Books/booklets on wineries of Napa County.

We are in the final stages of producing books/booklets on wineries of Napa County.


The first book in draft is titled “The Essence of the Napa County Wine Industry” which will be presented in three parts which are titled

P1 - ‘The Resurrectors” - From Repeal of Prohibition through the 1960s,”
P2 - “The Innovators and Pacesetters” - 1970s to 2000
P3 - “The Inheritors” - 2000 to the present

I have completed recorded interviews lasting from one and a half hours to as much as four hours with all the following greats of the Napa Valley Wine Industry To our knowledge there has never been such a collection of formidable wine industry personalities and talents under one book. * denotes inductees to the California Vintners Hall of Fame under the sponsorship of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Greystone building, St. Helena, CA.

Charles Sullivan, Dario Sattui, *Andy Beckstoffer, Sal Renteria, Bill Hill, Ric Forman, Mitch Consentino, Randy Dunn, Volker Eisele, *Warren Winiarski, Agustin Huneeus, Francis Mahoney, Jack Cakebread, Dan Duckhorn, Mary Novak, Michael Mondavi, Bob Trinchero, Dr. Dick Peterson, Peter Mondavi, Sr.

The following have accepted to be interviewed and we are in process of scheduling such at this time:

Tony Soter, Michael Moone, John DeLuca, Ed Brovelli, Harold Moskowite, Jim Hickey, Elizabeth Martini, Peter Mondavi, Jr., Marc Mondavi. and others which we are still negotiating.

All of those interviewed/to be interviewed are responding to the same set of questions shown below:
1. Major Contribution(s) to the wine industry. What would you most like to be remembered as having contributed to the American Wine Industry? This is probably a difficult question in that you might feel that it requires you to be “bragging” but it really is not that at all’ It is simply your assessment of the contributions you think you have made and continue to make.

2. Significant influence on you. What and/or who do you consider the most significant influences in guiding your thinking and actions in the history of your contributions to the American Wine Industry and how so?

3. Essence of Napa and its wine. Mr. Joel Lewis, retired ad & marketing executive and resident of Napa, recently posed a very interesting question to me as I drove him to SFO which I would like to pass on to you for your comment. “What do you consider to be the ‘essence’ of Napa Valley and indeed, its wine?” The word “Essence” is being defined as “the intrinsic nature of anything; that which makes a thing what it is.”

4. Land Use Codes

Part 1 - My question is, do you ever foresee, given the large number of outside-of-the-county ownerships, the possibility that they could join forces and erode the agricultural preservation codes that have been enacted to date?

Part 2 -Do you foresee the possibilities that the off spring could conceivably take legal action against the county to remove AG Preservation codes on their family land so they can inherit rights that might lead to more money than staying in the AG business?

5. American Wine Industry Hall of Fame. Since the early 1850’s most of the great minds in grape feedstock for the production of wine have been moving and concentrating in the Pacific coastal states, particularly in California and more specifically in the northern counties above the Los Angeles basin.

There is still significant wine production on-going in all the other states where their principal fermenting resource are fruits, berries, honey and native grape varietals, with some production from foreign grape varietal hybrids. These latter areas enjoy loyal wine consumer following and generate impressive tourism and wine sales numbers but nothing like that witnessed among the Pacific coastal states and in particular Napa and Sonoma Counties.

What would you think of the potential marketability of an “American Wine Industry Hall of Fame, Museum and Foundation” located within the City of Napa to recognize those who significantly contributed to the growth of the industry (including all fermentation resources types used to produce a wine) since the discovery of the “new world” and display important artifacts associated to that history and from which the monetary proceeds would support academic pursuits in the history associated to all sub fields of the American Wine Industry?

The second document is tourist/taster oriented booklets designed to assist the consumer negotiate the highways and country backroads of the wineries of this county.

We will be offerring a series of guides, each specific to the boundaries within each of the 14 American Viticultural Area’s (AVA) associated to Napa County and Valley. The first in the series will feature the wineries located in the Stag’s Leap AVA - the first sub-appellation within the county.

It contains a brief overview of the history associated to the wine industry since of the county since the great migration to Californi starting in the mid 1840s. The guide then provides detailed description of how to find each of the present day wineries and the many other attractions and amenities available to the consumer visiting the area. This booklet is titled, “Olney’s Guide to the Wineries of Napa County - Stag‘s Leap Area.”