R.I.P. Ron Siletto - San Benito County winegrape grower

Just wanted to post that longtime San Benito County winegrape grower Ron Siletto passed away over the weekend. Not sure of his exact age but he was in his 80s, maybe close to 90. I only met Ron once that I can recall, but he was quite a character from everything I’ve heard about him. Ron sold quite a bit of fruit to Harrington Wines, so I worked with it a lot. I believe that Bryan Harrington first bought fruit from Ron in 2012 - initially Negrette - and he bought more fruit from many different grape varieties until Bryan’s last vintage in 2018 - everything from Cabernet Sauvignon to Gamay Noir to Corvina and Freisa.

Ron was born in Boston, and he spoke only Italian until he entered school there - his parents were immigrants from Piemonte. Ron worked for a number of years in the advertising world before moving into the liquor and wine business in the 1980s, when he became the general manager of the historic Almaden Vineyards. He bought one of the old Almaden vineyards in San Benito County in 1986 and grew from there, eventually farming over 170 acres on six sites in the area with varying climates. Among other accomplishments, Ron was able to salvage cuttings of rare old vines from vineyards that were taken out in the area. He loved working with different grape varieties - especially Italian ones - and there are now over 40 varieties growing in his vineyards. He kept adding new ones all the time - often at Bryan’s urging - and Ron’s son John will be continuing to farm the vineyards going forward. We should see new varieties coming online there in the next few years, including Schiava, Ruchè, Frappato, Greco Nero, and Greco Bianco. There’s lots of great information on Ron and his vineyards on the Siletto Family Vineyards website: Siletto Family Vineyards

Ron will be missed by many, but it looks like John will continue his work with growing interesting and new-to-California grape varieties and continuing Ron’s legacy in San Benito County. R.I.P. Ron.

Thanks for this, Ken. So sorry to hear this. That silver-tongued devil, Bryan, could talk him into planting anything.
Some really interesting things coming on line. Who will be getting that stuff??
Tom

I don’t know whether there are definite buyers lined up yet but I’m sure there will be takers for most of the new stuff coming online. Prieto Picudo from Spain is another new one.

Super Sad! Rip Ron! I never met Ron but have a strong connection to wines from his site through Harrington, Wargin, et al.

I know Mikael Wargin @ Wargin wines loves weird stuff from Siletto and will continue to buy.

The Wargin 2018 Greco di Tufo is very interesting. The dry-hopped version is beyond unusual.

BTW: Wargin is not close to AFWE, its more SQN. They make a 15.5% ABV Gewurztraminer. But despite the intensity and heat, they manage pull off some interesting wines. Especially fond of the Wargin Siletto Negrette.

Sean

He was getting a lot of play with increased attention to the region and all the hipster winemakers these days. Despite the range of grapes we bought from him, it was just a small portion. When he saw he could sell it, and I suppose the odd varieties attracted buyers, he was really happy to put more stuff in, and was especially interested in the Italian grapes. A lot of what’s new there was never intended for Bryan - well beyond what we could’ve taken. We dug up the source vines for the “Misteri” grape, so maybe that’ll be available in a few years, if everything went well. I know a lot of the new stuff got snapped up right away. I just posted about the Falanghina. I friend (CB Wines) gets a half ton of that, plus other stuff like Corvina, Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo. He added all the available (3 or 4) Trousseau clones from FPS. I believe Tessier gets some. The Gamay was the best available 3 or 4 clones, with the help of Steve Edmunds. That’s one I’d like another stab at. The potential showed in our '18, but, well, we’ll see if the stem ages out well. I think something amazing could be made - it’s in some grand cru Bojo dirt.

I, too, would like to see who’s getting a lot of this fruit and try them. Let’s hope the buyers have the sense to list the vineyards.

Great Note Wes. Sounds like I have so many yet to try. I totally forgot about the Fallanghina. Loved the 18 Harrington version and I haven’t yet tasted but fondly remember crushing the the 19 CB cellars fruit with you at @Ed Kurtzmans. That fruit was so clean, pretty and lovely tasting, a pleasure to sort and crush. I guess I need to start drinking more hipster wines…

Dude! The 08 Barton Orchard Merlot was kicking. Decanted for 2 hours. Great balance, awesome acidity. Kitty and I totally loved it. Classic cool climate Merlot from Saratoga :slight_smile:

and Negrette is the singular most thing I associate to Siletto. I’m glad knowing it will continue on…

Sean

I will miss Ron. He was one of a kind, someone I really enjoyed having in my life. His son John, who has a long history in the berry business, had already started taking over the operation, so it’s in good hands. We take almost 50 tons a year off of their vineyards, less of the weird stuff and more of the old stuff. I think more important than the oddball varieties was the progress that was made in farming the sites. Ron was pretty old school when I started working with him, but we were able to convince him to first get off roundup and two years ago convert to organic farming. We’re hoping to have several of his sites certified organic in a couple years. Now that there’s all the different grapes in the ground, we’ll be doing a lot of information gathering about what works best in the vineyard and winery and, over the long term, focusing on those things. Several of the sites are excellent.

