As MelKnox noted this morning, David Bruce recently died:
DavidBruceStory
DavidBruce/SFChron
I did not follow DavidBruce from the very start. Was not into wine yet. But closer to the very start than most folks still alive.
He made his first wine in 1964 from Concord grapes from the famed CaleraVnyd. As was his wont, he gave it a ton of new Fr.oak. Almost nobody was able to identify it as Labrusca. Unfortunately, I never was able to taste that wine. He was a highly-regarded dermatologist in Cupertino and continued his practice clear into the '90's.
But he planted his vnyd up on BearCreekRd high in the SCM. To Cab/PinotNoir/Chard/Riesling. And started making wines from them in the mid-'60's. I first discovered them up at Boulder's LiquorMart in the early '70's. The wines from the late '70's were still plentifal at LM in those days. As was his wont, they were loaded w/ a ton of new Fr.oak. His aim was to replicate Burgundy in the SCM and he felt he could best do this by using Fr. Burgundy oak.
He, along with Ridge, made the first White Zin in the mid '60's. He, along with Ridge, made the first Sweet LateHrvst Zin Essence in that same time frame ('68 I believe).
In the '69-'70-'71 vintages, he made a bunch late hrvst/highly-extracted Zins/PetiteSirahs/Carignanes/Grenaches from MaryCarter's OV vnyd down in SanBenitoCnty. They were monumental wines, with high-alcohols pushing 18%.
The SanDiego wine writer, JohnBrennan (who still owes me $15 for a pre-release copy of his last book of TN's), who published for 4-5 yrs a very comprehensive book of TN's on Calif wines. He predicted these wine would age out to 2040. Like most wine experts, he was dead wrong. By the early '90's, when I tasted thru them w/ David in SantaFe, most of them were already pretty shaky and turning into alcoholic stewed fruit messes.
David used to hold tastings every Sun afternoon, by reservation, in his home up above the wnry/vnyd on his Estate of his current releases. Blair & I attended one around the Fall of 1975. David could easily be provoked to dig down into his basement cellar & pull out a few of his library wines.
In the '73 vintage, he made a LateHrvst Chard from his Estate grapes that was around 16% alcohol. A first in Calif. Again, loaded w/ a ton of new Fr.oak. It was a monumental wine that went out almost 20 yrs.
His Estate WhiteRiesling was absolutely amazing. Again, an alcohol well North of 15%. And a ton of new Fr.oak. Riesling lovers went apoplectic over this bizarre rendition of Riesling and heaped it with scorn...as Riesling lovers are wont to do if it doesn't taste German. They were idiots. The wines went out easily 20 yrs and evolved into a very accurate expression of old German Auslese, with greatly diminished oak.
His Estate Cabs were likewise amazing...and with...yep...you guessed it...a ton of new Fr.oak. Very structured, I thought they rivaled the MtEden and Ridge MB Cabs.
In '77, he made his first GWT from Mendocino grapes. No oak to speak of, totally dry, fairly ripe, it was one of the best Calif GWTs I recall from that era and rivaled those VendageTardives of Alsace. This was afore Zind-Humbrecht. Subsequent vintages he hit it with...yep...a ton of new Fr.oak. They, too, aged into amazing wines.
David continued to make strong wines well into the early 2000's. Then, as he started buying more grapes, and expanding production, the quality started to slip. They started showing up in BevMore & TraderJoe's. At much cheaper prices.
At some point, David & his wife divorced. A few yrs later, he remarried to a lady who had a pair of assets to which he was attracted. She was far more interested in her poodles than the wnry...or David. My impression was that she pretty much raped the assets of the wnry and ran it into the ground. Around this time, David developed Alzeheimer's and was pretty much powerless to do anything against this powerful bulldozer of a wife.
I last saw David some 5-6-7 yrs ago when I by happenchance stopped by the wnry. They were closed, but doing a tasting of his wines w/ his growers of PasoRobles PetiteSirahs. He was, of course, delighted that I showed up and urged me to join them. It was clear that the Alzeheimer's was compromising his grasp of reality. The wife sashayed into the tasting with her two assets and I was not the least bit impressed.
I'm not sure if Dimitri is still the winemaker there. Their WebSite no longer exists. But Dimitri was very good and struggling to hold this legendary wnry together.
Anyway, I was greatly saddened to hear today about David's
death. He was a legend in his day. We lost a real pioneer & I lost a very dear friend.
Tom