[8], Coordinates: 38°38′39″N 122°52′21″W / 38.64413°N 122.87239°W / 38.64413; -122.87239, "Zelma of Simi - Zelma Long of Simi Winery", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simi_Winery&oldid=983918652, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 October 2020, at 01:31. Isabelle was also a rose collector, and planted a different rose for each president of the United States, save for Herbert Hoover, whom she blamed for Prohibition. Great wine brings people together, which is why SIMI crafts every drop with care. Steve Reeder has been the general manager and vice president of winemaking at Simi since 2003. Her rose garden can still be enjoyed by visitors today at the south end of the original winery building. [2], In 1973 Maryann Graf, the first woman to graduate from an American university with a degree in oenology, joined Simi. Explore our range of wines and discover why a bottle of SIMI is at the core of taking your time and enjoying the journey. This marked one of the first instances of a woman running both the winemaking and business sides of a major winery. Giuseppe Simi leaves the Tuscan hills to find his fortune in the gold fields of California. 1849. The youngest winery owner in history, she proved more than capable of successfully running the business. Your email address is invalid. A onetime chemistry and medical child development major at the University of Missouri, Lueker switched to the study of enology at UC Davis. The wine was transported by wagon and boats up and down the Petaluma River after they bought the old Depot Winery on Healdsburg’s Front Street. From vine to bottle, we craft wines with individuality, meant to be true expressions of their Sonoma County vineyards. During this period Long led major renovations of the winery’s fermentation and barrel rooms with the same hurry- up spirit and personality-infused style that Isabelle Simi had demonstrated until her death at 95 in 1981. What would you do as an 18-year-old woman who inherits a winery in 1904? In 1970, at the age of 84, Isabelle Simi Haigh retired and sold the winery to Alexander Valley grape grower Russell Green, a retired president of Signal Oil. They moved operations to Healdsburg, California in 1881, paying $2,250 in gold coins to buy a winery on Front Street. 1890. In celebration of Women’s History Month, Wine Enthusiast caught up with Susan Lueker, Simi Winery’s Director of Winemaking, to talk about the life and times of the dynamic Isabelle. Eventually Lueker moved on to wine giant Kendall-Jackson, followed by eight years at Dry Creek Vineyard, where she further developed her passion for Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc wines, before moving to Simi. By the 1920s, wines made by the Simi family were highly sought after in San Francisco. Isabelle Simi’s father, Giuseppe Simi, and his brother, Pietro, had arrived in San Francisco from Montepulciano in Tuscany, Italy, in 1859, hoping to find gold. First making wine in their North Beach San Francisco basement, the brothers bought their wine grapes from the Alexander Valley. Gary Danko spotted him and brought Vazzoler to San Fran- cisco, where he served eight years as executive sous-chef to Gary Danko at his eponymous restaurant. The cellar’s hillside setting allowed the gravity flow … Lueker’s first winemaking job was at the old and then-small and family-owned Hacienda Winery in Sonoma Valley, where she learned the winemaking process through hands-on experience, top to bottom. The winery was founded in San Francisco, California in 1876 by two Italian brothers, Giuseppe and Pietro Simi, who had immigrated to the United States during the California Gold Rush. The door is always open at SIMI… Simi Winery embraced innovation from the beginning with the construction in 1890 of the stone cellar – still being used at the winery today. Lueker jokes that she “works on the wrong side of the tracks,” referring to the fact that all of the winemaking at Simi happens on the west side of the railroad tracks that run straight through the property. The brothers had traveled from Tuscany, Italy, to California for the Gold Rush and by 1876 started making wine. Mary Ann Graf, the first woman to graduate with a degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California at Davis (in 1965), joined Simi Winery as winemaker in 1973, an enormous step for women into the wine industry. Meanwhile, Giuseppe’s wife, Isabelle’s mother, apparently never learned English but served as wet nurse to the family of A. P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy (now Bank of America). Failing at that, they first grew produce in Pescadero, and then found their real gold mine: grapes. [1] Beginning 1982 the winery began to re-acquire its own vineyards. Nick Goldschmidt followed Hobbs in 2001. To get off the history and into modern times, today Simi is owned by the . Leading the pack again, Isabelle helped found the Sonoma County Grape Growers association in 1946. In 1936, Isabelle had one of the winery’s 25,000-gallon redwood wine casks relocated to a streetfront location (Healdsburg Avenue), thereby creating Sonoma County’s first tasting room. See our. Simi Winery stakes a claim as the oldest continuously operating winery in California because it didn’t close during the Prohibition era, which spanned from 1920 to 1933. From May through September, Simi hosts “Keep on Truckin’ Wednesdays” on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month with easily a dozen food trucks circling the winery’s parking lot, cool as cucumbers under Isabelle Simi’s redwood trees. [7] It is now owned by Icon Estates, Constellation's luxury wine subsidiary. [3], The winery was run by Giuseppe Simi's daughter, Isabelle Simi, beginning 1904. His first cooking job was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver. History   SIMI WINERY - CELEBRATING OUR 140 YEAR ANNIVERSARY . Giuseppe Simi leaves the Tuscan hills to find his fortune in the gold fields of California. Interrupting the tradition of strong female head winemakers at Simi, but certainly not the quality of its wines, Paul Hobbs succeeded Zelma Long as winemaker in 1999. I think she would be proud. All rights reserved. Susan Lueker joined Simi in 2000 and is now the director of winemaking. Isabelle held onto the winery through the. In 1906 the great earthquake and fire hit San Francisco hard, felling buildings as far north as Sonoma County, but Simi’s then 2-year-old reinforcements and solid structure helped the winery stand virtually unaffected. Much to his consterna- tion, she sent it back. Green’s grandson is one of the cooks at the winery today, crafting killer pizzas in the outdoor wood-burning oven. Simi - Sharing the Diversity of Sonoma County Since 1876. Giuseppe and Pietro Simi founded Simi Winery in 1876. She says that, on her first visit to a vineyard with her enology class, she knew that she loved the people and being in the vineyard, nature and the science of it all. Giuseppe and Pietro Simi founded Simi Winery in 1876. The youngest winery owner in history, she proved more than capable of successfully running the business. During the summer and early fall, Chef Vazzoler and crew open Simi’s Landslide Terrazzo Pizza Kitchen, where they offer thin-crusted wood-fired artisanal pizzas on Fridays from noon to 6pm and Saturdays from noon until 4pm. After Fred Haigh passed away in 1954, Isabelle and daughter Vivien ran their retail sales exclusively from the tasting room. 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