From beer to grapes, from law to wine. Bernie Orsi and Lawrence Papale have come a long way in their friendship of 40 years. Today, they are producing small amounts of cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and La Mescalanza, a blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes under their brand, not surprisingly called Orsi-Papale Estate Wines.

Sitting in the living room of the historic home Papale and his wife, Mary Stephenson, have just finished renovating, Papale said his partner is a “real character. I’ve known him for 40 years and I went to school with his cousin. He was a fixture in our family.” Orsi worked for the city and county of San Francisco, while Papale was doing trust work for Joe Alioto’s law firm in San Francisco. Papale said he kept track of his friend, who went into business, working for real estate and beer magnate Paul Kalmanovitz, who owned Papst Brewing Company and later Falstaff Brewing Company, moving its headquarters from Milwaukee to San Francisco. Orsi worked for Kalmanovitz for many years and ended up as his right-hand man and vice president for Pabst Brewing Company.

Papale worked for Alioto for 10 years and then, in 1985, he went into partnership with Steven Cannata. Their San Francisco law firm prospered and he said it’s unlikely that he’d ever leave San Francisco. But, that’s getting ahead of the story.

Wine introduction

Papale was introduced to fine wine at St. Mary’s College, where his Swiss roommate “insisted every night on opening a bottle of wine,” he said. The bottles opened were either fine Swiss or French wines. “In those days, you could get BV private reserve for $4 or pay $10 or $15 for a bottle of first-growth Bordeaux,” he said.

Later, Papale went to Italy and learned about Italian wines.

Fast forward to Oct. 17, 1989, when the San Francisco Giants played the Oakland A’s in the Bay Bridge World Series. You may remember what happened during that series — the Loma Prieta earthquake that was rated at 6.9 on the open-ended Richter scale. At that point, Papale discussed the situation with his wife. “Maybe we should think about doing something different,” he said.

Something different was leasing their home in San Francisco and moving to St. Helena’s Chablis Court in 1991. Papale commuted to the city for four years, but finally ended his partnership in 1995 and opened an office in St. Helena.

By the book

Papale decided to make wine by the book. In fact, he bought “From Vines to Wine,” read it and underlined the parts that he thought were important. He bought grapes from Rob Andreae in 1992 and they crushed the grapes in his garage. They made two barrels and Papale said the wine turned out well. “We put it in local competitions and got a blue ribbon for it,” he said. The two kept making wine, and although some years were better than others, it was worth doing, Papale said.

The year is now 1995 and the paths of the two friends became intertwined again. Papale and Orsi made wine from grapes grown on Orsi’s vineyards in Sonoma County. “Those wines turned out well,” Papale said, although, he adds, if they hadn’t won a blue ribbon or two at county fairs, their efforts probably wouldn’t have continued.

In 2001 they decided to make wine commercially. Although the grapes were the best grown in Orsi’s Dry Creek and Russian River appellation vineyards, the two went from one custom-crush facility to another in the years to follow. After four years, the Orsi-Papale label has ended up at John Fetzer’s Saracina Winery in Hopland, working with winemaker Alex MacGregor.

Even though he said he feels like a “traveling winemaker” and a “nomad,” Papale said working with the different winemakers at the different facilities has been a real education.

The two have separate roles — Orsi is in charge of growing the grapes and tending the vineyards, while Papale is in charge of marketing the wines. Mike Smith of Sunshine Markets was the first to sell their wines and Papale said he’s been very supportive, both of Orsi-Papale and other small producers. “He’s a real friend of artisan labels,” Papale added.

What is the future of the brand? Papale said it is to continue their current efforts and the idea behind the wine, which is to make the cabernet and pinot noir in the French style. “The pinot noir has a beautiful, silky mouth feel,” he said. “It is not a plush wine, but it is structured.” He talks about the wines having a beginning, middle and an end. According to a statement on the Web site, the wines’ “aroma and first taste should be pleasing, rounding out and filling the mouth with flavor, followed by a long finish that persists after the wine is swallowed. Our wines are not meant to be monuments to themselves. Our objective is to craft wines that are intensely flavored, multi-layered and interesting to drink, especially with food, and always with family and friends.”