David Abreu
name: label: Collection Interviewer
content: Edwards, Nanci
label: Collection Interviewer
content: Fleckner, John A., 1941-
label: Collection Interviewer
content: Green, Rayna, 1942- (Curator)
label: Collection Interviewer
content: Johnson, Paula, Curator
label: Collection Creator
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: American Wine Documentation Project
label: See more items in
content: American Wine Documentation Project / Series 4: Interviews / 4.1: Interviews and Abstracts
unitdate: label: Date
content: March 30, 2001
container: label: Container
content: Box 1, Folder 10
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The interview was conducted by members of the American Wine & Food History Project, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, including Nanci Edwards, Rayna Green, John Fleckner, and Paula Johnson, as they walked around Ridge's Monte Bello vineyards and winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California on March 27, 2001.  

This recording was made on a DAT recorder until the batteries gave out and the interviewers switched to a cassette tape recorder, which also malfunctioned. No further recording was possible.  The first part of the  recording was made outside the winery and the blowing wind sometimes obscures the sound.  Later, the interview moved into the barrel room of the winery.  Total: Originals: 2 DAT tapes, 1 cassette tape; Copies: 3 master 5-inch reels (transcriber could not locate), 4 cassettes

Abstract & Historical Overview

Ridge winery is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of central California. It was established by four electrical engineers from the Stanford Research Institute in 1959 when they bought the old and neglected Monte Bello vineyards with the plan to make it a weekend retreat and retirement destination. A casual winemaking experiment by Dave Bennion, one of the owners, spurred them into the winemaking business, however.  Ridge's '71 Monte Bello Cabernet placed a respectable fifth in the 1976 Paris Tasting and the winery has been producing premium wines ever since.

Paul Draper began working at Ridge in 1969 and has been its winemaker since 1971. After graduating from Stanford University, he lived in Italy and France, which honed his interest in fine wines. He gained his first practical experience when he and a colleague established a winery in Chile as a way to improve the local economy of a community where they lived. 

Draper's wine-making philosophy is summed up in his phrase, "wine makes itself."  Rather than depending on modern, so-called industrial technologies and methods, Draper relies more on traditional and natural processes. This outlook is reflected in Ridge's "hands-off" winemaking processes, which entails allowing the distinct character of a wine to develop on its own with little use of manual blending or additives.  Draper stated that he relies on taste rather scientific measurements to gauge good wine. Rather than seeing this method as anti-modern, Draper believes it produces the best wine. Following this conservative mode of winemaking, Draper discusses how he places high value on historic native California winemaking practices and vareitals.

With intricate detail, Draper covers topics ranging from the cultural and geological history of Ridge's vineyards, landscape preservation issues, varietal differences, and specific aspects of the winemaking process from pruning to pressing.  His in-depth knowledge of the local climate and geology is related, in part, to his strong belief in terroir and its contribution to the distinct character of Ridge wines.  Draper provides an excellent historic survey of the historic developments in California winemaking.