Winemaking is a demanding business, but even more, it’s an art—a nuanced and unpredictable process that relies on soil, sun, and that intangible resource, the palate. So to choose to veer off the well-trod route of the enterprising Harvard grad—away from law, finance, or the corporate boardroom and into wine country—is to choose the sensual over the rational, the rhythms of nature over those of the market. It’s not that the six vintners on the following pages have had to sacrifice success in order to pursue their love of wine. To the contrary, they’ve all made their mark, creating highly rated boutique wines that are enjoyed by informed oenophiles. (At least, those who can get their hands on the wines, many of which are available only at the wineries or on wine-savvy menus. See Where to Buy.) But these five MBAs and one lapsed lawyer don’t bank on profits or recognition. For them, success is a life surrounded by beauty, immersed in the subtleties of taste, free to devote themselves to the pursuit of their passion

EUGENE R. “GENE” KIRKHAM
Founder and co-owner, Casa Nuestra Winery

GENE KIRKHAM, 61, went from Harvard to law school at UC Berkeley, where he became a conscientious objector during Vietnam. He went on to quit a job practicing corporate law to move his family to the Napa Valley to live in peace with nature, and eventually became a vintner. Kirkham’s Casa Nuestra vineyard produces Riesling, Chenin Blanc (on the wine list at Napa’s famed French Laundry restaurant), and French Colombard, just to be offbeat. “I’m a rebel,” Kirkham says. “I can’t stand to do things the way anyone else does. I don’t say that with pride, but it explains the choices I make. There are endearments in winemaking that don’t exist in making ketchup, for example. It connects me with centuries of human labor. Everything we do would be recognized by Jesus Christ or Julius Caesar. I enjoy being part of that continuity.’

JOSEPH HARRIS WENDER
Vintner, Colgin Cellars

Given that the state prohibited liquor until 1959, Oklahoma was an unlikely launching pad for a vintner. Yet JOE WENDER, 62, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, emerged from his hometown of Norman with a taste for European wines. Over the decades, Wender has amassed an extraordinary cellar. His collection of several thousand rare bottles includes a 1947 Vieux Château Certan Pomerol and a 1955 Château La Mission Haut Brion. Wender’s love of fine wine also led him to the woman who would become his wife, Ann Barry Colgin, an art and antiques dealer turned winery founder, at a wine tasting dinner at Spago in 1997. Wender became vintner of Colgin Cellars when the couple married in 2000. “My background was in drinking older European wines,” he says. “Hers was in California wines, younger and bolder. Together, we have come up with some really special wines.” Due to their low number and high quality, the bottles Wender and Colgin produce are a collector’s dream, nearly impossible to buy. (Available only by special order, their $275 bottles have a 3,000-person waiting list.) “There’s something extraordinary about a bottle of wine,” says Wender. “You have this liquid that sits in a bottle for half a century, open it up, and it tastes spectacular. How many other things like that can you think of?”

BRICE CUTRER JONES
President, Emeritus Vineyards

BRICE JONES, 67, a former Air Force fighter pilot and the founder of Sonoma-Cutrer wines, aims to make the best Pinot Noir in California—all thanks to a tour of duty in Vietnam and a lesson from his commanding o"cer, General George Simler. “We were sitting having lunch one day, and he said, ‘Lieutenant … you know Burgundy is a place?’ I said, ‘No sir, it’s a brand of Paul Masson.‘ He said, ‘Get a book.’ “So I got one book and then another. I went to Christie’s [in London] and started buying wine. I’d go over on a transport plane and come back with cases of wine. I had a pretty good cellar for a fighter pilot.” Jones’ winemaker, industry veteran Don Blackburn, has crafted a European-style Pinot Noir—the grape used to make Burgundy—that is lighter, less fruity, and lower in alcohol content than many American Pinots. “As a fighter pilot, you have to be aggressive and be willing to take risks,” he says. “I think that’s what we’ve done.”

