Dawnine Sample Dyer | |
---|---|
Born | July 3, 1950 |
Alma mater | University of California at Santa Cruz |
Occupation | Winemaker |
Years active | 1974 - present |
Employer | Dyer Vineyard |
Spouse | Bill Dyer |
Dawnine Sample Dyer (born July 3, 1950) is an American winemaker and entrepreneur who pioneered the use of champagne-making methods in California's fledgling sparkling wine industry in the 1970s.
Dyer, a California native with a degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, began her wine career in 1974, at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, the heart of the Napa Valley grape-growing region.
In 1976, Dyer was recruited for the Napa Valley start-up Domaine Chandon, [1] the first French-owned California sparkling wine venture in the United States. Charged with monitoring quality control, she was paired with a French winemaking team from Domaine Chandon’s parent company, Moët & Chandon, which included veteran enologist and winemaker Edmond Maudiere. Cast in the role of Maudiere's protégé, Dyer oversaw a series of winemaking trials aimed at creating a naturally fermented sparkling wine based on both Old and New world styles and techniques, including France's Methode Champenoise. At the time, only a half dozen sparkling wine producers existed in the United States, among them Korbel, Kornell and Schramsberg. The effort resulted in California's first sparkling wine made from Pinot Meunier, a black grape typically used in Champagne for additional depth and maturity. A separate effort led by Dyer resulted in a still wine also made from the Pinot Meunier varietal. [2]
Over the course of her 24-year tenure at Domaine Chandon, Dyer rose up through the ranks of the Yountville-based winery, ultimately becoming vice president and principal winemaker. In this capacity, she oversaw all winemaking at the 400,000-case winery and also worked with its parent company in France. In 1986, Dyer helped found Domaine Chandon’s sister winery in Australia's Yarra Valley, and also oversaw export products for the company's winery facility in Argentina. It was during this period that Dyer joined forces with other winemakers and grape growers in calling for the creation of Geographic Indications and Appellations of Origin for America's wine growing regions, including the Napa Valley AVA.
While at Domaine Chandon, Dyer and husband Bill, a respected winemaker in his own right, planted a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) cabernet sauvignon vineyard in the Diamond Mountain District AVA of the Napa Valley, and began making earthy Bordeaux-style wines from the hillside estate. In 2000, she left Domaine Chandon to devote more time to Dyer Vineyard, which produces 400 cases of wine per year. The estate-grown cabernet is known for its minerality and deep berry flavors, characteristics associated with wines produced in the higher elevation Diamond Mountain AVA. In the 2004 book by Matt Kramer, New California Wine: Understanding the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Central Coast and Beyond, the Wine Spectator columnist credited the Dyers with creating "great cabernets" produced in "minute" but "superb quality". [3]
Dawnine and Bill Dyer have been the winemakers for Sodaro Estate Winery in Napa since its inception.
In 2005, the Dyers partnered with former America Online Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Schuler and his wife, Tracy Strong Schuler, to create a cabernet sauvignon blend, branded Meteor Vineyard, made from grapes grown on the Schulers' 22-acre (89,000 m2) vineyard in the Napa Valley’s Coombsville region. The hilltop vineyard, which previously sold its grapes to acclaimed Napa Valley labels including Dyer, Lail, Favia, Arietta, Etude and Vineyard 29, bottled its first vintage under the Meteor label in 2005, with a release date of February 2008. In the September 2007 issue of Decanter, U.K. wine authority Steven Spurrier commended the Meteor team, including Dyer, for its 2005 vintage after sampling the wine at a recent barrel auction. In an article, he described the blend as having "smooth, spicy fruit” and "plush tannins”. [4] Spurrier organized the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 in which French and California wines were tasted side-by-side in the first serious competition between the two countries. [5]
During her career, Dyer has served as president of the Napa Valley Vintners Association (NVV) and president of Napa Valley Wine Technical Group, and was a member of the founding board of Women for WineSense, a national 12-chapter association founded in 1990. Through her work with the NVV, she has become a recognized voice for the importance of Geographic Indications and Appellations of Origin to the Napa Valley [6] and has been invited to speak on the issue in Geneva, Beijing, Lima, and Bordeaux. She lectures for the annual Wine Industry Executive program at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and sits on the board of directors for Frog's Leap Winery. She is also a judge for several professional wine competitions, including the U.S.-based National Women's Wine Competition.
