Paul Draper
Inducted 2008

Paul Draper joined Ridge Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1969, and went on to ardently advance the practice of single-vineyard winemaking in California. By embracing the terroir of particular vineyards, over the course of nearly four decades he has crafted balanced and distinctive wines expressive of the character of each site. With his devotion to traditional, non-intrusive winemaking methods (including the use of naturally occurring yeasts and malolactic cultures), Draper has guided to international fame the cool climate Monte Bello cabernet sauvignons and realized the potential of zinfandel to make complex wines that age gloriously and gracefully. His many awards include having been named Decanter's Man of the Year in 2000, joining André Tchelistcheff and Robert Mondavi as the only Americans so honored.

Ernest & Julio Gallo
Ernest Gallo 1909–2007, Julio Gallo 1910–1993
Inducted 2008

Seizing opportunities provided by the repeal of prohibition, Ernest and Julio Gallo started E. & J. Gallo Winery in 1933. With self-education in the winemaking process and hard work, the Gallo brothers were instrumental in introducing Americans to wine and in creating the modern American wine market. While being pioneers in wine advertising on television, Ernest and Julio were first to establish national sales, marketing, and brand management forces. They also drove initiatives such as the use of stainless steel tanks for fermentation, winery automation, long-term grower contracts for varietal grapes, and major grape research programs. The company they founded grew to become one of the largest wine producers in the world.

Miljenko "Mike" Grgich
Inducted 2008

A fourth-generation winemaker in his native Croatia, Mike Grgich fled communist Yugoslavia in 1954. After arriving in Napa Valley in 1958, he worked with winemaking luminaries at Souverain, Christian Brothers, Beaulieu Vineyards, and Robert Mondavi Vineyards. In 1976, a chardonnay he crafted as winemaker at Chateau Montelena beat the best white wines in France in the now famous "Judgment of Paris" tasting, helping to shatter the myth that only French soil could produce the world's greatest wines. Since founding Grgich Hills Cellars with Austin Hills in 1977, Grgich has continued receiving international awards for his estate-grown wines, most especially chardonnays. Mike Grgich has been at the forefront of organic and biodynamic vineyard practices and helped pioneer the use of cold stabilization. His creed: "You make wines with your heart."

Louis P. Martini
1918–1998
Inducted 2008

Thoughtful, well-educated, and experimental, Louis P. Martini, son of Martini Winery founder Louis M. Martini, was a key figure in post-Prohibition Napa Valley. He was an intrepid innovator, making important strides in improving grape quality with superior clones, the use of wind machines in the vineyard for frost protection, the use of mechanical grape harvesters, and in vineyard design. Martini was one of the first vintners to realize the potential of the Carneros district for the growing of pinot noir, producing pinot noir from the Carneros as early as the 1950s. He also pioneered merlot as its own varietal in 1968. Louis P. Martini was a founding member of the Napa Valley Vintners Association, The Wine Institute, and The Society of Enologists, all key organizations in the advancement of the California wine industry.

Carl Heinrich Wente
1851–1912
Inducted 2008

Emigrating from Germany in the 1870s, Carl Heinrich Wente studied winemaking at Charles Krug winery before migrating to the Livermore Valley just east of San Francisco Bay. With the purchase of forty-seven acres, he founded Wente Vineyards, which today is the oldest continuously operated family-owned winery in the country. Wente grafted Old World winemaking techniques onto New World soil, most notably by taking advantage of Livermore Valley's marine influences and gravelly soils in creating white wines of distinction, particularly semillon and sauvignon blanc. In 1912, C. H. Wente planted chardonnay cuttings obtained by his son Ernest in France, which would go on to become the famous "Wente Clone" that accounts for 80% of all the chardonnay planted in California.

Maynard Amerine, Ph.D.
1911–1998
Inducted 2007

Maynard Amerine's work as an enologist, teacher, and writer helped make the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University at California, Davis, one of the most respected in the world.

After joining the UC Davis faculty in 1935, Professor Amerine—along with other members of the department—helped revive the wine industry after Prohibition in many ways. Notable among his accomplishments was research on matching the right types of wine varieties with different regions of California, and writing reference works on table wine, dessert wine, and brandy.

His writings appealed to a wide range of people interested in wine—from enologists to connoisseurs—and his book Wine: An Introduction for Americans remains a popular reference. Professor Amerine also made substantial contributions to the literature of wine judging methods, color in wines, aging of wine, and the control of fermentation.

Brother Timothy
1910–2004
Inducted 2007

A longtime cellar master and pioneering winemaker for Christian Brothers Winery, Brother Timothy was instrumental in reviving the wine industry in Napa Valley after Prohibition and in advocating technological advances that brought California winemaking into the modern era.

A member of the De La Salle Christin Brothers, Brother Timothy was known for his kindness, wit, and uncanny ability to assess wine, all of which made him one of the most beloved architects of 20th-century winemaking in California. One of his many legacies lives on in his world-renowned corkscrew collection at the CIA at Greystone, consisting of over 1,100 corkscrews collected over his 50-year career.

