California family farming: succession and progression

‘Family owned’ is often presented as a badge of honour in introducing a winery or estate, a little like ‘old vines’ or ‘special cuvée’ on a wine label. It’s a tool regularly used when selling wine to consumers – that being family owned equates to higher values and a commitment to better quality.

The concepts of pride of ownership, legacy, continuity and longevity (rather than instant gratification) are deeply engaging. They speak to our core humanity and desire for perpetuity. Story is all, and a story about real people is likely to generate a more visceral audience reaction – and a more compelling reason to buy a wine – than a tale of soil, clones or rootstocks.

Scroll down for Clare Tooley MW’s selection of wines that celebrate California family farming

It is pleasingly ironic, therefore, that not only is California family farming a product of history rather than marketing, but that many of its wine families have put the land – their soil rather than their family tree – at the heart of their endeavour.

Individuals, families or partnership continue to own the great majority of California farms and ranches. This is a direct result of the state’s prospecting and immigrant history. The same is true of its grape growing and winemaking industry.

Some 95% of Napa wineries are family owned, Sonoma is home to the state’s longest continuously operated family winery in Gundlach Bundschu, and the Central Coast wine scene thrives on family operations. Furthermore, ‘family owned’ in California encompasses all sizes, all turnovers and all hierarchies of quality.

E&J Gallo, Trinchero and Jackson are family operations, together representing a significant percentage of California’s wine production. They dominate the grocery shelves with everyday brands, while simultaneously nurturing and investing in their own and partnered premium wineries, including Louis M Martini, Neyers Vineyards and Vérité respectively.

All in the family

The good news is California family wineries are here to stay, at least until the tectonic plates shift decisively. Family farming begets family farming.

Claudia Schug recollects that as a child watching her father, Walter, leave the house, she never thought he was ‘going to work’ under the Phelps ownership [Walter Schug was the founding winemaker for Joseph Phelps]. She just thought of him spending the day with the extended family – a circle she too joined early on. When Walter left to buy his own vineyard and winery in 1980, it was a natural continuation rather than a departure.

Families within family ownerships are also a feature of California wine farming. Father and son José and Juan Reyes head up the winemaking team of privately owned Cru winery in Madera. Such inheritance of learned experience and wisdom ensures continuity in the cellar but also ensures a continued understanding of how particular vineyards in particular places evolve over time.

In 1985, Shari and Garen Staglin founded their eponymous family vineyard in the Napa Valley on a bucolic homestead built in 1864 by Mary and John Steckter, who planted 24ha of vines and raised six children. In doing so, they continued a 150-year tradition of viticulture at the Rutherford Bench estate.

Who wouldn’t choose, if possible, to raise a family in such a peaceful setting? California wine families were free to choose the lifestyle and the view, unlike the European model of multi-generational ownership and ever-widening family networks imposed by Napoleonic rules of inheritance.

Anyone fortunate enough to take the road up to Chappellet on Pritchard Hill and watch the sunrise or sunset from its vantage point, or sit in Molly Chappellet’s garden of absolute beauty and tranquility, will recognise the calling.

Founding mothers and fathers

However, the matriarchs and patriarchs whose families have achieved real quality in both farming and winemaking – people like Molly and Donn Chappellet, the Staglins, the Schugs, the Trefethens, the Novaks, the Dusis and the Millers, to name but a small few – share a common fundamental belief.

It’s a belief that, with patience, the land they chose to farm was, and still is, capable of producing excellence. They committed to their land and to its generational stewardship, recognising that sowing today would be reaping for multi-generational tomorrows.

These founding mothers and fathers did not just do it for themselves and their families. The planting of some of California’s most historic vineyards, such as Dusi, Bien Nacido and Sangiacomo, all still family owned, have not only established their owners as quality producers, but also provided the fruit for a much larger cohort of talented winemakers to make their mark.

The Schug 2018 iteration of Pinot Noir from the Sangiacomo vineyard (see tasting note) bursts with dark red and blue fruit and is both vibrant and vital. These vineyards and their fruit, translated and crafted into multiple versions, have over time cemented California’s credentials as a multi-faceted, flexible, premium wine region. By extension, they continue to delight a growing audience of international wine lovers.

But what happens when the original visionary is no longer overseeing the daily business? The next generation needs to find their own ‘glue’ and their own dynamic. The original vision is constantly reshuffling itself with each new set of eyes. Succession becomes less about inheritance and more about progression.

Sustainability and philanthropy

Many of today’s family farms are finding unity in concentrating their efforts on environmental factors to protect what has come their way. They are working to ensure a future not just for one family but for their land and, by extension, their region.

In 1968, Napa landowners, vintners and growers including Gene and Katie Trefethen established the first American agricultural preserve in the valley, committing themselves and all who followed to protect the agrarian character and lead in all things environmental.

In 2021, four wine families – O’Neill, Trinchero, Shannon Ridge and Boisset – received the California Wine Institute’s Green Medal Award, recognising a commitment to sustainability in the categories of Leader, Business, Environment and Community.

California’s founding wine families were risk-takers and entrepreneurs. Its families today are no less fearless in the face of complex climate change and complicated distribution.

Now California family farming also offers a kaleidoscopic mix of personalities and nationalities. Celebrities, art collectors, musicians and sports personalities stand shoulder to shoulder with fruit farmers and ranchers. It makes for a colourful and exciting scene, unique even within a global concept.

They are also a generous band of private owners. Philanthropy is considered key to sustainability and wine families take the lead. They host thousands of charitable events throughout the year, benefiting everything from youth education programmes to affordable housing, animal welfare, disaster relief and medical research – such as Staglin’s music festival for brain health (www.music-festival.org).

The combined outreach of California’s wine farming families not only generates and supports a billion-dollar wine industry, but ensures many more millions are distributed charitably every year to a local and global community.

Family is indeed considered and worn as a badge of honour in California wine land.

California family farming: wines to try from pioneering estates

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