Tom Rinaldi, one of Napa Valley's most respected winemakers, has died.
Rinaldi, whose winemaking career spanned 50 years, was the founding winemaker at the famed Duckhorn Vineyards, where he worked for 22 years before moving on to help establish several other wine brands, including Provenance Vineyards and Hewitt. Rinaldi's daughter, Angelina Bigelow, said her father's death this past weekend was unexpected, but that he passed "peacefully in his sleep." He was 77.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Rinaldi's interest in wine took root during his teenage years on frequent trips to Napa on his motorcycle in the 1960s. Despite being under the legal drinking age, Rinaldi was able to taste and buy wine without issue. He visited estates like Louis M. Martini, Charles Krug and the Christian Brothers, though one of his favorite wineries was Beaulieu Vineyard, where he once bought the winery's iconic Georges de Latour for $3. (Today, it sells for $180.)
At 17, Rinaldi enlisted in the Navy. During the Vietnam War, he worked as an aircrewman in Guam, where he served as a typhoon tracker and flew straight into the eye of 30 storms; he also worked within the 101st Airborne Division, which specialized in helicopter air assault operations.
After the Navy, he enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College, planning to become either a doctor or a veterinarian, though he took some wine classes as well. " He never applied to medical or veterinary school, choosing instead to study oenology and viticulture at UC Davis alongside many other future Napa Valley wine legends, such as Mike Martini, Bob Levy, Tim Mondavi and Cathy Corison. Rinaldi later recalled on a 2020 podcast with Shafer Vineyards' Doug Shafer that he "met a lot of miserable doctors and a lot of happy winemakers."
Rinaldi's first winemaking job was an internship at the historic Freemark Abbey, where he was chosen from a pool of 20 applicants. After that, he worked in the lab at Rutherford Hill, then as the founding winemaker of Round Hill. In 1978, several friends recommended him to Duckhorn founder Dan Duckhorn, who was looking for a winemaker. Rinaldi drove by the winery on his motorcycle and stopped to chat with Duckhorn, who was working on some trees. He got the job on the spot.
That same year, at a time when most wineries were only using Merlot for blending, Rinaldi produced the first vintage of the Three Palms Merlot that made Duckhorn famous. The first vintage included 15% Cabernet, which Rinaldi often attributed to the Merlot's overnight success. "That made all the difference in the world," he said on Shafer's podcast. "I think if it had been 100 percent Merlot, it would've been a head-scratcher." Duckhorn became synonymous with California Merlot, and is largely credited with igniting the U.S. Merlot craze that persisted through the '80s and '90s.
Rinaldi was also an "incredible mentor" to the winemakers coming up behind him, Shafer told the Chronicle. "He put Merlot on the map in the modern era. That's what I think most people know him for," Shafer said. "But the other thing was that he was so generous with his time and advice for all of us. He'd be incredibly forthcoming."
Eric Risch, who worked with Rinaldi on two wine brands, Pellet Estate and Patent Wines, called him "the unsung mentor" of Napa Valley. "He never missed an opportunity to help somebody learn," Risch said. "He always exhibited such patience and tolerance, and he never judged you by what you did and didn't know."
In 2000, after 22 years at Duckhorn - which had grown into a major wine company with four other brands - Rinaldi left to become the founding winemaker for Chalone Wine Group's Hewitt Vineyard and Provenance Vineyards, which sourced grapes from the prized vineyards owned by renowned grower Andy Beckstoffer. "I felt that I was leaving Duckhorn in a steady state. I wasn't creating anything new there, and I had three winemakers under me who were very good," Rinaldi told the Chronicle in 2003. "I had also turned 50, and that puts you into a different frame of mind."
Throughout his career, Rinaldi, recognized around Napa Valley by his thick beard and uniform of Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts, became revered for his expertise in barrel selection and blending. He semi-retired after the 2014 vintage, but continued to work on several small wine projects, including one in Washington State.
In 2019, at 70 years old, Rinaldi partnered with Risch on a new brand originally called DoublePlus; the winery was named after the symbol that Rinaldi marked in chalk on barrels of wine he found exceptional. "When I'm going to barrels, I'll give them a check if that's good enough, a plus if it's really nice, a minus if I don't think it's all that good, or God forbid, an 'X,' if it's got brettanomyces or some flaw," he explained on Shafer's podcast. "Every now and then I'll find one and, 'Ooh, give it an H.' I call it two plusses." Following a trademark dispute, DoublePlus rebranded to Patent Wines, which produces Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.
An avid cyclist who completed at least 10 Death Rides in the high Sierra Nevada Mountains - a ride consisting of 103 miles and more than 14,000 feet of climbing - Rinaldi "lived life to the fullest," Shafer said, recalling a time that Rinaldi completed a spontaneous midnight bike ride to Lake Tahoe. "He was full of energy, always upbeat and a big-time (San Francisco) Giants fan." He was also working with a writer on his biography, which Bigelow said should be published in the near future. "On his desk was the last chapter that he was looking over," she said. "The next day, one of our family friends was coming to collect it."
In 2003, Rinaldi told the Chronicle that he "must have wine in his blood," recounting a story about when his mother was pregnant with him and the doctor found she was low in iron. "My grandfather told her to drink a glass of red wine that night. She did, and the next and the next. When she returned to the doctor, her blood was fine," Rinaldi said. "The doctor said, 'Whatever it is you're doing, keep doing it.'"
Rinaldi was married for 43 years to his wife Beverly Kinney, who died in 2024. He is survived by his daughter Angelina and his six grandchildren.
"He was very charismatic, a people person. We would go places and he just knew everybody," Bigelow said. "He led a beautiful life and I think he did everything he wanted to do. He took advantage of all the opportunities life gave him."
There's more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at The Hawaiian-shirt wearing California winemaker who 'put Merlot on the map' has died.