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Miljenko "Mike" Grgich
Winemaker - Grgich Hills Cellars
Mike Grgich can rightfully be considered the dean of California white wine – no other winemaker has had such an impact nor made such consistently renowned wine over the decades. Having previously worked at Beaulieu Vineyard and Robert Mondavi, Mike became limited partner and head winemaker at Chateau Montelena, where he crafted the 1973 Chardonnay that won the celebrated Paris Tasting of 1976. Along with the Stag’s Leap Cabernet that won the red tasting, this result single-handedly elevated Napa Valley to world-class status in the eyes of the wine community. It also enabled Mike to co-found Grgich Hills Cellar, where the initial Chardonnay release was named best in the world out of 221 top contenders. Now, on the 30th anniversary of the Paris Tasting, Mike and Grgich Hills continue to produce ageworthy wines – both white and red – of exceptional elegance, balance, and finesse.
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Miljenko "Mike" Grgich is a legend in the Napa Valley. Over the past 40 years, Mike's wines, crafted in the classic Old World tradition, have won a stream of California and international prizes, establishing Grgich Hills Cellar as one of the premier wineries in the U.S. and the world. Passionate and relentless in his quest for quality, Mike has also helped pioneer a number of significant breakthroughs in California winemaking techniques, including the use of cold sterilization and malolactic fermentation and the use of oak barrels for proper aging.
Mike's most celebrated achievement came in 1976 when a Chardonnay he crafted for Chateau Montelena beat the very best wines in France in a now famous blind tasting in Paris. This event that stunned the wine world catapulted the Napa Valley into the front ranks of the leading wine-producing regions of the world. "For years, everybody in the world believed that only French soils could produce great wines," Mike explains. "We shattered that myth. That was probably the most significant result of the Paris tasting. Our victory pumped new energy into the California wine industry, particularly in the Napa Valley, and it energized winemakers in many other parts of the word, such as Argentina and Chile. They realized that if we could do it, so could they."
Mike's success in America grew naturally from his family roots deep in the soil of his native Croatia. Miljenko Grgich was born April 1, 1923, in the village of Desne on Croatia's Dalmatian coast. The family owned a small winery and vineyard, and every year his father made wine, as did his grandfather and great-grandfather before him. As a toddler, and one of 11 children, Miljenko was weaned from his mother to a 50-50 mixture of water and red wine and at the tender age of 3 he began stomping grapes. Later he went to business college and then, in 1949, he went to the University of Zagreb, where he studied chemistry, enology, microbiology, soil biology, meteorology, irrigation, plants, fruit and grapes, all in preparation for becoming a winemaker.
Mike was miserable, though, under communist rule in Yugoslavia. So, in 1954 in search of freedom, he fled to West Germany and then made his way to Canada. But his dream destination was always America. A professor in Zagreb had told him that California was paradise, and he had long been inspired by stories of self-made Americans like Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller. In 1958, Mike finally made it: with one small suitcase he arrived in the Napa Valley. Immediately he went to work for Lee Stewart, founder of Souverain Winery and an early Napa Valley pioneer. After one harvest, Mike moved to Christian brothers and then on to Beaulieu Vineyard where he spent nine years working alongside the legendary Russian winemaker André Tchelistcheff. In 1968, eager for more responsibility, Mike became chief enologist at the most innovative winery at the time, the Robert Mondavi Winery.
"In 1969, I made my first Cabernet for Robert Mondavi," Mike recalls. "I introduced malolactic fermentation and other methods we had been developing at Beaulieu. Then, in an important blind tasting, fifteen California winemakers proclaimed ours to be the best Cabernet in all of California."
In 1972, Mike joined Chateau Montelena as winemaker and limited partner. Four years later the success of his Chardonnay at the Paris tasting led to fulfilling his life long dream of owning his own winery. In 1977, joining forces with Austin Hills of the Hills Bros Coffee family, Mike created Grgich Hills Cellar, located in Rutherford, the heart of the Napa Valley. The following year, Mike scored another huge victory in "The Great Chicago Showdown." There, 221 Chardonnays were brought together for a historic first, the largest blind tasting ever held of wines made from a single varietal. And Mike's Grgich Hills 1977 Chardonnay emerged triumphant with a first place ribbon. Mike later became affectionately known as the "King of Chardonnay."
Mike's influence also continues to spread. In 1996, he returned to his native Croatia and opened a new winery, Grgich Vina, to make fine wines and to bring Croatia the latest in modern winemaking techniques. In one of his proudest accomplishments, in 2002 Mike played an instrumental role along with U.C. Davis Professor Carole Meredith in tracing the mysterious roots of California Zinfandel back to a surprising source: his native Croatia. Today, Grgich Hills owns 365 acres of vineyards throughout the Napa Valley and produces 80,000 cases of award-winning estate grown wines. Mike's continued commitment to his wine and his vineyards has led to all five vineyards being farmed organically. Additionally over 100 acres are being farmed bio-dynamically.
Mike continues to oversee Grgich Hills Cellar and to plan for its future. While some Napa Valley wineries look to expand, Mike and his daughter, Violet, and his nephew Ivo Jeramaz prefer to stay small and to focus on improving the quality of their vineyards and wines, always according to Mike's unique artistic and intuitive touch. As Mike explains, "There is no sure-proof scientific formula for making great wines. Over the years I have learned to communicate with the wines and how to nurture them. I realized that you don't make wine only with your head and your senses. You make wine with your heart. You have to pour your heart and your love into the wine. To me, wines are like my children. You have to love them and guide them like children, and you have to transmit to them the richness of your spirit."
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