Big doings at the Duckhorn Wine Company, where the outstanding winemaker Mark Beringer resigned at the end of the year and has been replaced by Kiwi Bill Nancarrow.
There’s nothing unusual about winemakers changing jobs at this time of year — unless the winemaker is leaving a high-profile, iconic winery the likes of Duckhorn, which is the Napa Valley’s equivalent of a Bordeaux First Growth.
Beringer has taken a position as director of a new custom-crush operation in St. Helena. The facility, approximately 75 acres off Zinfandel Lane in the heart of the Napa Valley, was just purchased from the Trinchero family by a group of Napa investors called Rutherford Studios, headed by industry veteran Joel Gott.
Nancarrow, a New Zealander, had worked closely with Berginer as winemaker at Duckhorn’s sister winery in the valley, Paraduxx. The transition should be relatively seamless, The Duckhorn winemaking operation was a tight-knit team effort that also included winemaker Zach Rasmuson of Golden Eye, a Pinot Noir specialist located in the Anderson Valley.
Nancarrow had previously been winemaker at the C.J. Pask Winery in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, where he earned a reputation for turning out high-class Merlot, among other wines. He is only the third Duckhorn winemaker in the past quarter-century (Beringer was preceded by Tom Rinaldi).
Photo: New Duckhorn chief winemaker Bill Nancarrow.
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