The Dyers have been married since 1981. The couple lives full-time on their Diamond Mountain estate. Their wine properties are held by the limited liability company, Dyer Straits Wine Co.
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is a winery founded by Warren Winiarski in 1970 and based in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, California.
Ridge Vineyards is a California winery specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay wines. Ridge produces wine at two winery locations in northern California. The original winery facilities are located at an elevation of 2,300 feet on Monte Bello Ridge in unincorporated Santa Clara County in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, south of Los Altos, California and west of Cupertino, California. The other Ridge winery facilities are at Lytton Springs in the Dry Creek Valley AVA of Sonoma County. Ridge Vineyard's 1971 Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon gained prominence for its fifth-place finish in the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting.
Heitz Cellar is a California wine producer located within Napa Valley east of the town of St. Helena. An early modern era Napa Valley presence and pioneering exponent of French oak, the estate enjoys a historical renown with the success of its Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, and has also been described as a "master of Grignolino".
New Zealand wine is produced in several of its distinct winegrowing regions. As an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand has a largely maritime climate, although its elongated geography produces considerable regional variation from north to south. Like many other New World wines, New Zealand wine is usually produced and labelled as single varietal wines, or if blended, winemakers list the varietal components on the label. New Zealand is best known for its Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and more recently its dense, concentrated Pinot Noir from Marlborough, Martinborough and Central Otago.
The state of Oregon in the United States has established an international reputation for its production of wine, ranking fourth in the country behind California, Washington, and New York. Oregon has several different growing regions within the state's borders that are well-suited to the cultivation of grapes; additional regions straddle the border between Oregon and the states of Washington and Idaho. Wine making dates back to pioneer times in the 1840s, with commercial production beginning in the 1960s.
Ceja Vineyards is a family-owned winery in Napa founded by Mexican-American immigrants. The Ceja family have been growers in the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California for three generations. The wine production company was founded in 1999 and focuses on premium wines. The principals are; Amelia Moran Ceja, President; Martha Ceja, Vice President; Pedro Ceja, Secretary; and Armando Ceja, Treasurer. As of 2008 production is around 10,000 cases per year.
The Duckhorn Portfolio Inc. is an American wine company producing varietal labelled and blended red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines from California and Washington State. The main winery, Duckhorn Vineyards, is outside St. Helena, California.
The history of American wine began when the first Europeans explored parts of North America, which they called Vinland because of the profusion of grape vines found there. However, European settlers, namely the Spanish, would later discover that the wine made from the various native grapes, had flavors which were unfamiliar and which they did not like. This led to repeated efforts to grow familiar Vitis vinifera varieties. The first vines of Vitis vinifera origin came up through New Spain (Mexico) and were planted in Senecu in 1629, which is near the present day town of San Antonio, New Mexico.
Los Carneros AVA is an American Viticultural Area which includes parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties in California, U.S.A. It is located north of San Pablo Bay. The proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the bay makes the climate in Los Carneros cooler and more moderate than the wine regions farther north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. The cooler climate has made Los Carneros attractive for the cultivation of cooler climate varietals like Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Many of the grapes grown in Los Carneros are used for sparkling wine production. Receiving its AVA status in 1983, the Carneros area was the first wine region in California to be defined by its climate characteristics rather than political boundaries.
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted Vitis vinifera vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
Quilceda Creek Winery is a boutique winery in Snohomish, Washington specializing in premium Cabernet Sauvignon wine. The winery is named for a nearby creek in Snohomish County. Although the winery facility is located west of the Cascade Range, the winery sources all of its grapes from its four estate vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA and Red Mountain AVA. Quilceda Creek Winery has earned some of the highest reviews and awards of any winery in the United States and was the first American wine from outside of California to earn a perfect 100-point score from wine critic Robert Parker's publication The Wine Advocate. Since its founding in 1978, Quilceda Creek has received an additional seven 100-point scores from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, one 100-point score from Decanter (Magazine) and two 100-point scores from acclaimed wine blog OwenBargreen.com. In addition to critics' praise, one of the highest honors for Quilceda Creek happened when President Barack Obama chose to serve their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley at a White House dinner to President Hu Jintao of China in 2011.
