RIP Dick Cooper

I don’t recall seeing this mentioned here previously…apologies if someone posted it and I missed it.
A nice tribute to Dick Cooper, a very influential man in Sierra Foothills wine, and by all accounts a great guy.

Thanks for posting this, Nate. Dick Cooper was certainly one of the Sierra Foothills’ most legendary vintners, and his work with Barbera is a big reason why Amador County has produced most of California’s best Barberas.

But as I’m sure you know, few people on the board here pay any attention to wines from the Sierra Foothills, which is a shame. I’ll be glad to be heading up there for a day next week to visit with Bill Easton and Jonathan Lachs - first wine trip for me in 18 months!

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Please give my best to Jonathan. I have a Cedarville Viognier sitting out to open & every time I glance at it, I think of Suzanne. We lost her way to soon.
Tom

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Thanks for sharing that article, Nate. Very interesting article.
To flesh it out a bit… Montevina, whose winemaker was CaryGott, made some of the first great wines from the Shenandoah Vlly in '74 and afterwards. But Barbera was sorta 2’nd fiddle to his Zins. They didn’t get all that much notice, but I thought them more interesting than his Zins, which tended to be pretty alcoholic.
In the early '80’s, Cary had a falling out w/ WalterField (father of Vickie Gott, Cary’s wife… and the money behind Montevina) and left for CorbettCanyon. His asst, Jeff Meyers, took over. For a good many yrs, Jeff had the self-anointed title “Baron of Barbera”. Self-anointed titles don’t carry a lot of weight. I never thought he did anything special with their Barbera… it was rather ordinary. And it still isn’t under Trinchero/SutterHome/Terra d’Oro. But it was DickCooper & other winemakers who put Barbera on the map in the Shenandoah Vlly. Interesting there’s no mention of the “Baron”!!
And I’m not sure that Amador’s Barbera stands head&shoulders above other Barberas made in Calif… that Amador is the anointed place for Barberas in Calif… just the most promoted.
So… today’s wee BloodyPulpit.
Tom

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Sad news. I didn’t get to meet him on our visit to the winery, but may just have to pop a bottle of his Barbera in the next day or two. I didn’t realize he was instrumental in bringing it to the valley and worked closely with Scott Harvey.

Dick was the hardest working guy I’ve ever known. He was really a jack of all trades when I worked for him, and grapes were a small part of his portfolio. He divided about 80 hours a week between prunes, walnuts, grapes sheep, welding, body and fender repair, landscape design and fronting a country band. A rural Renaissance Man.

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