GTS Vineyards

Baseball fans will need no introduction, but for non-followers of America’s pastime, it’s simple: Seaver is one of the greatest pitchers in the sport’s history. During his 20 years on the mound, the 12-time All Star racked up 311 wins (18th all time), 3,640 strikeouts (sixth all time) and posted a career 2.86 earned run average. He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1967. He won three Cy Young awards (1969, 1973 and 1975) and a World Series championship (1969). In 1992, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the highest percentage ever (98.8 percent). No matter what happens to professional baseball, the spectacular achievements of “The Franchise” are cemented in the annals of history.

But despite years of success in his beloved industry, Seaver took an unexpected path when his baseball career was over. Instead of settling in as the manager or pitching coach of a big league team, he moved to Calistoga with his wife, Nancy, and started GTS Vineyards—a project that had been brewing in his brain for many years.

Although he played most of his career in New York and Cincinnati, Seaver is a purebred Californian—born and raised in Fresno, he was a star at USC until the New York Mets swept him up in a three-team lottery—so an eventual return to the Golden State seemed destined. “We looked for property in Oregon and Southern Washington, too,” says Seaver. “I really didn’t want to come to Napa Valley because of my preconceived notion that the traffic would be horrible. I thought it was a great place to go on vacation, but it wasn’t number one on my list.”

But on a scouting trip to Diamond Mountain in 1999, Seaver stumbled upon the land that would become his home and vineyard. He climbed an adjacent tree for a better look and saw nothing but overgrown bramble and foliage. “When I came through the gate, there was nothing. There wasn’t one improvement [to the property]—no water, no electricity, no road, no path…nothing.” But Seaver could see the land’s potential, especially when he further investigated its unique geography. “I had a compass, and I said, ‘This is a south-facing slope on Diamond Mountain. I just hit a grand slam home run!’ It’s like that old saying, ‘I’d rather be lucky than good,’ and that’s kind of what happened.”

Build the team

Seaver has a proclivity for Zinfandel, and, when his vineyards were planted in 2001, his plan was to grow grapes to make his favorite varietal. But his vineyard manager Jim Barbour—quickly corrected him. “I do Cab because that’s what they told me to do,” he laughs. “I happen to love Zinfandel, and they said, ‘Well, you don’t plant Zinfandel on a south-facing slope on Diamond Mountain. You can go buy all the Zinfandel you want. But when you’re on the south-facing slope of Diamond Mountain, you [plant] Cabernet.’”

Thomas Brown entered the picture when Seaver drank a particularly delicious bottle of Zinfandel during a birthday dinner. “I looked on the back and it said, ‘Outpost, Thomas Brown, winemaker.’ I’d never heard of him,” remembers Seaver. “But later I was talking to Jim about looking for a winemaker. He said, ‘What about Thomas Brown?’ I said, ‘Thomas Brown? I just had a bottle of his Zin. It was fabulous.’ So we met, and that was it.”

With Brown and Barbour on board and the optimal conditions of Seaver’s land in place, GTS Vineyards was poised to start the arduous journey from planting to bottling. Jumping headlong into unfamiliar business territory may seem petrifying to some, but for the 65-year-old Seaver, it was another chance to channel his remarkable drive and determination. “I looked at Thomas and said, ‘I have one charge for you. Make the best wine you can possibly make.’ That’s the theory of pitching, too. Make the best pitch you can, and pitch the best game you can. You don’t pitch a no-hitter every time you go to the mound. If your objective is to make a 100- or 90-point wine every time, you’re missing the boat. I told Thomas, ‘Just make it the best it can be.’”

And so he did. Brown took Seaver’s south-facing grapes to his crush facility, Outpost, and turned them into a Cabernet Sauvignon that wears its Diamond Mountain origin on its sleeve (dusty tannins, soil-driven mountain elements like creosote and wet earth). The 2006 GTS Cabernet has aromas of menthol, sweet tobacco and blackberries, with an intense, dark fruit palate; the similar-yet-more-classically styled Nancy’s Fancy Cabernet (named after Seaver’s wife) is more approachable, with a fruity nose, light aftertaste (with minty overtones) and a juicy core.