I still haven’t wrapped my head around not seeing Ron in his Chevy come down the driveway at Wheeler. He’d roll down his window and tell me how it was, or some story about old Almaden vineyards or the old El Gabilan property. At some point, I’ll have to remember his stories, and pull more from Pat Wirz and Bob Enz and try to get better picture of the Cienega and San Benito County grape growing.

His service is on Friday.

Also saw this note from Nicole Walsh (Ser & Bonny Doone) yesterday…

https://mailchi.mp/3458462a12f8/honoring-grower-ron-siletto?e=b5ceded4df

Dear Friends,This weekend I received some sad news that a grape grower, a beloved colleague, Ron Siletto, has passed away. I feel honored to have known Ron, a seriously good man. He was a husband, father, grandfather and for me, always inspiring. He had a hard working,go-getter attitude with a passion for grapes. He was continually hunting for rare grape varieties to plant. While I was working with Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon Vineyard, we worked closely with Ron to source fruit for many wines. When I started Ser, Ron was one of the first people I reached out to in my search for interesting, rare varietals. He is one of the 5 growers who grow Cabernet Pfeffer and was the grower of the John Smith Vineyard for the 2015 Graciano. https://www.silettofamilyvineyards.com/ron-john
The 2015 Cabernet Pfeffer that has some of the Siletto vineyard fruit has not been released yet. In honor of Ron, I’m going to be offering the Graciano on special this week. I’m also planning to open some 2015 Cabernet Pfeffer at the tasting room this weekend. We’ll see how it is tasting and gauge a release date! The tasting room will be outdoor seating only due to the recent order by the governor to close indoor service. We will be open this weekend at the tasting room and I personally will pour Friday and Saturday from 3-7pm. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited on the patio. Curbside pickup for online orders is also available and complimentary shipping for 3 or more bottles is another great option. Stay well and hope to see you soon,

Nicole

RIP. Never met him, but did speak with him on phone a few times in my search for Cab Pfeffer (he called it something else, but it was Cab Pfeffer). Seemed like a really nice guy.

It’s been a few months since my Dad, Ron Siletto, passed away and everyday I can’t pick up the phone to call him it sinks in more and I miss him dearly. I was really touched to see the posts from his friends in the wine community which he loved so much.

My Dad was a really good person who loved people…no matter what they looked like, where they came from, what they believed in…and he was making new friends right to his last days. He went out of his way to help people his whole life and he was a fantastic father by always being there for us but also by showing us how to treat people with respect, listen to others and be generous to the less fortunate. I’m so happy he lived such a full 86 years and incredibly proud of how he found a passion in growing wine grapes that kept him sharp right to his last days.

I’m also very proud of my big brother John who inherited all of my Dads greatest traits and is a world class farmer from his days of managing giant farms and nurseries in the berry business for 25 years. I hope you all get the chance to meet and work with John.

I raise my glass to you all for the positive impact you had on Dads life!

Joe Siletto

Thanks, Joe, for a really touching tribute to your Dad. Over the yrs, I’ve walked dozens of vnyds w/ growers I’ve come to respect. Your Dad was one of those I was hoping to meet. It sounds like John is somebody I’ll have to meet.
Tom

Joe, thank you for posting such a fine tribute to your Dad. Bryan Harrington has told me how much he misses talking with your Dad - sounds like they used to speak with each other by phone regularly, even after Bryan got out of the wine business.

I missed the original posting of this thread.

I am sorry to hear of the loss of such a pivotal figure in San Benito grape growing/winemaking.

I missed this thread the first time around, but had an email discussion with Bryan, Ken, Wes and others when he passed away. It was pretty clear that Bryan was quite fond of Ron. We made a lot of nice wines with grapes from his vineyards, I think my all time favorite is the 2018 Falanghina that was mentioned.

FWIW, I think we also got the Trousseau (aka) from Ron in 2012.

Sorry for your loss, Joe. But. it’s clear your dad left a nice legacy and is remembered fondly by many.

-Al