July 25, 2002

A Salute to Pioneers who gave Cachet to American Chardonnay
by L. Pierce Carson - On the Lees

The invitation indicated friends would gather to celebrate a half century of winemaking.

Could it be that one of our so-called latter-day wine operations has been around for 50 years? That's what immediately popped into mind as I prepared to respond to the invitation of Peter and Willinda McCrea for a tasting of vintage wines and a dinner at their Napa Valley home.

Peter is the son of Fred and Eleanor McCrea, wine country pioneers who turned a weekend getaway into one of the valley's legendary winemaking operations, Stony Hill Vineyard.

A successful advertising executive in San Francisco, Fred McCrea purchased 38 hillside acres for $7,500 on the northern face of Spring Mountain in 1943. Fred and Eleanor initially thought of their spartan Napa Valley digs as a weekend retreat.

But it didn't take them long to seriously consider becoming farmers, slowly clearing and planting the rocky slopes to grapevines just after the end of WWII. For a time, the McCreas worked and lived on their Stony Hill without benefit of electricity or even a phone. In fact, for daily exercise Eleanor used to walk two miles down to the highway and back to pick up the mail, children in tow.

The McCreas were indeed wine pioneers. They didn't get a whole lot of support for their grape of choice, chardonnay, and had few in the business to talk with about the care and planting of hillside fruit.

Nevertheless, they persisted, with Fred finally making his own wine from the crush of 1951 in the compact stone cellar he'd constructed on the property. That wine never saw light of day. The first commercial vintage at Stony Hill came in 1952 and word quickly got around that Fred and Eleanor were indeed on to something up there on Spring Mountain.

What the McCreas, and soon the world, would discover was the ability of Stony Hill dry-farmed chardonnays to age beautifully, to display the tart green apple attraction of a chardonnay that's not allowed to undergo a second (or malolactic) fermentation.

The McCreas added riesling, gewurztraminer and semillon vines to the planting mix, but it was the steely, bright fruit of the chardonnay wines that gained the attention of wine lovers far and wide.

Before long, all 2,500 -- maybe 3,000 in a good year -- cases of chardonnay were subscribed, with the McCreas even setting up a waiting list of those anxious for an annual allocation of a case or two. (Thanks to replanting, the winery produces 4,000 cases today.)

Even today most of the wine is still sold via a mailing list.

A wonderful celebration

A week ago, Peter and Willinda McCrea invited those who were in business prior to 1970, those who'd worked at Stony Hill and several media representatives to join them for a special tasting of some of the older wines.

The oldest wine came from the 1973 harvest, a rich wine with long finish that still had plenty of lemony fruit and a touch of honey. This particular wine was produced from vineyards planted in 1948.

Next was 1978, with a touch of nuttiness mixing with lemon and honey. The 1983 chardonnay was incredible, delicate, with a wonderfully creamy, long finish. The driest of all was the vibrant 1991, which showed off pretty nectarine and hazelnut qualities.

Also poured were three vintages ('89, '90 and '91) of Stony Hill riesling (the first had a typical petrol nose and delicious varietal flavors), and three vintages ('80, '91 and '98) of semillon de soleil (the oldest wine proved a delightful dessert offering).

Talking about harvests and winemaking practices he shared with Fred was Mike Chelini, who's been making wine at Stony Hill for a quarter century.

Some of the cellar alumni in attendance were Bob Travers, Bruce Streblow, John Scharffenberger, Mark Oberschulte, John Kongsgaard, Ric Forman, and Greg Bissonette.

Over dinner, vintner friends traded stores about Fred McCrea's dedication to winemaking and his reputation for being quite frugal.

"When Fred and Eleanor launched their winemaking (business), there were no boutique wineries (in Napa Valley) at that time," noted Robin Lail, daughter of John Daniel, the man who put Inglenook on the map. "The McCreas paved the way for all of us.

"And there's a wonderful sense of family even today with this firm. When you think about wine (from the perspective of a vast majority of those in business in Napa today) you think about family and friendship."

Bob Travers recalled the time that Fred McCrea borrowed a filter from Joe Heitz. "I didn't know that I was part of the agreement (for the loan of equipment)," Travers added. "Every day Fred got to use the filter, Joe got to have me work at his winery."

Bruce Streblow recalled how Fred would pore over his books at the end of the work day, but with only a single light bulb burning.

Invited to the McCrea home for dinner soon after she and her husband settled here, Jamie Davies said she did not subscribe to Fred McCrea's idea of gin and tonic as ideal aperitif. "Oh, you're one of those who want chardonnay before dinner," McCrea said of his dinner guest

"This was a second home to the Heitz kids," said Kathleen Heitz, daughter of vintner Joe Heitz. "From a child's perspective, I did think the gin flowed rather freely (at the McCrea home)."

John Kongsgaard recalls the first time he gave serious thought to becoming a winemaker. "I saw Fred with his elbow on the mantle, drinking a gin and tonic, listening to 'Parsifal.' I wanted this existence."

Bob Mondavi allowed as how the McCreas followed their dream and that they helped create the cachet for Napa Valley wine. (The McCreas) never took the easy way...they produced quality wine that all of us wanted."

Although the folks at UC Davis discouraged the planting of chardonnay in the upper reaches of the Napa Valley, Fred and Eleanor McCrea went ahead with their plans. They were aware of the successes of Burgundy immigrant Paul Masson --who first planted chardonnay vines in the Santa Cruz mountains just prior to 1900 -- and that Wente planted cuttings from Montpellier in Livermore in the early part of the 20th century.

It was the Wente clone that would be eventually planted throughout northern California. Wente claims to have been the first winery to release a varietally labeled chardonnay, from the 1936 harvest. Stony Hill took budwood from Wente when it developed its vineyards on Spring Mountain in 1948. Then Stony Hill vines became the source of budwood for others, such as Louis Martini vineyard along Stanly Lane in Carneros.

While chardonnay was recognized as a good quality grape variety from both Masson and Wente vineyards, those two producers did not make its reputation.

The estate that secured the renown of chardonnay was Stony Hill, which many regarded for a long time as the greatest white wine of America.

Now, half a century later, Stony Hill is still making great wine, with the founder's namesake and grandson serving on the board of directors.

"I'm here to assure you there'll be a 100th anniversary celebration," third generation vintner Fred McCrea promised all hands the other evening.