John Parducci, Mendocino Wine Pioneer, Dies At 96
February 7, 2014John Parducci, a pioneering Mendocino winemaker and one of the last of the Prohibition-era generation, died Feb. 4 at his Ukiah, Calif., home, Wine Spectator reports. He was 96. Parducci joined the family business at age 14, traveling with railcar shipments bound for New Jersey to sell his family’s grapes to home winemakers during Prohibition. When his father started Mendocino’s first winery, Parducci Cellars, in 1932, John worked in the fields as a teenager and was soon helping with winemaking. By 1944 he was lead winemaker.
Parducci and his brother George took over winery operations in 1964, focusing on making Zinfandels and Petite Sirahs, for which Parducci had a special passion. Parducci was the first to bottle varietal wines in Mendocino, the first to use Anderson Valley on a label and the first to promote the Mendocino name around the country.
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