Mike Grgich joins Vintner Hall of Fame

By Register Staff

Napa Valley winemaker Miljenko “Mike” Grgich was inducted into the Vintner Hall of Fame on March 7, in honor of his many contributions to the wine industry. The tribute comes at the same time that Mike is celebrating his 50th vintage of making wine in the Napa Valley.

His recognition noted that after Grgich arrived in Napa Valley in 1958 he worked for some of Napa’s best-known wineries, Souverain, Christian Brothers, Beaulieu Vineyards and Robert Mondavi Winery, before becoming winemaker at Chateau Montelena.

He then crafted the Chardonnay that beat the best white wines in France in the now-famous 1976 Paris Tasting, helping to shatter the myth that only French soil could produce the world’s greatest wines.

The Vintners Hall of Fame annual induction dinner endows new scholarship programs for the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena.

Info, www.ciaprochef.com/winestudies/vintners.html.

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