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16 W i n e s & V i n e s M A R C H 2 0 1 4 U kiah, Calif.—Known as "Mr. Mendocino" throughout the wine industry, vintner John Parducci, 96, died Feb. 4 at his home in Ukiah. He helped build his family's winery into one of the largest in Mendocino County and the North Coast and maintained a leading role in the wine industry throughout his career. Parducci's father Adolph Parducci purchased land in Mendocino County in the late 1920s. "To a young boy in a slow-moving truck, Mendocino County just seemed like a never-ending series of sloping hills and valleys," Parducci wrote in a May 1989 article in Wines & Vines. "To my father, however, it was an ideal region for growing grapes. The soil, climate and the lay of the land—they all reminded him of the Italian wine region of Tuscany, where his family lived." During Prohibition the family sold grapes to home winemakers and the occasional bootlegger. Parducci recounted in Wines & Vines that when he was a young boy and passersby would buy from the family during Prohibition, "I would sit on the steps to the wine cellar. Sometimes the people who came to buy my father's wines would give me a silver dollar. I collected about 150 silver dollars that way and put them in my own bank account. Those savings would help feed my family during the Depression years later." The family established Parducci Wine Cellars in 1933 after the repeal of Prohibition and sold wine made from their own vineyards. Parducci helped build the family business and was a pioneer of varietal labeling, offering one of the first Zinfandel-branded wines in 1944. To further expand the business, Parducci and his brother George sold a majority stake of their winery to a Southern California investment group in 1972 and embarked on a $1 million expansion. Four years later, the winery had doubled its sales and was producing around 100,000 cases with distribution in 33 states. While it helped the business grow, John Parducci ultimately regretted the buy-out; the company pushed him out in the early 1990s. Parducci and his wife Margaret then purchased McNab Ridge in Ukiah, where his grandson Richard Parducci remains the winemaker. Speaking to Wines & Vines for a June 1988 article, a 70-year-old Parducci discussed his plans for expansion and why he always preferred wines that didn't need much work in the cellar. "My basic philosophy is to do as little to the wine as possible," he said. "I resent a wine that I can tell started out as a beautiful thing and then was processed to death before all its remaining glory was covered up with oak flavors. That's not my idea of wine." In addition to his wife, son Bill and grandson Richard, he is sur- vived by a brother, five other grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. —Andrew Adams John Parducci Dies at Age 96 Winemaker credited with pioneering Mendocino County and varietal labeling John Parducci M A R C H N E W S www.alainfouquet.com alainfouquet@aol.com AlainFouquet_Jul06 5/17/06 11:01 AM Page 1 Tasting Room Focus Analysis, Best Practices & Trends: A newsletter for managers of tasting rooms, wine clubs and DTC wine sales. A monthly email newsletter with the latest: • Expert advice about tasting rooms, inside sales, wine clubs, leadership, online marketing and data metrics; • Direct-to-consumer (DtC) and wine flash sales analysis; • Featured tasting room suppliers. February features Seasonal Temps or Permanent Staff? The Top Wine Web Stories of 2013 February advertisers Glass Co. USA • Tasting Room for Lease SiGn UP ToDAy! Email trf@winesandvines.com or visit winesandvines.com/TRF