Jack Cakebread, who along with his wife, was responsible for turning a 22-acre cattle ranch into one of the leading wineries in the area, died in April. He died at the age of 92.
His death was confirmed by his son Dennis.
Mr. Cakebread, an auto mechanic with a sideline in photography, paid a visit to a couple of family friends at their farm in Rutherford in 1972 after returning from a shoot in northern Napa County. He was 42 years old and curious about what a life beyond car repair might look like.
I told them to let me know if they ever wanted to sell the place, and I drove home, he said in the interview.
Mr. Cakebread and his wife paid $2,500 for the farm. Two couples drew up a contract.
It was far from a vinous paradise at the time. The region's farmers mostly raised cattle or grew fruit. There were a few dozen wineries in the valley.
Robert Mondavi founded one of them in 1966. Mr. Mondavi was a mentor to an entire generation of winemakers who got their start in the 1970s, including the Cakebreads.
Mr. Cakebread pioneered many of the techniques that came to define high-end Napa wines, above all a close attention to the agricultural side of winemaking. He was a great fan of technology, but also insisted on getting his hands dirty every morning to work in his vineyards, even though he was among the first to use a neutron probe.
He told The Santa Rosa Press Democrat in 2004 that the only way you really know is to leave footprints in the vineyard. Not tire tracks. There are footprints.
The first wines of Cakebread Cellars were 157 cases of chardonnay made from purchased grapes. The Cakebreads planted vines on their new plot. It was a bold choice, as the grape was almost unknown among American drinkers.
Mr. Cakebread told The Boston Globe in 1984 that people thought they were mistaken when they put in sauvignon blanc.
It was not a mistake. Along with Cakebread's fruit-forward yet balanced chardonnay, sauvignon blanc became a signature wine, and it helped drive the varietal's surging popularity among American wine consumers.
It took almost two decades before the Cakebreads could commit to the winery full time; until then they worked at their garage and commuted north on the weekends. In 1989 they sold the garage and moved to Rutherford.
Cakebread is one of America's most highly regarded wineries, regularly topping an annual poll of the most popular brands among leading restaurants. It sells about 100,000 cases a year and has 1,600 acres of land.
Mr. Cakebread took on the role of mentor and shepherding the community that Mr. Mondavi had once played. Many of his former employees now lead wineries of their own, as did two of his sons, Bruce and Dennis.
David Duncan is the chief executive of Silver Oak Cellars, which his father founded in the same year that Mr. Cakebread started his winery.
John Emmett Cakebread was born in Oakland. His father owned a repair shop where his mother worked.
Jack worked as a boy on his father's farm in Contra Costa County, where he grew almonds, walnuts and apricots, and where he worked in between shifts at the garage.
Jack did not graduate from the University of California, Berkeley. He was assigned to the Strategic Air Command as a jet engine mechanic during the Korean War.
After his father retired, he took over the garage. He also took pictures.
After attending workshops led by the landscape photographer Ansel Adams, what began as a hobby turned into an avocation. Mr. Adams had Mr. Cakebread teach some of his classes.
Mr. Cakebread was commissioned by an editor at Crown Publishers to take photographs for a book about wine. Almost every commercial winery in the country was featured in the book. There are 11,000 today.
Mr. Cakebread received an advance for the book project that helped pay for the down payment on the cattle ranch.
Mr. Cakebread continued to take pictures even after he shifted his focus to winemaking.
In the 2000s, Jack and Dolores Cakebread gave up control of their day-to-day management to their sons Bruce and Dennis. Mrs. Cakebread lectured at business schools about the business of winemaking.
His advice was patience.
He told The Press Democrat that weather is going to do what it does.
The person who died in 2020 was Dolores Cakebread. Mr. Cakebread is survived by his sons, Dennis, Bruce and Steve.
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