Women & Wine Series

Winemaker: Ondine Chattan 

American women are making their mark in the wine world.

Winemaker Ondine Chattan is an accomplished female winemaker,

and has just completed her 18th harvest with Geyser Peak Winery

in California.

“Under her leadership, the winemaking team has honed and refined 

the now distinctive style of our wines, introducing innovative production 

techniques, and enthusiastically promoting the Alexander Valley 

and our broad portfolio of award-winning wines,” according to the winery’s website.

One of California’s oldest and most renowned wineries,

Geyser Peak Winery was founded in 1880 by Augustus Quitzow,

a pioneer in Alexander Valley winemaking, Geyser Peak has flourished

as an award-winning winery for more than 130 years.

Quitzow chose the original winery site in Geyserville for its vantage point

of the famed Geysers Geothermal area. The white steam that billowed

from the geysers along the mountain slopes provided the winery

with a spectacular ‘view of the clouds’.

Today, Geyser Peak pays fond tribute to its past roots in Alexander Valley

as it sets forth on a new path into the Dry Creek Valley Appellation

where the winery has recently relocated.

Although the address is new, the commitment to the highest

quality artisan winemaking is not.

Geyser Peak will continue to “Reach For Peak” for many years to come.

Winemaker Ondine Chattan has found her “home” with Geyser Peak Winery.

Under her leadership, the winemaking team has honed and refined

the now distinctive style of our wines, introducing innovative production

techniques, and enthusiastically promoting the Alexander Valley

and our broad portfolio of award-winning wines.

A native of Marin County, Ondine spent a great deal of time

in Sonoma Wine Country during her

childhood, where she fell in love with the wine industry at an early age.

This passion in her soul has never wavered and grew even stronger

while obtaining an undergraduate degree in Viticulture

from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a Master’s Degree in Enology

from Fresno State University .

After college, her love of Zinfandel and Rhone varietals led her

to positions at Cline Cellars in Sonoma Valley

and Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino before settling down

 in the Alexander Valley.

Joining Geyser Peak was a dream come true for Ondine,

with its diversity of varietals, vineyards and wine styles

inspiring her creativity and fueling her passion for producing

exciting, accessible, unique wines.

Ondine resides in Healdsburg with her husband David

and three young sons.

Personal Note:

When I was researching wines, I came across these fabulous articles

about women winemakers. I was hooked on their accomplishments

and of course, their love of wine.

As some of you know, from my Facebook page,

I like to end my day with…

Cheers, it’s 5 O’clock in Oceanside.

I feature a photo of a glass of wine with the above saying.

So, it was fitting that I do a story on wine.

I didn’t know that I would accidentally fall upon

these wonderful American women who are winemakers.

I hope you will follow along with me in this wine series.

Together, we will discover the women of wine and their talents

that they bring to the wine industry.

Awesome, truly awesome, women.

Cheers from Oceanside.

By Barbara KisKis

(Information and photos came from website of Geyser Peak)

 

GOD AND MR. GOMEZ

Ahhh, the memories of JACK SMITH and his daily column in the Los Angles Times

each weekday. I looked forward to his funny twist on L.A.

Mr. Smith wrote 10 books but by far my favorite is GOD AND MR. GOMEZ.

The book is about THE JOYS AND TRAVEL OF BUILDING A HOME IN BAJA CALIFORNIA,

which he and his wife, Denny actually did. Jack Smith made you feel as if you were there

in Baja with him; driving along the dirt roads and taking in the scenery; especially

the view of the Pacific ocean on top of a hill.

The book had been out of print for  FEW years but I managed to find a copy in a used

bookstore in Orange County.  I read it and then re-read it and keep in it my

best books’ pile for years until I gave it away as a gift to my very good friends,

Dale and Margarita Martin of Laguna Beach. You see, they have a home in Baja

and they experienced some of the things as Smith and his wife.

I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Jack Clifford Smith (August 27, 1916–January 9, 1996)

was a Los Angeles journalist, author, and newspaper columnist.

His daily column, which ran in the Los Angeles Times for 37 years,

expressed “keen observations of the life he loved in ever-surprising Southern California”

and was described by former Los Angeles Times Editor

Shelby Coffey III as “one of the abiding highlights of the Los Angeles Times.”

Smith was the author of 10 books, many of them based on his columns,

and won the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’

Distinguished Journalist award in 1981.

Smith and his wife, Denny, lived in the same house

in the Mount Washington, Los Angeles neighborhood

near Downtown L.A from 1950 until his death in 1996.

Smith was such a major proponent of the Mount Washington neighborhood,

that a 3.2 mile out and back trail up the mountain bears his name

(the Jack Smith Trail).

In May 2004, Mount Washington Elementary School broke ground

on the Jack and Denny Smith Library on their campus.

The library, named in honor of Smith and his wife’s

dedication to Mount Washington, was dedicated on June 2, 2007.

Smith’s family was often the subject of his columns,

and readers came to know his wife Denny,

their two sons, Curtis and Douglas, their two

daughters-in-law, Gail and Jacqueline, and their five grandchildren,

Chris, Adriana, Alison, Casey, and Trevor.

Personal Note:

I did meet Jack Smith back in the 80’s. We had lunch together

in downtown L.A. He was promoting one of his books, THE BIG ORANGE.

While he talked, I listen and asked him a few questions about his book.

During our conversation, he stopped and looked at me and said,

“You are a romantic.”

I was surprised that he called me out on being a romantic…I wasn’t sure how to

reply to his comment. I finally managed to say, “Yes, yes, I must be.”

By Barbara KisKis