TIMOTHY J. WALLACE
President, Benziger Family Winery

Twenty years ago, the Benziger Family Winery was one of the first in California to adopt sustainable growing practices. “We believed that farming organically allows for a truer expression of the grape,” says TIM WALLACE. “The healthier the vine, the better the grape, and the better the grape, the better the wine.” When Wallace, 51, married Patsy Benziger in 1983 he also married the family business, owned by the five sons and two daughters of founders Bruno and Helen Benziger, and eventually rose to the post of president. Benziger’s philosophy hasn’t changed: Keep it natural. “We’re inviting in the most distinct elements of the neighborhood,” Wallace says. “Soil and the climate are allowed to have an impact on the plant.” Benziger recently adopted the practice of biodynamic farming, which treats the soil as a living organism that enriches and cleanses itself with the help of insects and nutrientrich treatments. “With biodynamics, the wine is an original,” Wallace explains. “This is a real Degas, a real Gaughin, not somebody’s interpretation of it.”

FRED J. FISHER
Co-founder and proprietor, Fisher Vineyards

FRED FISHER, 74, had a life-changing moment in Italy during his stint in the U.S. Army in 1958. “One day, I was having lunch under a palm tree with a glass of wine at Lago di Garda. I was supposed to leave, and I thought, ‘I can’t leave.’’’ In the short run, Fisher didn’t have a choice. But, instead of pursuing a career in the auto industry, as his father had done, he ended up moving out west for a consulting job. And when the opportunity to buy land in the Mayacamas Mountains, between Sonoma and Napa valleys, presented itself in 1973, he jumped on it. He’s been making Fisher Vineyards wines ever since, reveling in his good fortune. “The other night, I was up on the mountain at a quarter to eight, with the sun on the vine rows and the dirt in the shadows,” he says. “The tops of the vines were lit in green, and there was not a sound. All I could think was how lucky I was to stand on that mountain. Many people would give their right arm to stand in such peace and beauty, and I can do it any time I want.’’

MARYANN TSAI
President, Luna Vineyards

Luna Vineyards is known for its Pinot Grigio, but MARYANN TSAI, 48, has a new ambition: to create the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the Valley, using grapes grown at 2,000 feet—unusually high for Napa. “On the mountain, they struggle. You get the deep, concentrated flavors in the way they ripen,’’ she says. The fruit grows more slowly at high altitude, in the cooler, less fertile clime than the warm valley floor below. Sounding like the HBS graduate she is, Tsai explains that she presses for “110 percent” from everyone at Luna. Wine, she hastens to add, isn’t your typical mercantile endeavor. “It’s a product you can take home and share with your family and friends,” Tsai says. “I have friends in other industries, but at the end of the day, everybody wants to sit around and talk about wine.’’

Where to Buy

Fisher Vineyards: Flagship wine: 2003 Coach Insignia Cabernet Sauvignon, $70. Available by calling the winery at (707 539-7511, ext.1, or at www.fishervineyards.com. (Rated 90-93 points by the critic Robert Parker in The Wine Advocate.

Emeritus Vineyards: Flagship wine: Emeritus, William Wesley Pinor Noir, $50. Available only at Emeritus Vineyuards, (707) 823-4464, or via mailing list. Sign up at www.emeritusvineyards.com. (Rated 93 points by the critic James Laiube in Wine Spectator.

Casa Nuestra Winery Their flagship wine, a 2006 Chenin Blanc, Old Vines, St. Helena Estate, is sold out (only 196 cases were made). But the Tinto Classico Napa Valley Red, Old Vines, Oakville Estate, $40; Rosado (dry rose), $23; Late Harvest French Colombard (375ml), $16; and others are available by calling (707 963-5783 or at online. (Rated 90 points by columnist Stephen Tanzer.)

Benzinger Family Winery Flagship wine: Benziger Tribute, Sonoma Mountain Estate Bordeaux blend, $80, available while supplies last by calling (888) 293-9463 or at www.benziger.com. (2002 vintage awarded 93 points by Robert Parker.)

Colgin Cellars: Flagship wines: 2004 Tychson Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, IX Estate; 2004 Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon; and 2004 Cariad Napa Valley Red, all $275. Available to individuals by mailing list only (they are currently adding those who signed up in 2003) and stocked in select restaurants nationwide, including Charlie Trotter’s (Chicago); Spago (Los Angeles); Gary Danko (San Francisco); Café Boulud (Palm Beach); Aureole, Nobu, and Per Se (New York). For a complete list, see www.colgincellars.com.