STACEY VREEKEN - Sentinel staff writer

Article date: 09/10/2008

SOQUEL

John Bargetto grew up at the family's winery in Soquel, surrounded by parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. The winery's 75th anniversary this year is more than a celebration of a business, it marks a family's legacy.

"There was never a dull moment. As I get older, I learn to appreciate and view things differently than I did as a kid. We had a unique upbringing, a traditional Italian upbringing," says Bargetto, now winery vice president and director of winemaking.

He describes his five-member family as small, compared to the whole group, and recalls the tasting room as a community center in Soquel. "I've worked in the tasting room since fourth grade," he says. His own three children are free to chart their own courses, but he hopes at least one will take an interest. Other family members affiliated with the family winery are siblings Martin Bargetto, president; Loretta Bargetto Mujal, assistant controller; and former president Beverly Bargetto, John's mother, who remains on the board of directors.

Cousin Peter Bargetto and his twin Paul, who previously worked at Bargetto Winery, established Soquel Vineyards with Jon Morgan in 1987. They've recently purchased land once owned by Peter and Paul's grandfather. Now the site of the winery and tasting room, the land was originally part of the Bargetto ranch, where plum and cherry trees grew.

Bargetto Winery was started by brothers Phillip and John Bargetto who immigrated from Castelnuovo Don Bosco, a small town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. They started out as partners in an apple ranch near Zayante and purchased the land along Soquel Creek in 1918, where they began to make wine for friends and family.

During Prohibition, they continued to sell produce, but in 1933 they turned to winemaking. When Phillip passed away, John was left as sole owner, and he passed the family business on to his sons Ralph and Lawrence.

During Lawrence's era in the 1960s and '70s, the winery was modernized and Lawrence introduced fruit wines, including the Chaucer's Mead honey wine. Fruit wines were produced under the Bargetto label. About 15 years ago, after much family discussion, son John Bargetto convinced the family to move the fruit wines under the Chaucer label completely.

Bargetto Winery got serious, focusing more on Santa Cruz Mountain varietals such as pinot noir and Chardonnay. Today, under John's direction, Bargetto is winning honors in wine competitions and here at home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He also manages the 40-acre Regan Estate vineyards, one of the first in Corralitos, a new hot spot for grape growing. Planted with Chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot and pinot grigio, Regan Estate is the source for a series of reserve wines being released for the winery's 75th anniversary.

The winery also produces the grapes for La Vita, a blend of the Italian red varietals nebbiolo, dolcetto and refosco, popular in the Piedmont region of Italy, as a tribute to family. This high-end wine $60-$75 is bright and spicy and recalls sunny climate and happy family gatherings. The elegant, well-structured wine is aged five years before release and a portion of the proceeds benefits area nonprofits, this year the Soquel Library.

John, who carries a strong resemblance to his father Lawrence, lights up when he describes the potential of the Regan vineyard.

"The west face of the Santa Cruz Mountains do so well for pinot noir," says John, where he has four pinot noir clones growing at the vineyard. He is also excited about the merlot, "because it's so different here. It's not common knowledge to plant merlot in a cool climate."But he reserves special praise for the pinot grigio, Bargetto's No. 1 selling wine."It has flavor, intensity and delightful depth of fruit," says John, citing the cool climate of the Regan vineyard and a state of full ripeness when picked.

Despite the sophistication that Bargetto now enjoys, John is a bit nostalgic as he remembers playing along Soquel Creek. "We had a lot of fun and adventure," he says looking at the creek from the recently remodeled courtyard: "You get older and appreciate how hard it is to run a winery. It's a small business but you have to act larger. It's an agricultural business growing grapes, then production to make wine and, now most adventurous, selling the wine and competing with the world. ... Each one has great challenges and rewards."

He looks toward the next 75 years with measured anticipation, seeing a maturing wine market trending toward more red wines and specialty wines.

"I would expect us to continue to go upscale, with more estate-grown varietals," he says. "My real passion is producing fine, estate-grown wine. It's aesthetic as well as a business. I like being associated with product that gives people pleasure."