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Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Documentation Project

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Collector
National Museum of American History (U.S.)
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (Napa, California)
Interviewee
Bazán, Mario
Cline, Diane Hardigree
Fay Turnball, Mary Jane, 1924-2020
Fay, Nathan, 1914-2001
McPherson, Daniel
Ocho-Aylala, Benjamin
Painter, Brooks
Shapleigh, Terri
Silacci, Michael
Winiarski, Barbara, 1933-2021
Winiarski, Julia
Winiarski, Stephen
Winiarski, Warren, 1928-
Topic
Wine industry
Wine and wine making
Collector
National Museum of American History (U.S.)
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (Napa, California)
See more items in
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Documentation Project
Summary
The collections documents the growth and development of the American wine industry, 1996-2002, using the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars as a case study. Materials include oral and video histories, photographs, business records, and printed materials.
Biographical / Historical
The history of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is a family history. It is also a story, in microcosm, of the development of Napa Valley, California as an international wine region and of the rising global acclaim for California wines. Building on the skills and knowledge of earlier Napa winemakers, Warren Winiarski became one of the most influential vintners in the region and his premium wines some of the most prized. Winiarski arrived in Napa Valley in 1964 with his wife, Barbara, and their children. Like many Napa winemakers of this era, he left behind another career, in his case, an academic position at the University of Chicago to create a family business in a rural setting. At the time, Napa was just beginning to rebuild its reputation after Prohibition, a devastating vine disease, and the widespread production of cheap wines had soured the image of California wines. After apprenticing with several local winemakers, including Lee Stewart and Robert Mondavi, he purchased the land and winery that would become Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC) in 1972. Winiarski's choice of land was based, in part, Nathan Fay's success in growing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in an adjoining vineyard; Winiarski later added Fay's property to SLWC. To commemorate the American bicentennial in 1976, a blind wine tasting at L'Academie du Vin in Paris pitted the best of America's new wines against French classics. Stunning the international wine community, many American wines outscored their French counterparts, with SLWC's 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon taking first place in its division. The accomplishment brought SLWC and Napa Valley worldwide recognition. It excited a great demand for California wines and a new appreciation for American winemaking techniques, which combined new scientific methods with Old World traditions. The Paris Tasting added momentum to changes already underway in the cultural, financial, and physical landscape of the Napa Valley. It spurred the development of many new wineries, the expansion of acreage under grape cultivation, and the growth of the region's tourism industry. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was an integral part of these transformations. It continues to play a vital role in the region and the wine industry.
Extent
3 Cubic feet (11 boxes)
Date
1960-2006, 2019
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.0816
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Business records
Clippings
Interviews
Newsletters
Oral history
Photographs
Videotapes
Citation
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Documentation Project, 1960-2002, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
Series 1: Interview Transcripts and Abstracts, 1997, 2003 Series 2: Oral History Interview Sound and Video Recordings, 1996-1997 Subseries 2.1: Sound Recordings, 1997 Subseries 2.2: Video Tapes, 1996-1997 Series 3: Photographs, circa 1960-2000 Series 4: Video Tapes, undated Subseries 3.1: Family Photographs: circa 1960-1980 Subseries 3.2: Smithsonian Documentary Photographs: 1997, 2000 Series 5: Business Records, 1974-1998 Series 6: Printed Materials, 1994-2005 Series 7: Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Thirtieth Anniversary, 2003
Processing Information
Collection processed by Cindy Ott, 2002.
Existence and Location of Copies
Reference copy cassettes of oral history interviews and reference copy VHS are available for researcher use.
Genre/Form
Audiotapes -- 1990-2000
Business records -- 20th century
Clippings -- 1950-2000
Interviews -- 2000-2010
Newsletters -- 20th century
Oral history -- 1990-2000
Photographs -- 20th century
Videotapes -- 1990-2000
Scope and Contents
The Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC) Documentation Project was conducted by an inter-disciplinary team at the National Museum of American History. It is a part of a larger effort by the Museum's American Food and Wine team to document and interpret the changing ways in which Americans have produced, prepared, and consumed their food and drink, especially in the years after World War II. Team members are Nanci Edwards (Office of Project Management and former Collections Manager of the Museum's Agriculture Collection), John Fleckner (Senior Archivist, Archives Center), Rayna Green (Curator, Division of Home and Community Life), and Paula Johnson (Curator, Division of Work and Industry). Jeff Tinsley of the Smithsonian's Office of Photographic Services accompanied the team and shot many of the slides and color photographs. This collection chronicles the growth and development of American viticulture and viniculture from its revival in the 1960s to the present. It offers a case study in the art and business of making fine wine from the bud to the bottle. Warren Winiarski, founder of SLWC in California's Napa Valley, is deeply interested in the legacy of American winemaking and his winery's place within its broader history. The Winiarski family has generously participated and financially supported the creation of this collection. The documentation touches on all aspects of the wine business, including picking grapes in the vineyards, making wine in the cellar, marketing it from the business office, and promoting its sales in the tasting room and around the globe. SLWC employees describe the land, the work, the tools, the technical processes, the passions, and the motivations that create SLWC's world famous wines. The collection also provides insights into wider patterns of American immigration history, agricultural and environmental history, ethnic community development, land use in the West, product marketing, and consumerism. The archival collection is mainly comprised of recorded oral history interviews, documentary photographs, and video footage created by the documentation team in 1997. It also includes company newsletters, vineyard and winery production data sheets, wine labels, and related printed materials collected in 1997 with additional materials added occasionally. It is divided into seven series, including interviews and abstracts, audiotapes, photographs and slides, videotapes, business records, and printed materials.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Related Materials
Materials in the Archives Center American Wine History Documentation Project Records, 1976-2002, Archives Center collection # 817, has recorded interviews, photographs, and other documentary materials created and collected by the American Food and Wine History team.
Separated Materials
The Division of Work and Industry holds many artifacts from SLWC, including a wine barrel, grape picking knives, shovels, and other vineyard tools; lab equipment used in winemaking; wine bottles, labels, glasses, and other consumer products; and a bottle of the award winning 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon. See accessions: 1998.0181 and 1998.3058.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1503510466302-1503510466311-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b66d3155-9c39-46df-abf0-c60cec0ba74b

In the Collection

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • Warren Winiarski

  • Julia Winiarski

  • Nathan Fay

  • Dan McPherson

  • Warren Winiarski

  • Kasia Winiarski

  • Warren Winiarski

  • Benjamin Ochoa-Ayala, cellar foreman

  • Winiarski family

  • Color prints and negatives

  • Warren Winiarski

  • SLV 4C Tracking Sheets

  • Black and white contact sheets of photographs by Jeffrey Tinsley, September,

  • Brooks Painter, assistant winemaker/grower relations

  • Stag's Leap Tapes

  • Diane Cline, national and international sales director

  • Winiarski family

  • Randy Pace

  • Bank of American, California Wine Outlook

  • Nathan Fay

  • Barbara Winiarski

  • Julia Winiarski Restricted

  • Brooks Painter

  • Color prints

  • Stag's Leap Wine Cellars News

  • Stags Leap, Tapes 1-7; 10-11, and Tails tape

  • Color prints and negatives

  • Paris Tasting Competition results

  • Slides taken by Rayna Green, May, 2000: Gallo Sonoma, SLWC vineyards

  • Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Thirtieth Anniversary

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
Family photo album, (part 1 of 2)
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International media Interoperability Framework
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