Anthony Truchard, Truchard Vineyards

Anthony Truchard grew up playing in the family vineyard and was working with his father, Tony, by age 12. He picked up degrees in Philosophy and Biology from UC Santa Barbara and developed his wine knowledge working in local wine shops and restaurants. Deciding to pursue his interest in law, he graduated from Cardozo in New York City and practiced intellectual property law for several years before returning to Napa at his parents’ request.

Today, Anthony is the General Manager of Truchard Vineyards and successfully manages all aspects of the family business. Alongside his parents, he works incessantly and passionately to maintain the integrity of his family’s wines and loves sharing them with the world.

He lives close to the winery with his wife Suzanne, their son Anthony III and a few of his father’s pet goats!

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Does it bother you that your wife and your son can speak to each other in a language that you do not understand?

Only when they are laughing and I am not included in the joke. I know it most likely about me.

How did your parents meet and how did Truchard Winery come to be ?

My father Tony and mother, Joann, met at a country dance in La Grange, Texas in 1963. They married the next year and she taught school while he studied medicine at UT. During the last year of medical school Tony joined an Army program where they paid his last year. He received orders for Korea in 1972, but Joann slipped on a grape while 9 months pregnant, fell and broke her knee. Four days later my brother was born. Dad’s orders were changed to California where Tony eventually decided to plant a vineyard in Napa Valley’s Carneros AVA. Growing grapes for 15 years led to a winery in 1990.

You have a large variety of soil types on your vineyard. How did your father decide what grape varieties to plant in each part of the vineyard?

With experience comes knowledge. My father likes to say that he bought the land cheap enough that he could afford to make a few mistakes at the beginning. Of course, we are also not afraid to ask for advice. Napa has a great community of sharing ideas with each other to improve the quality of all. We learned that late ripening varieties like very well drained soil and a sunny exposure, while varieties like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Merlot, which ripen early, like the cool sites and clay soils to help preserve their acidity and freshness.

How is your corner of Carneros different from the other parts of that AVA?

Being the most northeastern vineyard in Carneros gives our vineyard a few unique attributes. First of all we are a bit warmer and less windy than the rest of Carneros as we are farther from the bay and the breezes that can whip through Carneros in the afternoon. Also there is a fault in the northeast corner of Carneros that goes right through the property and is really the meeting place of the volcanic soils of the Mayacamas and Mt. Veeder colliding with the marine sediment and clay soils that dominate the majority of Carneros. This gives our property a tremendous variation in soil types. Lastly we have some of the highest elevations in Carneros as our property starts merging into the foothills of Mt. Veeder. There are some amazing vistas at Truchard where you can look over all of Carneros and see over the bay to San Francisco on a clear day.

What’s special about a family owned winery?

Being family owned, means that it is not always about money. It is about passion. We can do things that don’t always make financial sense, because we have no partners or investors to account to. We can plant Roussanne, where Cabernet would grow. Does this make financial sense when Cabernet sells for twice as much? Not really, but we like to have fun and experiment. We can make wines that we believe in and want to drink, rather than chasing the latest trends or trying to please the newest critic.

What do you drink at home on a Wednesday night?

Wednesday night is date night, when we leave our son at home at visit a local restaurant or two. We always start with a glass of bubbles, usually champagne, and then drink something new. People are always asking me what I drink when I am not drinking Truchard. Because there are a lot amazing wines out there, I tend to drink my friends wines. Usually good people make good wines. If I am at home, the night always begins with a bottle of our Roussanne while my wife and I make dinner and then I go into our cellar and pick out something that will pair with the meal of the night.