David Lake was a Washington winemaker and Master of Wine. Born in England to Canadian parents, Lake started in the wine industry working for a British wholesaler. In 1975 he earned his Master of Wine certification before traveling to the United States to enroll into the enology program of University of California-Davis. In 1978 he accepted a position of enologist with the Washington winery Associated Vintners where he soon rose to the position of chief winemaker. Among Lake's accomplishments was releasing Washington's first single vineyard designated wines and making the states first Cabernet franc, Syrah and Pinot gris wines. He was the first US winemaker to hold a Master of Wine accreditation.
Chinook is a Washington winery located in the Yakima Valley AVA. Founded in 1983 by the wife and husband team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey, Chinook was one of the pioneering wineries that established Prosser, Washington as a major wine-producing region in Washington state. Kay Simon, who began her career after graduating in 1976 from University of California-Davis in California's San Joaquin Valley and at Chateau Ste. Michelle, was one of the first female winemaker in Washington State. Chinook wines are widely regarded for their quality and help spread recognition for Washington wines. They are considered by wine experts such as Paul Gregutt to be "the classic expression of Yakima Valley fruit". Chinook's work with Cabernet franc, in particular, has garnered the statewide acclaim with the dry Cabernet franc rosé often described in wine reviews as a "Washington Chinon".
Blackbird Vineyards is a Napa Valley based winery. It is part of the Bespoke Collection. Founder Michael Polenske wanted to create a winery that focused on producing wines from Merlot grapes, which fits with the name "Blackbird", as merlot means "young blackbird", in French patois. Blackbird Vineyards creates wines inspired by the Pomerol area of France. The winery calls their wines "California Bordeaux".
Amy Aiken is an American entrepreneur and winemaker. She focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon wines and owns her own wine labels: Meander and Conspire.
Twomey Cellars is a California winery. It was established in 1999 by the Duncan Family, who have operated the successful Silver Oak Cellars in California since 1972. The Duncan Family started Twomey Cellars to pursue varietals other than Cabernet Sauvignon. Twomey has three wineries: one in Calistoga in the Napa Valley; one in Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley; one in Philo in Anderson Valley, and produces mainly Pinot noir and Sauvignon blanc. Twomey’s Sauvignon blanc is a blend of Sauvignon blanc grapes from their estate vineyards at their wineries in Napa Valley, Anderson Valley, and Russian River Valley.
Daniel Baron is an American winemaker. He is best known for his work with the Duncan family-owned Silver Oak Cellars and Twomey Cellars, and was Director of Winemaking for both. After his retirement in 2017, he launched Complant Wine with his son, Sam Baron, to produce small production, artisanal, single vineyard wines. Originally a field worker for John Rolleri at Chateau Montelena, he gained experience in the Bordeaux region of France and was mentored by the likes of grape geneticist Professor Harold Olmo, and winemakers Jean-Claude Berrouet and Justin Meyer. He became general manager of Christian Moueix's Dominus Estate in the 1980s. He became winemaker for Silver Oak, an exclusive Cabernet Sauvignon producer, in 1994, and was trained by Justin Meyer to follow in his footsteps as Silver Oak's winemaker before Meyer’s retirement in 2001. In 1999, Baron was instrumental in persuading the Duncans to establish Twomey to pursue Merlot, Pinot noir, and Sauvignon blanc after discovering high quality Merlot grapes on Silver Oak’s Soda Canyon Ranch Vineyard. He has served on boards such as the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the Napa Valley Wine Technical Group.
Baldacci Family Vineyards is a family-owned winery located in the Stags Leap District AVA of Napa Valley. Established in 1998, Baldacci Family Vineyards owns over 50 acres of sustainably-farmed vines in three distinct Napa Valley appellations: Stags Leap District, Calistoga, and Los Carneros. The wine portfolio is focused on limited-production, estate-grown wines.
Jean-Charles Boisset is a French vintner and the proprietor of the Boisset Collection, which operates 28 wineries in California, France, and Canada.