Tom: Remember how hot Ventana was when they opened?? Ken Wright was the winemaker…I wonder why he moved to Oregon.
Doug planted French oak trees for his great grand children. The trees must be 40 years old now. 80 more and they can make some barrels. I wanted to buy a vintage of his Syrah for a private label but nobody had any money. Unfortunately Doug ran out of money and a man named Pura owns it, I believe.
Drew: aren’t coffee notes signs of reduction?? I think of white wines as having grapefruit rind notes. Just found 3 SLH syrahs in the cellar, will have to try one.
At one time, Ventana used to be a pretty hot label in its prime. Doug made the wines in that beautiful old restaurant that was once occupied
by MontereyPenninsula, just below the Monterey airport. After he sold the Ventana label, he continued to make a small amount of wine
under the Meador Family Vnyds label. The Syrah & Grenache wines were outstanding/classic cold-climate wines. But you hardly see the
Ventana label around any more, though it’s still in business. Probably most of it winds up in made-up labels at TotalWines & More (always
wondered more what??)
Doug never got the recognition for his viticulture work he deserved. Calif owes the success of the SauvBlanc Musque clone to Doug.
Doug had some health issues and moved back to eastern Missouri to live with one of his sons & was out of the business.
I talked to him about 4-5 yrs ago & he was doing fine and enjoyed visiting w/ me for about 30 mins or so.
Us old folks like to reminisce w/ other old folks!! You’ll learn that one day, Mel!!
Tom
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You’ll learn that one day, Mel!!