No “I” in “team”

Even though Seaver kept his famous name off the bottle, opting to use his initials (George Thomas Seaver) instead, it’s hard to think initial consumer expectations for GTS Vineyards wouldn’t be lower than usual, simply because of the proprietor’s former profession. But that thought barely crossed Seaver’s mind…mostly because he knew what he had. “I absolutely want the wine to speak for itself,” he says. “A lot of people told me to put my name on it, and I said no. It’s just my philosophical approach to say no. I’ve had a lot of ego satisfaction in my life, but this stands on its own merit.

“A lot of the notes from people are totally surprised,” he continues. “They just can’t believe it. I just tell them the wine is coming from an individual who’s found a spectacular piece of property and brought the right players together. I have a great team, and I take my hat off to them.”

Today, Seaver finds peace in his vineyards, away from the hustle and flow of airports, buses and high-pressure, high-profile situations. “I spent 20 years on airplanes, and look at where I work now,” Seaver says, sweeping his hand to display his sprawling property. “I get my dogs and say, ‘Come on boys, let’s go to work.’ The Labradors—Bandy, Major and recent addition Brix—follow Seaver as he weaves between rows of grapevines, cutting a scraggly branch and making general adjustments. It’s clear that this is his sanctuary, a place where he can focus the energy and resolve that made him one of the best baseball players of all time into a new passion.  

Graton Ridge Cellars

Imagine you’re a second-generation farmer: You’re working the same piece of property your father before you did; your children and grandchildren share your appreciation of the land and its bounty. It’s a legacy that’s not so much planned as it is assumed.

Now imagine the crop your father spent his years nurturing becomes financially infeasible. Do you sell the land and retire into town, or do you take a long look around and find a new path in the soil—one that’s rife with new challenges and a steep learning curve, but that offers the potential for tremendous satisfaction and reward? If you’re the Paul family of Sebastopol, it’s not a hard choice.

“My sister and I grew up here,” says Sue Bonzell, general manager/head of marketing/general stuff-doer at Graton Ridge Cellars, which is owned by her parents, Art and Barbara Paul. “Back then, this was all apples—picking apples, packing apples. This [the tasting room] was the apple packing shed, and my dad’s parents started a fruit stand just out front.”

Art and Barbara Paul were already winemaking hobbyists when they decided to go all in—replacing the family apple orchards, packing business and fruit stand with winegrapes. “It was a financial decision because of the apple industry and what was happening with it,” explains the petite, dark haired Barbara.

“When we started putting the grapes in 10 years ago, it was as an amateur winemaking operation,” clarifies Art, a soft-spoken, salt-of-the-earth type who tends the vines and helps in the cellar. “It wasn’t to do what we eventually did. So we put in a little Pinot Noir, a little Chardonnay and a little Sauvignon Blanc and played with those for a few years.”

Barbara finishes the tale: “In about 2003, we decided, since the old packing barn was sitting here idle, we might as well go commercial.

“When you do hobby wines, it’s only for your consumption,” she continues. “You can’t sell it. Pretty soon, you have barrels in your garage, barrels in your shed, and here and there… [laughs]. Eventually you start thinking about getting a license and going commercial. So that’s what we did.”

A Legg up

Prior to the transition, Art had been handling winemaking duties, but, says Barbara, “When we decided to switch over—after we invested in all of this—Art decided he didn’t want to be the main winemaker.”

“We couldn’t afford to make any mistakes,” Art explains.

Enter Nick Legg, a local winemaker with more than 20 years’ experience, who was “a friend of a friend,” says Bonzell. “I’d met him several times and knew he was a winemaker. I asked if he’d come talk to my parents about what we were trying to do here.”

“Nick was just a fit,” says Barbara. “He’s really laid back, like us, and he fit with our family. It was a natural.”

Talk about successful collaboration: In the three years since its first releases, Graton Ridge Cellars wines have consistently earned high ratings and become dependable award contenders. Most recently, the 2007 Estate Pinot Noir won the Sweepstakes (Best Red Wine) at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, with the 2006 and 2007 Russian River Pinots both scoring golds. (“That was a great win,” smiles Barbara. “Out of 3,261 red wines—but who’s counting?—we were judged the best.”)

