Winemaker
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Patrick Campbell, Owner/Winemaker
I sampled wine at local Cucamonga wineries, enjoyed the fruit of the gods in Paris with my cousin and at home with my parents, and drank wine -- with both hedonism and reflection -- in college. But it was not until I set eyes on an ancient vineyard on Sonoma Mountain that my vocation was assured. I was born in Baltimore in 1947, grew up on the fringes of the southern California wine industry, and studied English Literature at Pomona College and Philosophy of Religion at Harvard University. I have a degree in neither viticulture nor enology. In short, I have the proper credentials for winemaking. After graduate school I moved to Sonoma in 1974 and became a vineyard manager by day and a union musician by night, playing the viola in several Bay Area symphony orchestras. After three years of living in a Zen Buddhist community on Sonoma Mountain, my wife, Faith, and I purchased the neighboring 3 acre Laurel Glen Vineyard; since 1977, the vineyard holdings have expanded to the present 35 contiguous acres. In 1981, I established Laurel Glen Winery to produce cabernet-based wine from our vineyards. Five times each year I travel to Argentina to make a delicious and affordable malbec called Terra Rosa; and from time to time I poke around the outer fringes of California's wine country to discover old vineyards for REDS, a Wine for the People. Sales are international. When not growing, making, and drinking Laurel Glen wines, I enjoy life, tractors, swimming, reading, and eating pasta primavera in Argentina. Though ocean kayak racing has supplanted my string quartet playing, wine industry politics still occupies much of my time. After a decade of leadership positions in industry trade associations, I focused on the direct shipping issue, which is now wending its way through the court system. Concurrently, I was voted the first recipient of the Wine Industry Integrity Award.
After graduation, I embarked on a 3 month trip around the world and ended up returning 7 years later. I lived in Japan, Singapore, and Bangkok. For 5 of the 7 years I helped to build the Schooner Third Sea and sailed the South China Sea and South Pacific. I am still planning on going around the world. Upon my return home I visited with various friends. The day I set foot in Sonoma I decided this where I would settle. Within in a year I was working on bottling lines and in two years worked my first crush at Kenwood Winery, where I ended up being a cellar worker for about 5 years. I then worked a couple of harvests at Bouchaine in Carneros, while starting my California wine export company, California Terroirs. With the 1985 & 1986 vintage in the cellar, I began my years at Laurel Glen. By this time the formula of a pound of sugar, a LB of fruit, a gallon of water, and a balloon as a fermentation lock had been refined a bit, but not that much. When not in the cellar at Laurel Glen or at my desk working on Laurel Glen's and other wineries' exports, I enjoy swimming, traveling, cooking, drinking wine from the world over, and going to baseball games. I live with my wife Emiko at the base of Sonoma Mountain, which continually reminds me of the beauty and responsibility we all have in our special place in this world. My continuing goal is make Laurel Glen reflect its terroir as purely as possible. |
Like many wine industry professionals, I ambled unintentionally into winemaking.
An appreciation for brewing and wine making was developed during my college years. My first batches of beer were wildly received. It led to my first wine making experience: a pound of sugar, a pound of fruit, a gallon of water, and a balloon as a fermentation lock was my introduction to winemaking. Born in Germany in 1946, I learned about the medicinal powers of wine. My father had kidney stones. The Doctor recommended a bottle of Riesling as medicine. My father is 94 years old today with no kidney problems. We later settled in the Los Angeles area, and I graduated from Northridge University with a secondary credential in History.