Grace Family Vineyard

Grace Family Vineyard
Napa, California
USA CA
http://www.gracefamilyvineyards.com

Contact: Dick and Ann Grace
Email: [email protected]

After nearly a decade of growing grapes, Dick and Ann brought their friend, renowned winery architect John Lail, in to design a uniquely charming and evocative building for making wine. The hand carved wooden entrance leads to a small, sculptured stone and wood sanctuary that evokes the kind of serenity and beauty found more commonly in the Buddhist temples of Nepal than in the wineries of California. This winery temple is a testament to a philosophy of living that transcends fine wine as a beverage, making it also a catalyst for change.

Planted with cuttings from the famous Bosché vineyard not far away, Grace Family vineyards started out as a family hobby. The first harvest was picked by family and friends in 1978 and taken to nearby Caymus Winery in the back of a station wagon. Charlie Wagner, the late Caymus patriarch, tasted a bunch of those first 1978 grapes and exclaimed, "You know, Dick, this is damned fine fruit!" And so one of the Napa Valley's first vineyard designated wines came to be produced.

Grace Family Vineyards was on its wayWith interest in California wines blossoming, Grace Family Vineyards quickly became the first "cult" wine, which was just as much a surprise to Dick and Ann as to anyone else. That said, let's not forget that Dick's military experience, enhanced by a perfectionist attitude, ensured that no corners were cut. Even if this was to be just a hobby, it had to be done right. It was fortuitous that the family had settled upon a microclimate and soil suitable to making stellar Cabernet.
Since those early days, Dick and Ann Grace have pioneered numerous concepts now practiced throughout the Napa Valley. These include close or European spacing of vines, eliminating the use of pesticides and herbicides in the vineyards, etching and hand-painting large format bottles to be used at charity events as well as currently exploring biodynamic techniques that might positively affect the biology of their terroir.

Winemaker: Gary Brookman

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