“We can’t pour the Sweepstakes winner, because we have to save what’s left for our wine club and for availability after the Chronicle announces winners in February,” says Barbara as we begin tasting. “But I can tell you it has a strawberry nose, plum/prune flavors and it’s very fruity and light.” (Editor’s note: Graton Ridge is now pouring its 2007 Estate Pinot Noir.)

“When you start with the best grapes in the world and a good winemaker, it all follows,” adds Art. “Look at [nearby wineries like] Merry Edwards, Dutton-Goldfield—it’s all in the grapes; it’s right here.”

As consolation for the Pinot, we make a nice dent in a 2007 Chardonnay (clean, light oak with a slight buttery finish) and a smooth, spicy, berry-licious 2007 Zinfandel sourced from the Baciagalupi family’s 85-year-old vines (“Zin doesn’t grow well here; it’s too cold in our area,” says Barbara. “But this is still coming from the Russian River appellation, out on Westside Road.”). Both are award winners, and it’s easy to see why.

“Nick makes easy-drinkin’ wine,” laughs Bonzell.

Room for dessert

In addition to its catalog of traditional varietals, Graton Ridge also produces two distinct dessert wines. The first, called A+, is made from organic Gravenstein apples. A barrel sample of the 2008 (scheduled for bottling in the following weeks) revealed a crisp, sweet, luscious apple nose; it was heavy on the tongue with intense apple essence, sweet but not syrupy.

“This was a fluke,” says Barbara. “Sue’s son, Kyle, was here while we were doing our yearly cider press. He said, ‘Why don’t you make apple wine?’ We talked to Nick, who began working with it in the barrel and decided it would make a good dessert wine.

“It’s great over vanilla ice cream, or you can marinate fruit in it,” she continues. “I have fun cooking with it.”

The second fortified offering is the newly released Penninsular, made from Zinfandel grapes. “My great-grandfather was a stowaway on a boat similar to this, called a Penninsular,” Bonzell says, showing me the label. “He came from the Azore Islands to San Francisco.”

“If you didn’t make this type of wine before 2005, you can’t call it Port—only the Portuguese can,” says Barbara, “so we call it a dessert wine. But we put the name of the ship on it as a tribute to my grandpa.”

Laughing, she points out: “We named it after a Portuguese ship.”

Being neighborly

Graton Ridge Cellars participates in annual Wine Road events, like Barrel Tasting Weekend and Winter Wineland, but also hosts a few special events of its own.

“We have a Valentine’s Day chocolate and cheese event, which has been really popular, and our big event is Hot Graton Nights in the summertime. That’s a classic car show and barbecue,” says Bonzell. “We have live music, and it’s really a lot of fun. That’s a ticketed event, but you don’t have to be a wine club member to come.

“The only two wine club-exclusive events are an appreciation party and our apple juicing party. During Gravenstein apple season, we bring out the old juicing machine. Everyone gets sticky with the picking and crushing, and the kids are in on it. Then we have a big barbecue. From that juicing, we make the apple wine.”

Family matters

If I had to choose one word to describe Graton Ridge Cellars, it would be “family.” Two words: “extended family.” Three: “We’re all family.” Sense a theme?

Art, Barbara, Sue and her children all live on the property (Sue’s sister, a writer, lives out of state but helps with writing copy for promotional material as needed). “Even the grandkids help out,” says Barbara. “They come and put labels on bags, help with harvest—they like to get all purple. [laughs]”

Greg Paulsen, who runs the tasting room two days per week, is considered (like Nick Legg) to be an honorary Paul. Sue and Barbara are always on-hand to help out, and Art and Barbara work the tasting room on Sundays. So whenever someone stops by, says Bonzell, “You’re going to meet a family member.”

Dark Horse Wine

Available at Locals Tasting Room
Geyserville Ave. & Hwy. 128, Geyserville, Calif. 95441
(707) 857-4900 • www.tastelocalwines.com

Not-so-long shot

An impressive field

In the money