September 18, 2018— Wine Enthusiast magazine is awarding Warren Winiarski its Wine Star for American Wine Legend at this year’s Wine Star Awards held in January 2019. The award recognizes Winiarski’s legacy in the wine industry as well as his many contributions to the land preservation, philanthropy and to reinforcing the culture of wine as an American tradition.
Each year, Wine Enthusiast honors individuals and companies that have made outstanding achievements in the wine and alcohol beverage world. The winners will be announced in Wine Enthusiast’s special “Best of Year December 31” issue, and honorees will be presented their Wine Stars at a black-tie awards dinner gala on January 28, 2019, at Miami’s Nobu Eden Roc.
“The Wine Legend Award is reserved for our most influential people that have contributed to more than the wine industry. Warren’s dedication to elevating the status of American wine and contribution to the Napa Valley has been monumental,” says Adam Strum, Editor and Publisher, Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Winiarski’s contributions since he arrived in Napa Valley 54 years ago transcend the California wine industry. He has surpassed his first titles as grape grower, winemaker, and vintner to become a mentor, preservationist, and California Hall of Fame Inductee in 2017. His commitment to the Napa Valley has influenced other endeavors from land conservation to legacy support, while his example and mentorship have changed the lives of both native-born and immigrant Americans. He has left his mark not only on the State of California, but on the United States and the greater global community.
In 1964, Winiarski moved to the Napa Valley to follow his dream of becoming a winemaker. He began his career as an apprentice working with Lee Stewart at Souverain Cellars before moving on to be the first winemaker at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966. In 1970, he planted his first Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in a former prune orchard. Six years later, Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won the Judgment of Paris, a blind tasting of California wines against venerated French classics. The Judgment of Paris is widely credited with putting Napa Valley on the global wine map and liberating winemakers around the world to aim for the stars. A bottle of Winiarski’s victorious 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon now resides in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and Robert Kurin, the Smithsonian’s Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, included the bottle in his book The History of America in 101 Objects alongside Neil Armstrong’s space suit, Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis, and Lewis & Clark’s compass.
Winiarski’s contributions to the wine industry go far beyond winemaking. Upon arriving in the Napa Valley, Winiarski quickly recognized the land offered optimal growing conditions and needed to be protected from urbanization and development. A strong advocate for agricultural land preservation, he was a key supporter of the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018. Following the passing of this pivotal legislature in 1968, Winiarski went on to become the first in Napa Valley to place vineyard land under a conservation easement to ensure it would remain in agricultural use forever, and he has since donated to the Land Trust of Napa County more than 200 acres of vineyard and open space. These practices have been emulated by others throughout the Napa Valley and replicated across the country.
In 1996, Winiarski and his wife Barbara initiated the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American History’s American Food & Wine History Project. The project uses food and wine history as a lens for understanding American history by tracing the long and diverse history of wine in the United States. Over the years, the Winiarskis have donated significant funding to the Smithsonian for the conservation of wine and food history research, collecting wine and food objects, public events, as well the Annual Winemakers’ Dinners. For the future, Winiarski has proposed endowing a permanent position at the Smithsonian to enhance and grow the American Food & Wine History Project, continuing to raise public awareness about our American food and wine culture.
Winiarski is committed to ensuring the history of wine and its evolution is catalogued and archived at the “greatest wine library in the world.” Winiarski through his family foundation has gifted the U.C. Davis Shields Library 3.3 million dollars to create the first ever Wine Writers’ Collection. Broadly defined wine writers include wine book authors, editors, wine journalists and critics, wine columnists, bloggers, and other editorial wine content creators. Their works document the importance of viticulture and enology. Winiarski has helped to secure the papers of renowned international wine writers Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson and Robert Thompson.
Winiarski has also been a crusader for wine quality, appearing frequently in symposia around the world and publishing articles in many wine journals. In 2001, he served as President of the London-based International Wine & Spirit Competition, whose Cabernet Sauvignon trophy he has sponsored since 1986. He was also instrumental in the founding of Colorado’s vinifera wine industry.
Recognized for his global efforts to showcase and uphold the quality and history of California wine, Winiarski was inducted into the California Hall of Fame by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 2017. The 11th class of inductees were honored for their exemplary contributions to the “spirit of California.”
While his initial claim to fame may have been his Cabernet’s victory over the French, his devotion has matured from making exceptional wine to reinforcing the culture of wine as an American tradition and preserving his beloved Napa Valley. Winiarski is honored to be receiving the American Wine Legend Wine Star Award.
About Warren Winiarski Warren Winiarski is a Napa Valley resident, grape grower and philanthropist. His well noted Arcadia Vineyards in the Coombsville AVA of Napa Valley grows Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. He planted his first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in 1970 in what is now the Stags Leap District AVA. Founder and former proprietor of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Mr. Winiarski is a Napa Valley winemaking icon with a deep legacy commencing when his 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won the Judgment of Paris in 1976, helping put Napa Valley on the global wine map. A longtime advocate of Napa Valley land preservation, Mr. Winiarski has backed legislation during the past 50 years to protect agricultural and open space for future generations. He is a longstanding, avid supporter of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s American wine programs and has established funds to continually support the UC Davis Library’s collections of prominent wine writers’ manuscripts and papers. In 2017, Winiarski was inducted into the California Hall of Fame by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Mr. Winiarski lives with his wife Barbara in the Napa Valley.
Congratulations to Warren Winiarski! Big thanks to Wine Enthusiast for recognizing Mr. Winiarski for his outstanding contributions to the California wine industry — and to the world!