Growing up at Tanguy Homesteads near West Chester, PA, making summer dandelion wine with my father, I never dreamed that I would be a winegrower in the Napa Valley.
With winemaking far from my mind, I left Pennsylvania at age 16 in order to see the world. I traveled, worked, and lived in many places: from tending bar and pulling espresso in Sicily, to hitchhiking across North Africa, to recuperating in Afghanistan after fighting a life-threatening illness in India, to studying Spanish and Mexican history in Guadalajara. My longest stint in one place was the 3 years I spent in Italy where I found a love and respect for the world of winemaking.
But when I returned to the states, it wasn’t winemaking I turned to. I was lured to Oregon by the whopping $6/hr wages offered by the logging industry. After 2 years alternating between choker setter and tree planter, I decided college might be a better route. I completed my degree in Romance Languages at University of Oregon where I met and married my classmate, Marla.
Once we started our family, I began a career in the Bay Area’s financial world, but after a number of years in that profession, it was time for a change. One look at this Calistoga cattle ranch was all it took. Marla and I moved our kids out of the city, and we began to develop our vineyard. Twenty three years later, we are still doing what we set out to do – striving to make the best wine possible with what each year brings us.
A lot of us think about how one day it would be great to move to the country, plant some grapes, and make some wine. Luckily, most of us have enough sense not to try it! But time and circumstance converged for us in 1989, and that wild hare of an idea became a reality.
Dale and I spent years trying to find what we were looking for. Before we met, Dale and I had each lived in Italy – working, studying, drinking wine, and enjoying “la dolce vita.” And when we met in an Italian class, well, I guess the rest is history. But in Italy we both had discovered that hillside vineyards produced unique, exceptional fruit, and our spirits longed not for the flat, fertile valley floor, but for the eagle’s perch: the extreme, the spectacular. It helped that we did not have the knowledge or experience to realize that what we dreamed about was an incredibly crazy idea. And so our innocence propelled us to create what we originally sought: the unique and exceptional.
After 3 years of searching, we found a small ad in the San Francisco Chronicle with a “For Sale by Owner” heading. We knew it the moment we saw it: this hidden canyon was both the perfect place to raise our children and the perfect place to raise our grapes. With blood, sweat, and a few tears, we worked on tractors and in dirt, through rain and 100 degree heat. In the field, in the classroom, in the coffee shop, Dale and I learned how to grow grapes on our land. Every undulation, every nook and cranny was different and needed its own special attention. And slowly we learned how to meet those needs.
Our kids reaped the benefits and bore the burden of being farm kids. During the summer, they were required to work 3 hours a day. Aside from learning responsibility and respect for hard work, they quickly realized that education would give them a way out of the field! To that end, Oriana, our eldest, is completing her PhD in Early Modern History at Yale, Vanessa, our middle child, attends the John Burns Medical School at University of Hawaii, and Nick, our youngest, graduated from University of California, Davis with a degree in viticulture, oenology, and economics, and now works here at Jericho.
Though some of our family may not be living or working here at this point in time, each and every one of us love the beauty of this spot – the Palisades and Mt. St. Helena cradle us, Jericho Creek lends the rhythm and music with its frogs and toads, the seasons give us perspective. Mother Nature makes sure we stay flexible as each year brings with it new challenges, both in the vineyard and in the winery.
And wine, well wine is an unusual thing. Alive from its birth in the wood of last year’s crop, alive until the moment we swallow it many years later, wine grows, changes, and evolves just as we do. It is a beautiful thing – in the field, in tank, in barrel, in our mouths – it brings joy, and camaraderie, and just plain fun to our lives. So open a bottle. We hope you, too, will experience the pleasure we find in the unique and exceptional wines we grow here at Jericho Canyon Vineyard.
From a young age, Nick discovered his passion for winemaking while working in the vineyards of the family vineyard. After earning his viticulture and enology degree from UC Davis he spent time gaining experience working abroad. In 2011, he returned to Napa where he had the privilege of working with some of the region’s most respected winemakers and finally in 2015 assumed all responsibilities of winemaking for the family estate. By practicing sustainable farming and minimalist winemaking, he enables the estate’s unique character to shine through in the bottle.
Perhaps the worlds most well known winemaker, Michel Rolland is a renowned French oenologist and wine consultant whose influential “Michel Rolland method” emphasizes bold, fruit-forward wines. Since the 1980s, he has advised many prestigious estates worldwide.
In Napa Valley, Rolland consults for lauded properties like St. Supery, Dalla Valle Vineyards, Harlan Estate, Staglin Family Vineyard, and Bryant Estate’s Pritchard Hill site. He also works with top Bordeaux châteaux including Figeac and Pavie.
In 2010, Jericho Canyon Vineyard in Calistoga became another celebrated winery to enlist Rolland. Under his guidance for over a decade now, he has applied his signature techniques like extended macerations and barrel fermentations to meld Jericho Canyon’s unique terroir with lavish concentration.
Rolland’s consulting role has allowed Jericho Canyon to refine richly textured, age-worthy wines that powerfully capture a sense of place. This partnership remains pivotal as the respected estate pursues world-class quality, fusing Rolland’s expertise with their distinct character.
