Amazing what you can find out out there on the InterNet. Some of it even true. Like windmills cause cancer.
I was trying to remember what wnry prominently featured a LadyBug on its label (don't ask why). The name DennisPatton
popped into my mind. And a Google search told me the rest of the story.
Dennis started his winemaking career whilst living on the EaglePoint Ranch. I'm guessing this was before CaseyHartlip
was there. He started out at farming vegetables, organically, on land leased from the Scharffenbergers. He was making some
3,000 gal/yr of bootleg wine that he was selling to friends (musta had a lot of friends!!).
So he decided to go legal and started HiddenCllrs, mostly from organic grapes, that featured the LadyBug on the label
to promote the organic origins, in 1981. I thought the wines were some of the best wines coming out of MendoCnty at the time,
though not as good as MilanoCllrs and Edmeades. He sold the wnry to Parducci in 1999.
He then went on to found, with his wife Andrea, DNA Cllrs, that focuses on making wines for private labels. If you look at the
WebSite, they highlight all the private labels they make for TraderJoe's. I don't think FredFranzia is so open about being
a major supplier to TJ's. Dennis, along w/ PaulDolan, was one of the founders of the Coro Mendocino effort.
I met Dennis several times at ZAP and liked the guy quite a lot. Interesting to stumble upon this bit of history.
Tom
http://www.mendowine.com/media/mendocino-wine-column.php?column=20
http://www.dnavineyards.com/