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Our
story begins nearly fifty-six years ago outside of
South Boston Virginia as twelve-year-old Ken Laird
drove his mule wagon through tight rows of sticky,
fit-to-be-harvested tobacco leaves. As the gooey bundles
were thrown up onto the wagon, little Ken led his
mule team to the curing barn. It was there, with his
grandmother, great uncles and cousins, they would
stoke smoky curing fires for their prized tobacco.
Ken would be the third generation Laird to carry on
the farming tradition.
While
growing up to be a big city mechanical engineer in
New York City, Ken held on to family tradition by
buying his first Napa Valley parcel in 1970. This
neglected piece of land, adjacent to Tubbs Lane in
Calistoga, held 70 acres of worn-down prune trees.
With prohibition forty years gone and Napa Valley
positioned to re-emerge as viticulturally significant,
Ken decided to develop the orchard into a grape vineyard.
While knowing just short of nothing about viticulture,
Ken was also $150,000.00 short to properly develop
the orchard into a respectable vineyard. Picking up
a tattered phone book, Ken went to the yellow pages
and found eight listed wineries… Robert Mondavi
being the only one he recognized.
With
a phone call, Robert Mondavi himself agreed to walk
the property. After the two men discussed soils, vines,
yields, irrigation, and proper pruning, Robert agreed
to finance a deal with Ken if he would plant 50% Gamay.
The deal was struck with a resulting vineyard of 50%
Gamay and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, Mr. Mondavi guaranteeing
Ken’s Cabernet “to be the highest harvest
price paid in the Valley.” The support and encouragement
of Robert Mondavi would allow Ken to return to his
passion: his family farming heritage.
On
this ranch, near to where the Napa River begins, Ken
and Gail’s four children pursued small vineyard
chores with varying degrees of enthusiasm: Justin excitedly
tying small vines while Rebecca instead preferring to
play with dolls in an old barn. (Little did the two
know that years down the road, they would hold the reins
to great vineyards and ultimately to one of Napa Valley’s
finest production facilities).
With
no money to hire vineyard help, friends and relatives
were coaxed, cajoled and recruited to come up to the
“beautiful Napa Valley”. Upon arrival they
were dutifully put to work, prompted with homemade
egg salad sandwiches and sodas. This seedling vineyard
truly became a labor of love, the Laird’s first
Napa Valley vineyard.
In
1983, Ken and and his wife Gail moved to the Carneros
region, buying several significant vineyard properties,
all within throwing distance of the cool San Fransisco
Bay inlet. While Ken envisioned the Carneros region
as viticulturally “up-and-coming”, skeptical
neighbors with goats, empty pastures and prune trees
could not fathom the feasibility of successful vineyards.
As
Ken acquired more vineyards, the clientele and demand
for his fruit grew. Early clients were grand, pioneer
wineries such as Mondavi, Inglenook and Beringer.
As the years and reputation of Napa Valley vintners
grew, smaller, ultra premium wineries such as Cakebread,
Merryvale, Chappellet, Far Niente, Joseph Phelps and
Duckhorn asked for Laird grapes. Sonoma wineries such
as Kendall Jackson, Ravenswood, and Chateau St. Jean
also became clients. By reaching greater quality levels
through comprehensive, innovative vineyard management,
the reputation of the Lairds as premiere growers was
soon established.
In
the late nineties however, Ken realized that beyond
owning many diverse vineyards, there was not a place
for many Valley growers to bring their valuable grapes.
Ken’s vision grew far beyond a place simply for
grape storage to building an architecturally stunning,
high tech facility able to serve and collaborate with
many small, highly respected vintners. It was also
at this time that the Laird family had a perfect opportunity
to launch their own brand with their own estate-grown
grapes.
In
1998, Ken and his family broke ground for the Laird
Family Estate winery and production facility. Rebecca
would be named general manager, Justin, already with
ten years as vineyard manager, would be president of
vineyard operations and Ken the perpetual “idea
man”. Presenting theirs as the most technologically
advanced production facility in the region, renowned
winemakers and wineries began lining up to produce and
cellar their wines at Laird: Bob Egelhoff, Mia Klein,
Paul Hobbs, Steve Test, Mark Aubert, Celia Masyczek,
Colgin, Selene, Cornerstone and Crichton Hall to name
but a few of past and current clients.
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