Winemaker

Gary Galleron

Few people have deeper roots in Napa Valley than Lynch Vineyards winemaker Gary Galleron. His French-immigrant grandparents bought land between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail in 1918, his father and uncle later managed the family vineyards where Gary grew up playing and working, and he still buys grapes from his mother for his own label, Galleron Signature Wines. These days he spends a good part of his time at Lynch Vineyards, 800 feet above the valley floor and St. Helena, where he was born and still lives.

In an era of increasing specialization, Gary is a winemaker who is also a grape maker. He crafts wines and works the vines. He's a ground-up artisan who does pretty much everything.

"I'm in the vineyards all the time," he says. "I drive a tractor. I disc. I do hedging on the vines. I say when to pick. I do the pump-overs. I like to follow the process and put my thumbprint on it."

In an era of increasingly sophisticated lab work, Gary does his own testing. He's also a mechanically inclined tinkerer who is happy surrounded by the various technologies of his trade. "I love that this work involves different machinery and lab work and chemistry," he says. "I like all the mechanics of it. It involves a lot of stuff. I like to fix things."

If there is a choice between a faster, marginally less-effective new way of doing something and a proven traditional method, Gary goes old school. For instance, when it comes to turning over the cap, he eschews sprinklers. "I like to use a hose to physically pump it over and actually cut through and break up the cap," he says. "Sprinklers give you lighter-colored wines because there's not as much physical cutting of the cap, so less wine is poured over and there's less leaching action from the skins."

Gary prizes deep, rich color in a wine above all else. "It's like food," he says. "You want something that looks good in front of you. To me, the darker the wine the better. And color equates to terroir."

Having grown up farming, Gary might have remained a grower, but while pursuing degrees in enology and viticulture at California State University, Fresno, he worked at a wine shop in Fresno, where he had his first glass of Chateau Montalena Zinfandel.

"I tasted it and knew I wanted to work there," he recalls. He did, first in the vineyards and then alongside Mike Grgich in the winery. He would eventually spend time at a number of Napa's most prestigious wineries, including Whitehall Lane, Grace Family, Hartwell, Vineyard 29, Del Dotto and Seavey, making some of the most sought-after cult wines in the valley. "That's my forte," he says. "I just happened to have fallen into it."

Gary is right at home at Lynch, a small producer with superb vineyards and an unwavering commitment to excellence, growing grapes in what he calls "perfect terroir" that provides the mouth feel and texture he looks for. "In vineyards at this elevation, it just happens," he says humbly. "I don't do anything."

"Whether he's doing "nothing" in allowing great grapes to speak their true flavors or tending to everything he can to create those grapes and turn them into wines of distinction, Gary is clear about where his work stands in his life. "I'm very passionate about it," he says. "It's not just a job. It's my life."