When asked to explain his religious vocation and its connection to his life's work, Brother Timothy often referred to Benjamin Franklin's quote: "Wine is a constant reminder that God loves us and loves to see us happy."

Georges de Latour
1856–1940
Inducted 2007

At the close of the 19th century, French immigrant Georges de Latour visited the Napa Valley and was struck by the similarities to the Medoc, where his family owned vineyards. Determined to open a winery, de Latour and his wife Fernande bought four acres of vines in Rutherford, which they aptly named Beaulieu, or "beautiful place."

Almost immediately, de Latour had a profound impact on the California wine industry, importing French vines crafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock and helping to revitalize the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma counties.

Georges de Latour's entrepreneurial spirit kept Beaulieu alive and thriving during Prohibition by selling altar wine to churches. History was made when he brought enologist André Tchelistcheff from France to create the world-class Cabernet Sauvignons for which Beaulieu and the Napa Valley have become famous.

Agoston Haraszthy
1812–1869
Inducted 2007

Count Agoston Haraszthy's restless spirit brought him to America in 1840, where he pursued many entrepreneurial and agricultural opportunities, always seeking to establish the high-quality vineyards of his native Hungary. He found his chance when, in 1857, he planted some of California's first European varietals and laid the foundation for winery buildings at his Buena Vista property.

After being appointed in 1861 to a California commission to improve agricultural methods, Count Haraszthy traveled to Europe to collect vines and fruit stock. He returned to California with more than 100,000 vines, representing over 14,000 varieties, laying the groundwork for the California wine industry. His book, Grape Culture, Wine and Wine Making remained a classic well into the 20th century.

Charles Krug
1825–1892
Inducted 2007

Charles Krug was a man of many firsts in the genesis of the California wine industry. In 1858, he set out on his distinguished career by planting 20 acres of vines in Sonoma. That same year, as Northern California's first consulting winemaker, he produced one of the first wines made in the Napa Valley.

After acquiring land in St. Helena, Krug planted one of the first vineyards in the Napa Valley, and in 1861 began building the winery that bears his name.

An important part of his legacy was joining other wine leaders of the day to found the St. Helena Viticultural Society, Board of State Viticultural Commissioners, and the Napa Valley Wine Company, the first organizations to brand, market, and protect the provenance California wines.

Robert Mondavi
Inducted 2007

With a commitment to excellence and a visionary understanding of wine's place at the American table, Robert Mondavi has dedicated his life to showing how wine adds to life's enjoyment. His motto, "Making good wine is a skill, fine wine an art," has inspired winemakers in California and around the world.

A pioneer of fine winemaking in Napa Valley, Mondavi has been equally committed to wine's place, along with cooking, as one of the arts. His wide-ranging support for the arts, as well as community and charitable works, is legendary, and his conferences and educational programs have added immeasurably to the appreciation of wine in America.

Throughout his life and career, Robert Mondavi has set the highest of goals, and has consistently sought to lead the wine industry to ever-greater achievements. Robert's creed: "Go forward, this is only the beginning."

Gustave Niebaum
1842–1908
Inducted 2007

Having already amassed a fortune as a sea captain and fur trader, Gustave Niebaum was looking for a new business adventure when he and his wife were drawn to the beauty of the Napa Valley and its potential as a great wine-producing region.

After purchasing the Inglenook property in 1879, Niebaum built an imposing stone winery château and produced the first estate-bottled, Bordeaux-style wine in California. Using demanding methods of temperature control and stringent sanitation techniques, he was one of the first winegrowers to establish the reputation of the Napa Valley as producing fine wines equal to the great wine regions of France.

His motto of "Quality, not quantity" inspired new standards of excellence in California winemaking, for his generation and generations to come.

Harold Olmo, Ph.D.
1909–2006
Inducted 2007

Harold Olmo helped create the modern California wine industry with his prolific work developing winegrape hybrids suited to the state's specific growing conditions. He served on the faculty of the University of California, Davis, Department of Viticulture and Oenology from 1931 until his retirement in 1997. Olmo continued his research until shortly before his death, donating millions of dollars in patent royalties back to the department.

Professor Olmo taught many of the people who have become prominent growers and winemakers in California, and his study of the Chardonnay grape helped to make it the most widely planted white wine grape in the state.

An adventurous traveler, Harold Olmo went to the Middle East in search of the origins of the vinifera grapevine, to Europe to obtain grapevine stock, and to grape-growing regions around the world as a United Nations consultant.

André Tchelistcheff
1901–1994
Inducted 2007

In 1938, Georges de Latour went to France in search of a new winemaker trained in both enology and microbiology. In Paris, he was introduced to Russian-born Anrdé Tchelistcheff and, at that moment, history was made.

Coming to Beaulieu Vineyards as vice president and chief winemaker, Tchelistcheff soon became one of California's most innovative winemakers, creating a definitive style for high-quality Cabernet Sauvignons, many of which were served at important White House functions.

He was one of the first winemakers to work with fruit from the Carneros district, which he used to produce renowned Pinot Noirs. His work with malolactic fermentation, cold stabilization, and selective planting—along with mentoring many of today's leading winemakers—has earned him recognition as the father of modern California winemaking.