Keeping The Dream Alive

David Stare was an MIT grad working for the B&O Railroad when he decided to become a vintner.

- James Laube

His first choice: the Loire Valley, home to some of France’s greatest Sauvignon Blancs. Then he learned of opportunities in northern Sonoma, where a dormant wine industry was reemerging. He settled in Dry Creek Valley, determined to make Sauvignon Blanc.

This was the 1960s, when the variety was largely unknown. But it had one advocate: Robert Mondavi, who saw it as an alternative to Chardonnay and rechristened it Fumé Blanc. It clicked.

In 1972, Stare’s Dry Creek Vineyards became the first new winery in Dry Creek since Prohibition. Most of the vines were long gone, replaced by prune orchards, so Stare reversed the trend, pulling the orchards and planting vineyards. Along with Sauvignon, he pursued the era’s popular grapes, including another Loire star, Chenin Blanc.