Davie Piña
61 Minutes
Davie Piña grew up in a long Napa Valley tradition of vineyards and winemaking. He and his brothers ran one of the Valley's first vineyard management companies, helping to drive the enormous changes in Napa's reputation from the 1960s to today. They eventually launched their own family winery, Piña Napa Valley.
Davie's family first arrived in Napa in 1850, the same year California became a state. One of his great-grandfathers, Lafayette Stice, was a winemaker at Inglenook in the early 1900s. His sprawling family here includes first-cousin Chuck Wagner, whose family founded and still operates Caymus Vineyards.
His stories of vineyard work include how grape growers in the scrappy '60s and '70s would game the system to eek more income out of a profession that offered very slender profit margins. He talks in this episode from personal experience of the joys of working alongside his brothers and being part of Napa's transform from a rural farming community into a world-class wine region.
It's a great ride – enjoy!
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