Gloria Ferrer -  Sonoma, California

Winemaker

Bob Iantosca

Winemaker, Vice President

Bob Iantosca is living the winemaker’s dream life. Renowned for the sparkling wines he’s developed at Gloria Ferrer since the mid-1980s, in more recent years he’s been indulging the artists’ passion for experimentation and diversity with limited quantities of estate-grown still wines. This dual role as both sparkling and still winemaker makes Bob a rarity in the wine industry.

But his true love is bubbly. Since joining Gloria Ferrer in 1984, Bob has overseen the expansion of production from 40,000 to 100,000 cases and of vineyard plantings in Sonoma’s Carneros district from 40 to 340 acres, including new acreage at Circle Bar Ranch. Bob has also created five distinct cuvées and gained a rare depth of knowledge of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, from grape to champagne. The Carneros Cuvée, his tête de cuvée, leads a full range of sparkling wine styles. Bob finds the blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir complex and captivating. “They are a magical combination,” he says. Even his Blanc de Noirs has a small percentage of Chardonnay.

Bob spent 1999 directing a major expansion of the winery caves, bringing all of his still wine production in-house and creating ideal aging conditions. This added barrel storage capacity, along with a new red wine production facility completed in 2000, will allow Bob to keep a close eye on his varietal Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs while developing his two new red varietals. “The terroir of our newest vineyards at Circle Bar Ranch made Merlot and Syrah an appropriate choice,” says Bob. “There’s a new wave of red wines now that are fruitier and softer, and we’re very fortunate to be growing grapes in Carneros, which is known for producing grapes with loads of fruit characteristics.”

As the winery’s production increases and new varietals are released, Bob’s goal will remain the same—to craft wines that are consistent in expressing the Gloria Ferrer style and quality, while always reflecting the distinctive characteristics of Carneros. Attaining that goal has meant expanding the winery’s vineyards to include a broad variety of clones. This effort began in the late-1980s when Bob and Vineyard Manager Mike Crumly spearheaded an intensive clonal research program. Over the years they have painstakingly worked to determine which clones are best suited to each of the many microclimates in Gloria Ferrer’s Carneros vineyards. “Now we have a majority of estate-grown grapes, with great diversity in clones and vineyard lots, enabling us to blend our wines for consistency from year to year,” he says. “And we use a light touch throughout the production process to nurture the characteristics born in the vineyards.”

Bob’s earliest exposure to wine was as a young boy watching his Italian immigrant grandfather make wine at home, and being offered watered down samples at special-occasion meals with his grandparents. While studying fine arts at the University of Arizona, Bob began to frequent the local wine shops and made a practice of tasting a wide range of wines. Spring break trips to the wine country made him realize that Northern California was where he wanted to live. His career in the wine industry has included positions at Buena Vista, Dry Creek, Dehlinger, Stevenot and Mark West Vineyard.

Bob, his wife, Julia—also a winemaker—and their daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth, make their home in Santa Rosa, where they grow six and a half acres of Pinot Noir grapes. When not making wine, Bob enjoys mountain biking, steelhead fishing from his driftboat in Northern California and Southern Oregon and outdoor cooking.

Mike Crumly

Vice President/Vineyard Manager

Mike Crumly has made a life’s work of exploring the alchemy of rootstock and dirt, vine and weather to grow great grapes for the wines of Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards. A trained enologist and viticulturist, Mike has the rare ability to predict wine flavors in the vineyards, a skill he has perfected for both sparkling and still wines since joining the winery as vineyard manager in 1986.

While overseeing the growth of Gloria Ferrer’s Carneros vineyards from 40 to 340 acres, Mike has also become an expert in the evaluation of wine grape clones. In 1988 he planted the winery’s first clone trial of Pinot Noir, in partnership with U.C. Davis. The data generated from this research has given direction to Gloria Ferrer’s winemaking program, established a close relationship with the university, and attracted the attention of the wine industry as a whole.

Clone research is a painstaking process that requires exhaustive data collection, rigorous analysis and years of patience. But Mike finds the work highly rewarding. “By evaluating genetically determined characteristics, we’re not only collecting invaluable information for our own vineyards,” he says, “we’re sharing it with the industry with the long view that it will lead to viticultural practices that will produce higher quality and more sustainable grapes.” As a living record of his research, Mike has maintained a “genetic library” vineyard with examples of every clone he has studied since the first trial.

“My objective at Gloria Ferrer is to make as many distinct vineyard lots as possible,” says Mike. “We encourage moderately sized leaf canopies that balance well with the amount of fruit to create a well-timed seasonal growth rhythm,” he explains. “When the time comes for the vine to ripen its fruit, the vegetative growth stops, and all the energy is devoted to fruit maturation. To enhance this balance and rhythm, we plant clones with vigorous growth on weak hillside soils and slow-growing clones on fertile valley soils, allowing the site to modify the vines. These site-specific techniques encourage an array of flavors and aromas in our grapes, allowing us to make multidimensional wines.” Throughout Mike’s years at Gloria Ferrer, creating wines has been a dynamic collaboration between vineyard and cellar—between his grape growing practices and the vision of winemaker Bob Iantosca.

A native of Palo Alto, Mike earned a B.S. in zoology from U.C. Santa Barbara. After a year traveling throughout Central and South America, he visited a friend’s vineyard on the Russian River and decided he was cut out for the winemaking life.

Mike enrolled at U.C. Davis to study both enology and viticulture; there he obtained a second B.S. in viticulture. His postgraduate research in canopy management with Dr. Mark Kliewer and subsequent vineyard work in New Zealand convinced him that viticulture was his true passion. “Few things are as rewarding as tasting a wine that reflects the perfect pairing of the vine with the soil,” says Mike, who also served as past president of the Carneros Quality Alliance.

Mike spends much of his leisure time fly-fishing with Bob Iantosca and hunting duck and pheasant in the Sonoma backcountry. He lives with his wife, Maureen, and children, Thomas and Teresa, in Sonoma.