Sonoma County Winegrape Commission

The Robert Young family of Alexander Valley was awarded the 2008 Viticulture Award of Excellence from The Sonoma County Winegrape Commission (SCWC) at the group’s annual BBQ June 27. Additionally, the Latino agricultural community recognized Mark Houser, Peter Hayward and Maria Fincher for their contributions to various vineyard employee educational and social programs.

SCWC annually presents the Viticulture Award of Excellence to recognize individuals or families who have made significant contributions to SCWC, to Sonoma County viticulture, and the greater wine and local communities.

The Robert Young family deserves this honor for their many contributions to the grape growing community locally and in California. The Young’s have been innovators in Sonoma County viticulture in such areas as vertical trellising, narrow-row spacing, new pruning techniques, diversity of rootstock usage, innovative integrated pest management, and grapevine canopy management. The Young family calls its vineyard system “growing a balanced wine.”

“It is a great honor to receive this year’s award,” says Jim Young, winery owner and vineyard manager. “We are proud to farm alongside the many growers that continually strive to sustainably preserve and protect our county’s agricultural heritage and diversity.”

Little did the Young family know that they would become famous in the California wine industry when Peter Young, followed his two older brothers Michael and George to California from upstate New York in the 1850s to make their fortune in the Gold Rush. After some success in that business, they bought property in the Alexander Valley. Peter left California in 1862 and went to the gold fields of Oregon, eventually returning to New York and then back to California to buy his own 210-acre uncultivated ranch in the Alexander Valley.

Peter then cleared the land and planted prune trees and pasture land on the hillsides. When Peter died in 1914, the ranch was divided into three farms, one of which went to Silas Young, Robert Young’s father. In 1919, Robert Young was born and grew up in the Alexander Valley, learning the farming business. Silas died at the young age of 51 in 1935, while Robert was still in high school. With the financial help of a relative, he was able to get a bank loan for the $70,000 note on the property.

Three years after graduating from Healdsburg High, Robert married his high school sweetheart, Gertrude, in 1940. The next generation of the Young family soon followed, including Fred, Susan, JoAnn and Jim.

In the 1960s, the premium winegrape business in Sonoma County was just beginning to take off. In 1963, Robert planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the Alexander Valley – 6,500 vines on 14 acres. He always understood the importance of research and experimentation and even at this time when most vines were head-pruned, he suspected that trellising vines would produce higher quality fruit. Robert planted his first Chardonnay in 1967. In 1976, Chateau St. Jean put the name of this vineyard on its Chardonnay. This vineyard designation was the first in the United States.

In the following years, the family pulled up the prune orchards, acquired and planted more vineyards. Today Robert Young Vineyards cultivates 14 premium varieties on more than 300 acres of bench land and hillside vineyards. Jim Young earned a degree in Viticulture at U.C. Davis and his brother Fred Young was the driving force in the creation of the Robert Young Winery. Sisters Joann and Susan also work in the family business in the marketing and hospitality areas. The fifth generation of the Young family can already be seen working in the vineyards and the winery.

In 157 years, the Young Family has helped shape Sonoma County as one of the finest wine producing areas in the world. As Robert Young has stated, “We are blessed to live on farmland that is very, very special,” he says. “I hope that what we have now will never be abused; that future generations will treat the land well and understand that, by being generous, the land will continue to grow whatever we wish for it to grow.”

Editor’s note: A high-resolution photo of Jim and Robert Young can be downloaded by clicking the image below *photo by Nick Frey

Latino Community Awards

At the SCWC BBQ, the Latino agricultural community honored the following people for their contributions to vineyard employees’ educational and social programs.

Mark Houser of Hoot Owl Vineyards is being recognized for his leadership in organizing, judging and raising prize money, along with Chuck Hussey, to support vineyard employees in Alexander Valley. Those efforts have provided more than $20,000 to vineyard employees who have competed in the Alexander Valley and Sonoma County pruning contests.

Mark is committed to supporting his employees through competitive wages, a comprehensive benefits program, training and education, and housing support with worker housing on the ranch and two employees who now own their homes through sweat equity programs.

Peter Hayward of Los Chamizal Vineyard is being recognized for his leadership in providing employee housing in Sonoma Valley. Peter has served on the board of Vineyard Worker Services for 15 years and was instrumental in securing land for the Springs Housing Units built by Burbank Housing. The 80-unit complex includes 24 units dedicated to agricultural workers. Peter also secured sites and trailers for employee housing during harvest each year. In 2008, Vineyard Worker Services has done outreach to vineyard owners and managers to insure employers are aware of the programs and services available through Vineyard Worker Services.

Peter’s commitment to employee housing extends to his own ranch. He provides housing at cost or a housing allowance to his employees, including free housing on the ranch during harvest. His dedication to his employees’ well being included supporting his ranch foreman who was severely injured in an ATV accident. After two years of rehabilitation, he resumed his work on the ranch.

Maria Fincher of Univision Television is being recognized for her lifetime of dedicated service to the Latino Community. Maria came to the United States with her family as a child and began working in vineyards and orchards to earn money for her school clothes. After obtaining a Medical Assistant certificate from Santa Rosa Junior College, she worked in healthcare for 21 years while also volunteering on weekends at a radio broadcasting station. That ultimately resulted in Maria becoming Station Manager for Univision Santa Rosa in 2001.

Under Maria’s leadership, Univision has filmed the Sonoma County Pruning Championships for a number of years, creating a video on the event and those vineyard employees in the contest that was distributed nationally. Maria is a true friend of the Latino Community and of the Sonoma County Pruning Championships.

The Sonoma County Winegrape Commission was established in 2006 as a non-profit marketing and educational organization dedicated to the promotion of Sonoma County as one of the world’s premier grape growing regions. With more than 1,800 growers, SCWC’s goal is to increase awareness and recognition of the quality and diversity of Sonoma County’s grapes and wines through dynamic marketing and educational programs targeted to wine consumers around the world. For more information about SCWC and its programs, visit www.sonomawinegrape.org.

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