Interview: Trini Amador IV, Gracianna Winery

Does it seem as though every entrepreneur’s success story started in their garage? There are so many great stories of successful businesses that were born from the dimly lit, sometimes dusty comforts of the home-based laboratory. I would like to officially add Gracianna Winery to this growing list of successful enterprises.

It was not all that long ago that Trinidad Amador IV (Trini), winemaker for Gracianna Winery, was expressing his independence in the comforts of his Forestville, CA garage using raw product from the agriculturally robust Russian River Valley AVA and dabbling in what so many in the region have already perfected – winemaking. What started out as an exploration into the very thing that we identify with Sonoma County has developed into the Gracianna story. I recently secured some quality time with Gracianna’s winemaker, touted as an up and comer, but you will come to realize, as I have, that Trini Amador has already arrived.

In this article I will share with you the Gracianna story and how the passion of a local boy turned winemaker and his family have built a winery rooted deeply by values of grace, graciousness, and gratitude.

Gracianna Winery rests in the heart of the Russian River Valley, nestled along the “miracle mile” on Westside Road. The Amador Family – Trini, his sister and his parents – are Gracianna, quite literally, as they are the team that fulfill the operations of the winery.  At the center of this and every winery is the winemaker of course.

Trini Amador, son of Trinidad and Lisa Amador, grew up in Forestville, CA just west of Santa Rosa merely a stone’s throw from Westside Road. Being a local and having grown up in the Russian River Valley surrounded in every direction by wineries, vineyards, and the agricultural epicenter for the wine industry, Trini was determined to carve out his career path as a winemaker.  In order to achieve this goal Trini enrolled at Oregon State University to study Applied Agriculture. During his college years and shortly thereafter Trini worked in various capacities in the wine industry starting first with internships with Williams Selyem (winemaking) and Gallo Family Vineyards (vineyard management). Eventually, these experiences compelled Trini to embark on a career that beset both vineyard management and winemaking.

These distinctly different winery and vineyard experiences helped fulfill his initial objective which was to learn the wine business. With this combination of experience and education he was ready to bring to life his winemaking vision. In 2005, with the support of his family, who not only serve as business partners but as his inspiration for building a successful winery, Trini and his family launched Gracianna Winery.

In Sonoma County you either work in the wine business or someone in your family works in the wine business.  This region is synonymous with hard work, pride, and the pursuance of a lifestyle that shows appreciation for what one has. This culture provides the perfect backdrop for Trini and Gracianna.  Most of us wine lovers believe that wine is a medium for cultural expression or an artful presentation of the values of those that cultivated the grapes and produced the wine. I asked Trini if he subscribes to this belief and how he would describe his winemaking style. Without hesitation he expressed his agreement with this and added that Gracianna is about sharing gratitude and appreciation for all of the blessings in life. The wines he creates are a strict representation of this vision and each varietal is designed specifically to capture the very best of the RRV.

I pressed Trini on his choice of varietals for Gracianna which include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. He further endorsed his vision for prescribed winemaking and stated that these varietals offer the greatest opportunity to produce the results he envisions. Russian River Valley famously produces outstanding Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel fruit but this alone does not make a great wine. Trini devises a plan for each varietal more than a year before production carefully identifying the components he wants to emphasize in each vintage. Zinfandel provides him with a bold yet versatile option while Pinot Noir requires precision and finesse. Chardonnay, some of which he sources from the Green Valley in RRV, gives him an exciting change of pace and another opportunity to represent his vision. The first release of these wines came in 2009 giving the local community their first glimpse into Trini’s vision for winemaking.

Trini‘s vision does not exclude a desire to produce high quality wines that are recognized as such. However, he states his motivation is vested in a higher purpose for Gracianna. Revisiting the mission for Gracianna he is driven by the desire to produce a great wine that can bring together friends and family to celebrate what is great in life. To celebrate the brightest moments in life Trini wants the greatest quality wine to match the occasion. He wants to produce something he can be proud of and awards and accolades are a relatively innocent byproduct of quality winemaking.

Trini went on to add that he is not consumed with achieving commercial growth and is more interested remaining focused on making great wines. I have heard that he is considered an up and coming winemaker so I asked him when he will know he has arrived.  His response is what made me most appreciative for this interview. Trini believes his personal success is measured only by his ability to sustain his career in the business of his dreams, by growing grapes, producing great wines, and meeting a variety of self imposed challenges along the way.  Upon speaking with Trini, it is quite easy to gauge his level of appreciation for the life he has, his humble perspective, and his passion to embrace local tradition as his chosen profession. Furthermore, and maybe most importantly, for this is what Gracianna is founded upon, he attributes many of these values to his family and without their support he could not embark on the pursuance of his dream.

I learned a great deal about the personalized nature of winemaking but much more about the deeper significance the wine industry represents to the people of Sonoma beyond the obvious economic implications. It is this appreciation that Gracianna represents and Trini Amador has everything to do with this.

Additional points of interest:

Gracianna was awarded gold for the 2007 Gracianna Bacigalupi Zinfandel and silver for the 2007 and 2008 Gracianna Bacigalupi Pinot Noir at the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle wine competition.

UPDATE: Gracianna awarded 2011 Best in Class by the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition for their 2008 Bacigalupi Pinot Noir! Also awarded Gold: 2009 Suzanne’s Blend Chardonnay and Bronze: 2009 Bacigalupi Zinfandel.

Sonoma County Harvest Fair in Oct. 2010 brought Gracianna a gold medal for 2008 Bacigalupi Zinfandel and a silver medal for the 2008 Bacigalupi Pinot Noir.

The winery is expected to open a new tasting room in early summer of 2011.

The Amadors expect an estate vineyard designated “Mercedes’ Vineyard” planted to pinot noir to release in 2013.

The 2010 growing season presented a challenge to all vineyards in northern California. However, all signs point to another solid harvest for Gracianna.

Link to Gracianna Winery

Steve Palmer is the author of The Sonoma Vine – Sonoma Wineries and Vineyards Reference Blog. For more information or questions about this article Steve can be contacted at Steve@thesonomavine.com.

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