff and Dell Webb at Hanzell Vineyards helped isolate the technology to control malolactic fermentation- and the technology created and tested by Tchelistcheff (cold fermentation, steel tanks, malolactic fermentation) shaped the way people make wine all over the world.