Grace Family Vineyard

After leaving the US Marine Corps in 1964, Dick Grace became a stockbroker in San Francisco while he and his wife, Ann, raised Kirk, Mark and Kim in the suburban comfort of Orinda. By the mid-seventies, when the children were teenagers, the idea of moving to the country was holding some allure, and a rundown Victorian that was just out of their price range became both their challenge and their haven. In today’s world full of boutique wineries it is hard to believe that the Napa Valley of 1976 really ever existed. At the time, it was just another agricultural region where prunes and walnuts were as viable a crop as grapes, and pig farms dotted the landscape.

Planted with cuttings from the famous Bosché vineyard not far away, Grace Family vineyards started out as a family hobby. The first harvest was picked by family and friends in 1978 and taken to nearby Caymus Winery in the back of a station wagon. Charlie Wagner, the late Caymus patriarch, tasted a bunch of those first 1978 grapes and exclaimed, “You know, Dick, this is damned fine fruit!” And so one of the Napa Valley’s first vineyard designated wines came to be produced.

Grace Family Vineyards was on its way.

With interest in California wines blossoming, Grace Family Vineyards quickly became the first “cult” wine, which was just as much a surprise to Dick and Ann as to anyone else. That said, let’s not forget that Dick’s military experience, enhanced by a perfectionist attitude, ensured that no corners were cut. Even if this was to be just a hobby, it had to be done right.

It was most fortuitous and serendipitous that the family had settled upon a micro-climate and soil eminently suitable to making stellar Cabernet.

The Graces were among the first in Napa to implement high-density vine planting and organic farm management.

After carefully moving the mature olive trees on the front acre of the property, they put in more than 1,140 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché clone vines, twice as many per acre as was then customary. In 1978, they harvested their first commercial crop, which amounted to a paltry 49 cases of wine. One case was dropped and broken, reducing the total number of cases to 48. In 1987, they brought the winemaking in-house, and in 1985 their son Kirk oversaw the planting of an additional acre. With phylloxera and oak root fungus compromising their acreage of vines, a replanting was undertaken in 1994, this time with a whopping 3,465 vines to the acre. A third contiguous acre owned by the Perry family planted with the same Bosché clone Cabernet was added in 2000, bringing the total to a still-tiny 3.5 acres of vines, which yields roughly 500 cases of wine annually.

Kirk Grace, Dick and Ann's eldest son, now manages the vineyard. Growing up in the Napa Valley, Kirk was always interested in agriculture, particularly organic and other sustainable practices. Kirk uses time-honored organic viticulture – including biodynamics – to bring out the best in the grapes that grow on his family's vineyard. Biodynamics, a philosophy of cultivation that takes into account certain celestial patterns as well as other organic practices, gives Kirk a greater connection to the land. It's clear, from the neat rows of beautifully manicured vines to the quality of the wine in every bottle of Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet, that Kirk has a clear understanding of the essence of grape growing and the unique terroir in his charge.

At its best, wine is an expression of place, and the little slice of land on which Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is grown is certainly exceptional, even for the Napa Valley. But wine is also a reflection of the people who make it, and that starts with the farming and stewardship of the land. Radically dense spacing makes the vines work harder to do the one thing on their minds—make fruit—and that leads to a wine that is more keenly in tune with the land. Farming the estate naturally is good for the people living and working there, of course, but it also means that close attention must be paid to the vines at all times so that any potential problems can be nipped in the bud. The more these vines are in balance, the better the fruit, and the better the fruit, the easier it is to make great wine. Grace Family Vineyards’ wines have certain signature characteristics: they’re elegant, well-balanced, low in alcohol but high in flavor and long-lived.

The Grace Family's philosophy of living transcends fine wine as a beverage, making it also a catalyst for change. In addition to producing fine wine, Grace Family Vineyards fuels the fires that run the Grace Family Foundation, which provides much needed services to the underserved of our world. These services range from helping the homeless in San Francisco to constructing health clinics in Tibet and Nepal. The winery motto is: Wine as a catalyst towards healing our planet.

Dick Grace, founder and proprietor of Grace Family Vineyards, has named Helen Keplinger as the winery’s new winemaker. Keplinger joins the family-owned winery, considered by many to be California’s first “cult” winery, to carry on Grace’s vision for producing world-class wines combining quality, craft and appreciation for the land.

“We were determined to find a winemaker who was well-traveled, widely experienced and an excellent fit for the winery,” explains Grace. “Helen is extremely talented and brings a new perspective that will steer the winery into the future, while remaining a careful steward of its heritage.”

“For me, every detail matters,” Keplinger comments. “I’m looking forward to insuring that the voice of this historic and unique estate is expressed as purely as possible in the wines.”

 

Named “Winemaker of the Year” by Food & Wine Magazine in 2012, Keplinger is widely considered one of California’s rising stars and recognized as one of very few American winemakers who have also worked extensively in Europe. Known for making extraordinary wines in unassuming regions, she spent three years in the Priorat region of Spain at Cellers Melis, returning to California to launch her own label, Keplinger Wines. In the Napa Valley her experience includes work for Bryant Family Vineyard, Kenzo Estate, Arrow & Branch, Sarocka and Scully. With a perspective shaped by her travels, Keplinger’s philosophy is making classically structured wines that reflect their origins. She holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Enology from the University of California, Davis and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Smith College.

Keplinger will direct the production of three wines, the Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, from the estate vineyard surrounding the winery in St. Helena, and Blank Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Grace Family clone grown by the Blank family in Rutherford. She will also steward the winemaking for Lynn and Kirk Grace’s project, Wise Acre Vineyard, now in its fourth vintage at Grace Family Vineyards, and collaborate with vineyard manager Kirk Grace in the ongoing organic viticultural protocols for the three acres of estate vineyard that are planted entirely to the Bosché clone of Cabernet Sauvignon.

About Grace Family Vineyards

Grace Family Vineyards was founded in 1976 when Dick and Ann Grace purchased the St. Helena property and its 1881 Victorian home, relocating with their three children to Napa Valley. That same year, they carefully moved the olive trees on the front acre, replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché clone, and became one of the first in the valley to implement high density vine planting and organic farm management.

In 1978, the inaugural harvest was picked by family and friends, and the debut vintage at $25/bottle was, at that time, the most expensive wine from the Napa Valley, second-most in all of California.The estate is known as one of Napa Valley’s most iconic and prestigious properties, with its beautifully restored Victorian home, winery, organic gardens, sculptures and art from the family’s frequent travels to China and Tibet. Dick and Ann Grace are internationally respected as humanitarians and philanthropists; they created the Grace Family Foundation which provides education, medical care and hope to children around the world. The winery is open to members of its mailing list only, and the Grace family frequently opens their doors for charitable events.