Peg Melnik wrote an excellent article on the Barron Herzog Wines several weeks ago in the Press Democrat. She included some of the history of the Herzog Family starting in 1840.
I am going to add on to the article about the presence of the Herzog Family as a significant purchaser of Sonoma County Winegrapes starting in the 1980s.
Peter Stern was the consulting Winemaker for the Herzog Family. The parent company, Royal Wine Company was Eastern Winery when Eugene Herzog worked for them starting in 1948. By 1958 Eugene Herzog had equity shares in the Company and he purchased Royal Wine Company. Ernest had four brothers. When Ernest died in the 1990s, David Herzog took over. (I was fortunate enough to have met Ernest before he died.) Somewhere in the late 1980s while I was brokering grapes, I connected with Peter Stern who consulted for Royal Wine Company. Peter consulted as well as for Yarden winery in Israel starting in 1986. He made many trips to the winery located in the Golan Heights every year. Royal Wine Company (Herzog) in New York also desired to expand their presence and their portfolio by purchasing California vinifera variety wine grapes.
My connection with Peter was a 30-plus year association. One of the first things Peter asked me to do was help with a tour of California vineyards for ten Yarden winery grape growers. The tour was scheduled for 10 days. By pure luck I hired a recent graduate from Fresno State, Brian Clements, to be the tour guide for the growers. The tour ended up in the North Coast where I gave a talk on growing grapes on the North Coast.
The next thing Peter asked me to do was to instruct another Yarden grape grower on the protocol of field grafting of grapevines. By this time I had expanded my vineyard services to include both grafting of rootstock as well as field grafting of mature vines from one variety to another. I was then fortunate enough to accompany Peter to Israel and observe the fields of grapevines that had been grafted by my student from the winery. The tour included several days by myself to visit Jerusalem and historic sites.
By the late 1980s Herzog was ready to expand their winery from New York to California, looking to purchase California vinifera varieties. One such variety I could help Peter and Herzog locate was the Warnecke Vineyards Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
Sourcing and processing grapes for Kosher wine is at best a challenge. On the north coast it requires the skills of a dedicated perfectionist. Identifying and buying the grapes are the easy parts. The grapes then are required to be handled and processed under the strictest of sanitary conditions, and under the supervision of a rabbinical supervisor. Any of the cellar workers who in any way handle the grapes post-crushing must be, as I learned, referred to as mishgiam or cellar workers. The challenge is to find these workers on the north coast and then try to find Kosher food to feed them.
My first delivery of Warnecke Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to Herzog was to the J.W. Morris winery located on Grant Avenue in Healdsburg. Due to the Hebrew sanitary conditions the only way we could deliver the grapes was after all the grapes J.W. Morris had received for that day. Morris was first opened as a Port style winery. I cannot find any history on J.W. Morris himself. Ken Toth purchased the winery in the 1980s. Peter tells me Royal crushed grapes at J.W. Morris for three years. I lost track of the winery and somewhere Bronco purchased the Label and as far as I know the winery facility was disbanded.
Herzog then crushed at several wineries for their next few years in Northern California. The challenge was always the delivery standards. Delivery of grapes had to work around having no deliveries on Friday or Saturday. Right during the harvest season that falls on several religious holidays.
The decision was made that Royal Wine Company would build a winery in California. Specifically, to crush North coast winegrapes. After looking at several locations they selected Oxnard, in Ventura County. One of the reasons was the proximity to a labor force in the Los Angeles area. A parcel was purchased in a new industrial site just west of Highway 101 on the South end of Oxnard.
Now the problem was transferred to getting the wine grapes down to Oxnard. A decision was made that the grapes would be picked in half-ton bins. These bins could be loaded into refrigerated vans and shipped to Oxnard. S.S. Skikos did a wonderful job of getting the grapes down to the winery. The challenge was the transportation time. On a good day it was over nine hours.
I remember the first Warnecke load. I had instructed the Warnecke foreman just how many bins to load. Refrigerated vans come with a liability. The refrigerated unit itself weighs almost 1,000 pounds. A refrigerated van at most can transport 24 tons including the weight of the bins. Forty half-ton empty bins weigh two tons, so the net weight of grapes is around 22 tons. The foreman at Warnecke loaded 48 bins into the Skikos van and off he went. At Petaluma the driver went over a public scale and the gross weight was over 80,000 pounds. The truck turned back to the Skikos yard to unload four bins so that the load was legal. By this time the driver had too many hours behind the wheel to start back for Oxnard. The truck left the next morning for Oxnard. The winery was informed of the delay in the delivery. By now the grapes had been picked for 24 hours. There should be no problem since they were refrigerated. I had shipped grapes to Japan that did not arrive for 20 days.
Winemaker Joe Hurliman did not see the delay in the same manner. I started to receive phone calls from him almost at daybreak. In turn I called Chad Skikos who had constant communications with the driver. In retrospect, the load should have left at 8 pm. There is no fast way of getting from Santa Rosa to Oxnard. The load did not arrive until late afternoon. The cellar workers had all gone home.
Clearly there had to be a better way of transporting grapes from the North Coast to Oxnard. The answer was to find a winery in the north central valley that would receive, crush, and pump the juice (must) into a waiting tanker truck. This was how Herzog received grapes for several years. Currently the grapes are delivered to a central valley winery
Royal Winery was very happy with the quality of the Wienecke grapes. Over the last few years Royal has leased a portion of the Warnecke Vineyards. Royal hires a vineyard management company to oversee the grape development and production. Royal bottles the grapes with Warnecke Vineyards on the label.
I look back with much pride in the part I played in the connection between Royal Wine Company and the Warnecke Vineyard.
Reading Bob Dempel’s article is a little like reading a story about the Civil War without actually letting the reader know that this is the 21st-century and not 1860. The historical aspects are interesting and true. As a kosher wine maker, here in Northern California, I have worked successfully with many of the individuals mentioned in this article. And I made my Napa Valley Cabernet at the Herzog winery in Oxnard from 2003 to 2007. Indeed, the challenges of transporting grapes, long distances can be difficult. That said, Dempel’s description of kosher wine making is ridiculous. His descriptions of kosher sanitary conditions, and other misnomers are laughable. And his impression that it’s impossible to make kosher wine in Northern California is just plain stupid. He should come visit our kosher Covenant winery in Berkeley, where we make wine just like any other winery, kosher or not. The myth of some Kusher conundrum in the production of kosher wine is just that—a myth. And it is promulgated by ignorance, such as that disseminated by clueless writers and grape growers like Bob Dempel. If you are going to write about the past, you better learn something about the present as well.
Amen!