Register Staff Writer

By JACK HEEGER

About this time last year Pam Starr received a telephone call from a staff member at Wine Spectator who asked if she wanted some extra copies of the new edition of the magazine. "I didn't understand it," she said. "It didn't register with me."

Then she received a call from one of her distributors in the east who told her that her 2004 Crocker & Starr sauvignon blanc had just been named the No. 12 wine in the world on Wine Spectator's annual top 100 list.

"I never dreamed I'd be on a list like that," Starr said. "Sauvignon blancs from Napa Valley had never been celebrated as top wines, but Jim Laube (Wine Spectator's West Coast senior editor) liked it.

"Do I believe that mine was the 12th best in the world? I think I've got a lot of work to do to get to 12th place, but thank you," she said.

She can't forget the honor, either. A friend gave her a giant poster featuring the page listing the top 100 wines, with the Crocker & Starr name highlighted, and it hangs on a wall in her home.

No fluke

But those who know Starr don't think being on that list was a fluke.

For the past 10 years she has made wines for Adastra, a small vintner in Carneros. "She makes no compromises," said owner Chris Thorpe. "Our objective is to make the best wines we can, and she fits right into that."

Co-owner Edwin Richards added, "She's always willing to do what it takes. She's not chasing (rating) points but is interested in making wines that express the sense of place -- true to what the wine should taste like."

Paul Frank of Gemstone, one of Starr's former consulting clients, said, "She's not only qualified as a winemaker but she has a great sense of style. She doesn't make a recipe wine. Pam's equally at home in the vineyard as in the winery, and on top of that, she's a super nice person."

Her Crocker & Starr wines are consistently highly rated -- the sauvignon blanc that ranked 12th received 94 points from Wine Spectator and her two previous vintages also scored in the 90s.

Like many in the wine industry, Starr didn't start out with a wine career in mind. She grew up in Rainier, a logging town in Oregon, where her father, an orthopedic surgeon, had bought a small practice to support his large family. "I was number two in a gaggle of four girls," she said. They moved to Missouri where they lived for three years, then to Palos Verdes Estates in Southern California.

"I was always an independent spirit," she said, "so when it came to college, I went to UC Davis. It was eight hours away from Southern California." She was interested in science and planned to go on to dental school.

The Peterson sisters

At Davis Starr met Heidi Peterson (now Barrett) and Holly Peterson (now Mondavi) and they interested her in some of the science options available. She chose fermentation science. She also took a job with a spice company -- "I tell people I'm one of the original Spice Girls," she said -- and credits that with helping her develop her palate.

An internship at Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards in Sonoma County changed her mind about dentistry as a career, and Starr went to work in the cellar at Edna Valley Vineyards in San Luis Obispo County, rolling and stacking barrels and handling other cellar duties. There she met some folks from Carmenet Winery in Sonoma and they convinced her to join them.

She spent six years there, working in every position involved with making wine, from working in the lab to her final title of assistant winemaker, "but titles didn't mean anything there," she said. "We had a guy who had a Ph.D. who was rolling barrels." She had an opportunity to conduct "hundreds of experiments," and honed her winemaking skills.

She came to Napa Valley in 1991 to join Spottswoode Estate where she worked with Tony Soter and David Abreu and helped to plant portions of the vineyard. Her experience at Spottswoode gave her an appreciation for the winery's customers. "They had such a love for Spottswoode -- it was like being a part of the family and it was like I was working for them," she said. She has maintained that appreciation for customers throughout her career.

The Spottswoode estate had no sauvignon blanc, so she started looking around for a source. One of the vineyard workers at Spottswoode had a friend who worked in the vineyard at the Crocker estate in St. Helena, and he nagged Starr to come to the Crocker vineyard and look at the sauvignon blanc grapes there.

"He pestered me so much that I finally went to look and found that it was the same vineyard where I got the grapes for my homemade wine," Starr said. She and a friend had made some gewrztraminer wine one year, but it was a one-time event. "As a professional winemaker it's hard to make your own (homemade) wine during harvest."

When she looked at the Crocker property, she felt that it had potential.

"I received a call from Charlie Crocker," she said. "He thought I wanted to buy the property, but something got lost in the translation from Spanish to English. Then he told me he was interested in seeing estate wine come out of the place, and told me of some of the history."

The Crocker estate

The estate is more than 100 years old, it's the site of an old abandoned winery, and much of the original stone walls remain. It covers 60 acres, 10 of which are taken up by the old winery named Stone Place, a Victorian home and a chapel, along with one of the few commercial walnut orchards remaining in Napa Valley, plus numerous varieties of fruit trees. The remaining 50 acres are all planted to cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and some malbec and petite verdot have recently been planted.

About half the grapes are now used for the estate wines; the remainder are sold, but Starr said that as re-planting continues, the new grapes will be used for estate wines.

In 1997 Starr decided to join with Crocker, who is a descendant of the Crocker family, one of the "Big Four in San Francisco," and heads a venture capital firm. He provided the grapes and whatever was needed in the vineyard, and she handled all the other duties, including winemaking and marketing.

The first year they produced 200 cases of Stone Place, a red blend, and 100 cases of cabernet franc. Current production of Crocker & Starr totals 2,400 cases, about half of which is sauvignon blanc. It's the only wine that is not 100 percent estate; about half the grapes are sourced from Larry Hyde's vineyard at Trancas and Silverado Trail.

'Only the translator'

Starr spends a considerable amount of time in the vineyard and is quick to acknowledge its role in the wine. "I'm only the translator," she said. "We're sustainably farmed, but the cab franc is organic," she said, adding that it's not certified.

She has experience with certified organic vineyards, though. Adastra, which is certified organic, produces about 500 cases each of chardonnay and merlot and 200 cases of pinot noir.

Starr came to Adastra through an introduction by Tony Soter, whom she knew at Spottswoode. When they met her, Thorpe and Richards said she was a natural, not only because of her winemaking abilities, but because of her name -- Adastra means "to the stars."

As if she doesn't have enough to do, she has joined with winemaker Drew Nieman to create a red wine blend called "Bridesmaid." "It's really a negociant label," she said, explaining that it's a combination of several wines picked up from several different wineries after their blends are complete. The label features a woman without a head -- "You can't tell what's in it," Starr whimsically said. "It's sexy and available, but still the bridesmaid. She'll never wear the white dress."

Starr is fiercely loyal to her clients. A small vintner once was told by his winemaker on the day before harvest was to begin that he had too much work and would be unable to handle the crush. Starr, who had served the vintner as consulting winemaker, had a full plate, too but said she would would take care of it. She did, from start to finish.

Passion for winemaking

In conversations, her passion for making wine is evident. "For me, the inspiration lies in the constant change during fermentation and the slow change in the barrel. I'm very strict about what I want to put into the bottle," she said.

She is one of a growing number of female winemakers in Napa Valley, but one of a smaller number of winemakers/owners. She offers this advice to women who want to get into the business: "Don't be just a winemaker. Become a winery owner, too. Find a wine you love, understand it, and grow it (the business) from there."

Where does Starr go from here?

"There's so much more that I want to do," she said. "My middle name is 'Joy,' but it should be 'More.' More time. More wine. More character (in the wine). And more friends."

That shouldn't be difficult for her.