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The Croatian winemaker Miljenko 'Mike' Grgich has died at the age of 100. He became famous as the creator of the winning white wine at the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting, Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay. With this success, California and Napa Valley in particular became recognised as the origin of world-class wines.
Grgich was born in Croatia in 1923, where his father was already making wine. After the Second World War, he studied oenology and viticulture at the University of Zagreb and came to Napa Valley through a student exchange programme. There he first worked for Chateau Souverain and later together with the legendary oenologist André Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyards in Rutherford. It was there that Robert Mondavi discovered him, for whom he worked from 1969. He soon moved to Chateau Montelena. In his second vintage in 1973, he vinified the Chardonnay that was honoured as the best white wine at the Paris Wine Tasting in 1976. This award is regarded as the birth of modern Napa Valley wine history.
With this success, he founded his own winery, Grgich Hills, in 1977. After the fall of communism in 1989, Grgich returned to Croatia, where he finally received his university diploma. He founded the Croatian winery Grgić Vina with a focus on indigenous varieties and was involved in the resurgence of the Croatian wine industry. Grgich's importance to the US wine industry is illustrated by the following fact: the suitcase he fled Yugoslavia with is in the Smithsonian Institute of American History along with his trademark beret and wines from the Paris Wine Tasting. They are part of an exhibition called "101 Objects that made America".
(al / source: decanter)