Little did a pair of California aerospace engineers realize a modest $6,000 investment made four decades ago would turn a home winemaking venture into a profitable business supporting three generations.

As ZD Wines in Rutherford prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary this fall, members of the well known deLeuze family are taking time to salute the late patriarchs who launched the brand, taking garagista pinot noir to a new level in the then little known Carneros winegrowing district.

Gino Zepponi and Norman deLeuze were caught up in the race to space occasioned by Russia’s launch of Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957. They met at Aerojet General in Sacramento where both were employed, forming a friendship that, according to Rosa Lee deLeuze, “would change both of their lives forever.”

Filled with “big ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit,” the two engineers often talked about starting their own company. However, finding the appropriate field — or even product for that matter — proved more difficult than expected.

To occupy nights and weekends as the ’60s rolled by, the two men began making small amounts of wine at home. This avocation consumed more and more of their time, deLeuze eventually spending every spare moment researching new technologies of winemaking.

When deLeuze took on a new job in Sonoma County, the two friends talked in earnest as well about launching a wine brand of their own. They figured they could make wine in their spare time and keep their day jobs, too.

When deLeuze applied for a winery license from Sonoma County’s Alcoholic Beverage Control, agency officials looked high and low for the appropriate form. As no one had applied for such a license in more than two decades, the application form no longer existed. The ABC official asked deLeuze to put his request on a blank sheet of paper and he would put it through the approval process. It took nearly a year for the license to be approved.

The partners had no trouble picking a name for brand. Coming from the aerospace industry, deLeuze and Zepponi were more than familiar with a quality control slogan calling for “zero defects.” As ZD also tied into the two men’s last names, ZD was agreed upon by both families as the right name for the new wine brand.

Zepponi and deLeuze spent weekends in 1969 refurbishing a small farm building in Sonoma’s Carneros. Both men invested $3,000 in the startup business for rent, supplies and, of course, grapes.

The ’69 harvest was ZD’s first, the initial 4.9 tons of pinot noir coming from Rene di Rosa’s Winery Lake vineyard in Carneros. The first crush yielded 375 cases of ZD Carneros pinot noir.

A full-time job

The goal of the ZD partnership was — and continues to be — to produce the best chardonnay and pinot noir possible. Cabernet sauvignon was added to the portfolio in 1980.

As production increased with each crush, the partners realized they could no longer manage the brand in their spare time.

Zepponi had accepted an executive vice president’s post at Domaine Chandon so Norman and Rosa Lee deLeuze agreed to make ZD wines a full-time effort.

With the growth in production and sales, deLeuze realized the business had outgrown its small Carneros cellar. Locating an ideal site on Silverado Trail, he went about securing a loan for land acquisition and winery construction. He was turned down two dozen times before one lender was willing to grant the partnership the money it needed.

Although leaving a full-time job meant his paycheck would be cut in half, Norman deLeuze never second-guessed that decision, his widow, Rosa Lee, noted. “And I supported him in that,” she added.

“It was the great American story. Norm and Gino were hard workers who had a dream fulfilled. They did a lot (of the work) themselves. They’d buy old equipment, and because they were mechanical engineers they could make it work. Of course, today everything’s state of the art.”

Once the Rutherford site was in the partnership’s hands, the two families set about constructing the first phase of the new ZD Wines headquarters.

Robert deLeuze, the couple’s oldest son, joined his father at the winery, becoming winemaker in 1983. At present, he’s CEO/winemaster at ZD Wines, overseeing winery management.

His brother and sister, Brett and Julie are also part of the team carrying out the partnership’s vision. “Brett is our secret weapon,” his mother says, referring to his marketing efforts at ZD where he serves as winery president and works with longtime national marketing manager Teresa D’Aurizio. Julie has been administrative director of ZD since the early days, keeping the family operation on steady financial footing.

For decades, Rosa Lee deLeuze has been the public face of the brand. Early on, when people asked what her role was, she would tell them: “I take care of VIPs and I clean the bathroom.”

Three generations

When Gino Zepponi was killed in an auto accident in 1985, the deLeuze family purchased his interest in the wine operation from his estate.

Two years ago, Norman lost his battle against lymphoma. His family continues to carry on what his  widow notes is “an indelible legacy...(which) has its roots in organic farming, eco practices and non-toxic research — principles that Norman helped put into practice both in personal life and at ZD Wines.”

Rosa Lee is proud that her grandson, Brandon, son of Robert and Sheryl deLeuze has joined the operation as assistant winemaker, working with winemaker Chris Pisani, who assisted Robert in winemaking duties before taking over in 2001. (In addition, Sheryl and Natalie deLeuze, Brett’s wife, often assist the family when ZD wines are served at trade and charitable functions.)

Together, Brandon and Chris are responsible for production of ZD’s well-balanced, fruit-driven chardonnays, intense, flavorful pinot noirs and rich, opulent cabernet sauvignons. They also produce one wine each year, a tribute to family matriarch, Rosa Lee, that changes from harvest to harvest. In recent years, the Rosa Lee wine has been a sauvignon blanc, petite sirah, zinfandel, riesling and viognier. It is sold only at the winery.

As a tribute to Norman deLeuze, the family has just released the first Founders Reserve pinot noir from the 2007 harvest.

ZD grows pinot noir and chardonnay on the 34 acre vineyard the family owns in Carneros and cabernet sauvignon adjacent to the winery — both farmed organically. The company operates on its own solar power, generated at the Silverado Trail winery site.

Although she never dreamed she’d be making and selling wine, Rosa Lee deLeuze is happy with her lot in life.

“Norm and I were married for 52 years,” she revealed. “Initially, I wanted to be a reporter. My first job was as copy girl for the Oakland Tribune ... that’s the way you started. I was a student at UC Berkeley at the time and Norm was a student too.”

Questioned about the ups and downs of the business, she said that when the economy slumps “you have to work harder. We’ve been through this (recession) three times since we started. To our benefit, we’ve been around so long that people are willing to buy what they know rather than (try) something new.

“We’ve never been in the red — from day one,” the family matriarch proudly observed. As an aside, she said she was pleased that the company had been able to give all 20 employees raises this year.

“It’s a great business — and I love it.”