Wines & Vines

52 WINES&VINES Collector's Edition COLLECTOR'S EDITION form the university's collection of wine-related classes into a coherent Department of Viticul- ture and Enology, established formally in 2000. Fresno was the first CSU campus to combine research and academic offerings in both disci- plines and became a key driver of productivity and quality improvements in San Joaquin Val- ley vineyards and wineries, and those farther afield. In 1997, Fresno State became the first university in the nation with a bonded winery to market student-produced wines commer- cially. Its program graduates fill leading grape and wine industry positions worldwide. Fred and Eleanor McCrea Pioneers in DtC sales of a collectible wine The founders of Stony Hill Vineyard on Spring Mountain in Napa Valley set the model for a boutique estate winery, and hundreds of other winery owners followed them in the next six decades. Fred McCrea (1897-1977) and his wife, Eleanor McCrea (1907-1991), made one of the first truly collectible Chardonnays in California and developed a mailing-list ap- proach to sales that foreshadowed today's booming direct-to-consumer sector. The McCreas made the rugged hillside spot on Spring Mountain their home in 1943. They planted the first vines on the property in 1948 to Chardonnay, Riesling and a small amount of Pinot Blanc, followed a few years later by sections of Gewürztraminer and Sèmillon. More recent decades saw the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon and a small amount of Syrah. The first Stony Hill harvest came in 1952, and by 1954, every bottle was sold via mailing list, with a waiting list grow- ing by the day. Eleanor ran the business and Fred made the wine, developing Stony Hill's signature restrained style and minimalist approach. Upon Fred's death, his assistant and protégé, Mike Chelini, became the winemaker, and he has con- tinued through the 2018 harvest. Also in 2018, Stony Hill Vineyard became part of Long Meadow Ranch Wine Estates through an acquisition. The McCrea family will retain an equity interest in the combined entity. Norm McKibben Influential player in vineyard, winery development An engineer by profession, Norm McKibben retired to Walla Walla, Wash., in 1985 at the age of 50, when the valley had just three winer- ies. He had made his fortune in heavy construc- tion, but his focus in retirement has been wine. An initial investment in Hogue Cellars of Yakima led to him planting his own vineyard, Pepper Bridge, in 1991. Together with partners Gary Figgins (Leonetti Cellars), Marty Clubb (L'Ecole No. 41) and Bob Rupar, he purchased the ac- claimed Seven Hills Vineyard on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley AVA in 1994. The 20-acre vineyard expanded to more than 200 acres by 1998, and three years later the partner- ship acquired an adjacent 2,700 acres for SeV- ein, a project set to have 1,700 acres of vineyard. The management company, North Slope Man- agement LLC, drilled 1,000 feet into the terrain to secure water for the venture, which is now home to more than a dozen projects. Besides being a managing partner of North Slope and other ventures, McKibben is partner in Artifex Wine Co., a custom-crush facility that's given a start to Canvasback, Double Canyon and many other Washington wineries. A founder of VINEA, the Walla Walla Valley's sustainable viticulture organization, McKibben has been widely recog- nized for his service to the industry in both Washington and Oregon. Prohibition and Repeal Constitutional amendment closed the wine industry from 1920 to 1933 Put into effect in 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibited commer- cial production, importation, transportation and sale of wine and other alcoholic beverages except in certain limited circumstances. Grapegrowing and home winemaking were still allowed, and Wines & Vines got its start during this period as a publication called Cali- fornia Grape Grower that carried information on those topics. Organized crime networks sprang up to illegally provide alcohol to a public that re- mained thirsty. The violence that accompanied that black market trade, along with the lack of tax revenue from alcohol sales, helped spur the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibi- tion in 1933. With Repeal came the regulations that established the three-tier system for alco- hol sales that persists today. Prohibition caused the great majority of wineries to close and many vineyards to be uprooted or converted to lower-quality grapes. It changed the wine industry fundamentally and kept it from fully recovering for several more decades. Lucie Morton Viticultural consultant and researcher First recognized in East Coast viticultural circles for her translation from the French of Pierre Galet's book, "A Practical Ampelogra- phy: Grapevine Identification," Lucie Morton has helped countless potential growers and existing vineyard owners understand all as- pects of vineyard management, from site se- lection to grapevine maintenance. Morton attended the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Montpellier, France, and planted her first grapevines on three acres at the family farm in northern Virginia. In addi- tion to her consulting, Morton is an indepen- d e n t v i t i c u l t u r a l r e s e a r c h e r b a s e d i n Charlottesville, Va. Much of her research has focused on various diseases in grapevines. Her work on "black goo," which afflicts grapevine rootstocks and causes young vines to die, resulted in the fungus responsible for that

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