TOM MACKEY HONORED FOR 25 YEARS OF WINEMAKING AT ST. FRANCIS

Saturday, December 6, 2008     

St. Francis Winemaker Tom Mackey was honored in Santa Rosa on Friday evening (December 5th) for his 25 years as the first winemaker at St. Francis Winery.

Thomas J. Mackey is the first and only winemaking director employed by St. Francis Winery & Vineyards. He has held that position since 1983, but has always been an enthusiastic wine lover, even as a young man intending to make it the focus of his professional life.

Tom earned his first college degree in English at the University of San Francisco in 1973. After studying to be a secondary school teacher, he changed direction toward the wine industry. Tom briefly explored wholesale and retail wine selling, then shifted to winemaking. He went on to earn a BS in Enology in 1980 and a MS in Agri-Science in 1982, both from California State University, Fresno. During his educational years, Tom worked at Hanns Kornell in Napa as a cellarman, as a laboratory technician at United Vintners, as enologist at Rutherford Hill Winery and in a winemaking position at Gold Seal in New York.  He returned home to work at Round Hill in Napa.

St. Francis Winery Founder Joe Martin hired Tom to work at his still new Winery as its first Winemaker in 1983.  In this first year at St. Francis, Tom noticed something unique about a section the Merlot vineyard behind the tasting room—the grapes were smaller and more pungent than the others.  Tom kept that wine separate, and used it to launch the Winery’s Reserve Merlot program.  By the 2003 vintage, those same sections of Merlot would ultimately be used in St. Francis Winery’s Wild Oak line of wines.

St. Francis Winery Founder Joe Martin states that “Tom always told me that a good winemaker needs to spend almost as much time in the vineyard as he does in the cellar, and he practiced what he preached.  That’s how our wines kept getting better.” 

Tom developed personal preferences and opinions that, coupled with talent, led to the production of original, memorable wines. For example, he preferred to use a blend of American oak and French oak to age some wines rather than confining himself to French barrels, and believed in limiting wine filtration to when it was absolutely necessary. His Master’s thesis focused on extraction methodology regarding color and phenolic compounds in red wines.

Among the major changes Tom has overseen at the Winery , one of the most significant is a shift from white to red wine. With sensitivity to the fluctuating market, he guided the Winery’s output from 80% white wines in 1983 to mostly red wine today. When he began at St. Francis, there was already much variety to the vineyard’s output, with grapes such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, and White Pinot Noir. The first wines he added were Cabernet Sauvignon and “Old Vines” Zinfandel made from 100+ year-old dry farmed, head trained vines.  Both of these wines are now among the Winery’s most popular.

Additional changes under Tom’s watch are significant.  St. Francis Winery now uses 100% Sonoma County grapes in all its wines and hand-picks all of its fruit.  Most of the grapes used by St. Francis are from the Winery’s Estate Vineyards, and purchased grapes—all Sonoma County—are subject to a rigorous sorting and “Grower Report Card” inspection program.  Additionally, a significant portion of the grapes used in all St. Francis wines are hand sorted on the Winery’s hand sorting tables.  The Winery’s Wild Oak by St. Francis line, launched in 2007, is the Winery’s higher end Artisan tier, highlighting the five varietals of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel and Syrah.  Total production of each of Wild Oak wine is between 700 and 3,000 cases.

St. Francis Winery Founder Joe Martin notes that:

“Tom’s accomplishments in winemaking are exemplary.  His talent and passion for winemaking helped take us from a small, unknown Winery to a nationally recognized quality brand.” 

“Here’s What Sonoma Is Capable Of.”

St. Francis Winery President & CEO Christopher Silva comments that:

 “Sonoma has always been a story of hard work and passion for the land we farm.  Tom reminded the world that Sonoma’s story is best told through our wines.  The Judgment of Paris Tasting of 1976 involved Sonoma grapes and took place just 7 years before Tom started at St. Francis.  In the early 1980s when Tom joined the Winery, Sonoma was still quite new as a contender in grape growing, let alone winemaking.  People weren’t talking or writing about Sonoma wines because few had tasted the wine quality that Sonoma was capable of.  Through his wines, especially his complex, highly extracted Merlots, Tom became one of a hand full of winemakers who brought positive recognition to Sonoma as a world class wine growing and wine making region. “Here’s what Sonoma is capable of” were heady words that preceded many successful tastings at the Winery in those days.  Tom continues to move us in the direction of better wine quality and stylistic consistency.  By keeping his focus on constantly higher quality, the future looks bright for Tom and for St. Francis.  What an incredible ride.”

Tom Mackey’s accolades include the following:

1987    Robert Parker gives the 1984 St. Francis “Reserve” Merlot a rating of “91 Points”, drawing new attention to Tom and the Winery.

1988    Robert Parker’s publication “The Wine Advocate” dubs St. Francis Winery as “California’s Hottest Winery”.

1994    St. Francis purchases 175 acre Wild Oak Vineyard within one mile of the original Winery in Sonoma Valley.

1997    Wine Spectator names Tom Mackey “Master of Merlot”. One of the few wineries in California to produce Merlot made exclusively from a single estate vineyard

1998          Wine Spectator’s James Laube –“ Tom Mackey has become a topflight winemaker, crafting rich, dense, complex reds, regardless of whether he is making Cabernet, Merlot or Zinfandel.

1999    Quarterly Review of Wines names Tom Mackey “Winemaker of the Year”

1999     St. Francis Reserve Chardonnay named Top 100 Wines of the Year by Wine Spectator

1999     St. Francis “Old Vines” Zinfandel named Top 100 Wines of the Year by Wine Spectator

2000    Wine & Spirits Buying Guide- St. Francis Winery named “Regional Winery of the Year”

2001  Tom Mackey Named International Red Winemaker of the Year for 2001 at the London Wine Fair

2002  Quarterly Review of Wines names Tom Mackey “Merlot’s Main Man”

2007     In feature story entitled, “Crème de la Crème,” Quarterly Review of Wines concludes that Tom’s new Wild Oak line “gives new meaning to the term “’ultra premium.’”

St. Francis In the News: The White House
October 2008

St. Francis Winery President & CEO Christopher Silva visited the White House last month to thank the Chief Usher for serving St. Francis wines at the White House, a non-partisan tradition that has continued under four American Presidents.  Chris was hosted by Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon, Director of the Executive Residence and Chief Usher, and also met with White House Wine Steward Daniel Shanks during his three hours inside the White House. Click here for more White House photos.

Christopher Silva and Admiral Rochon
in the China Room

Christopher W. Silva St. Francis Winery President & CEO met with Morning
News anchor Mark Danon on KRON 4's Morning News to discuss wine & holiday gifts.
Click here to watch the video.