A Toast to Fathers of the Wine World

For many of the world’s greatest vintners, the story of wine is a story of family. This Father’s Day, we’re toasting to fathers around the globe whose hard work and perseverance have paved the way for generations to come. In honor of the holiday, we’ve asked the children of some of the wine industry’s most visionary leaders to share a few words on what inspires them about their fathers. From the Sonoma Coast to Chablis, Ribera del Duero to the Rhône Valley, here’s what they had to say: JASMINE HIRSCH on her father DAVID HIRSCH, founder and proprietor of Hirsch Vineyards on the Sonoma Coast , California: I thought before I started working for my Dad that I loved him a lot. And of course I did. But I loved him as a daughter loves a father, which is a special, beautiful, unique and generous love. A very specific and important love. But through working together, I came to love him as a human being. I saw all that he had sacrificed, his solitary work in the vineyard on the remote Sonoma Coast when he was first getting started and no one cared what he was doing. During our now 11 years working together, we went through some difficult times where we fought and disagreed on the direction of the business. We both cared so much. We both loved each other so much. But I was still acting like a child with her father – expecting him to give me what I wanted with no regard for what he needed. It was when I learned to love and respect him as another human being, not just as my father, that I began to grow up in our relationship. Unless both of our deep, real life needs were met (needs which are never going to be exactly the same for two people of such different ages) we would not be able to achieve our shared goals in respect of the land and the business. My father’s lifelong patience with me, combined with our love (always love is essential!), have made it possible for us to reach the point where we are now – father and daughter, always; but also partners in a shared dream. PHILIPPE GUIGAL on his father MARCEL GUIGAL, vintner at E. Guigal in Côte-Rôtie , Rhône Valley, France: As far as my memory goes back, I have always been very close to my father. We even have a “fusional” relationship. This word might seem extreme, but tasting wines seven days a week for two hours built my taste buds and my appreciation of wines as a clone of my father’s (who was himself a clone of my grandfather). Therefore, when talking about the vision for a wine, I came to the conclusion that we are a single soul separated in two different palates. OLGA FERNÁNDEZ on her father ALEJANDRO FERNÁNDEZ, winemaker and founder of Tinto Pesquera and Condado de Haza in Ribera del Duero , Spain and Dehesa La Granja in Castilla y León, Spain: Gracias por haber ido a contracorriente, Gracias por enseñarme a pensar y a sentir, Gracias por todo el amor que me has dado, Gracias Padre, te quiero mucho. (In translation) Thank you for always having gone against the grain, Thank you for teaching me how to think and feel, Thank you for all of the love you have given me, Thank you Father, I love you. FABIEN MOREAU on his father CHRISTIAN MOREAU, proprietor of Domaine Christian Moreau Père & Fils in Chablis , France: A few words on my father is not easy. I may need to write a book of 500 pages! He has his own way of teaching me something. For example, when I was 17 years old, for harvest, I was supposed to drive the tractor with the trailer following the machine harvest (at this time, my father had one). The problem was, I had never driven this kind of big tractor with the big harvest trailer. The day before, at 5:00 pm, I said to my father, “You were supposed to show me how to drive the tractor.” “Well,” he said, “let’s go.” We went, and I practiced for 15 minutes under a heavy rain until my father said, “Stop, it’s enough.” The morning after, at 6:00 am, I was driving in the 1er Cru Vaillon, in a three-meter-wide muddy row in the dark, trying not to destroy the vines with the trailer, I was in a sweat, but in the end, it’s a good way to learn! RUPERT SYMINGTON on his father JAMES RONALD SYMINGTON, proprietor of Symington Family Estates, including Dow’s, Warre’s, Graham’s, Quinta do Vesuvio, and Cockburn’s in Porto , Portugal: My father James invited my wife and I and our three children to dinner at his home some years ago. At the end of dinner he produced a decanter of amber-coloured Port and asked us all to guess how old it was. To our amazement, he had opened one of his last bottles of Warre 1908 Vintage Port originally from his own father’s cellar. The wine was excellent. He was determined to let his grandchildren have what could be a unique experience of tasting a wine made by their great, great grandfather and share that special moment with them. Searching for a great gift for Dad? A Vinous Classic Subscription makes for the perfect Father's Day present.