Getting to know Temecula Wine Country
AGE 16
Monte De Oro Winery
2010 / P By Christine Dull
Y
need the consensus of sixty-seven people.
Try accomplishing a task, any task, where
Almost impossible, right?
you need the consensus of a group of more
Yet the task of creating Temecula’s
than a few people. Difficult, but doable. Now
newest winery came about with the coop-
try accomplishing that same task where you
eration of a group of 67 partners who pulled
FEBRUAR
their investments, business savvy, and wine
knowledge together to form Monte De Oro
Winery. “We’ve been told, ‘You’ve got to
be kidding! How do you actually do that?
You guys have to be crazy!’” says Ken
Zignorski, Managing Partner for Monte
De Oro. “But the group is very cohesive
in what we want. We share a common vi-
sion, and we actually were able to get ac-
complished what we wanted to do.”
The vision for Monte De Oro Winery
started back in 2001. At that time, a group
of individual investors all answered an ad
in publications like Wine Spectator and
Wine Enthusiast to come and be a part of
the Temecula wine experience. They came
from all across the United States and from
as far away as South Africa. Their business
backgrounds were diverse: small and large
R
E
business owners, people with construction
P
backgrounds, people with marketing ex-
A
perience. Nobody knew anybody else, but
P
S
they were brought together by a common
W
desire to be a part of the romance of the
E
wine business. “I was one of the original
investors,” says Zignorski. “Like ninety
percent of the other investors in the group,
I love to drink wine, I love going to Napa.
We thought, ‘This wine thing is cool, we
should be able to do this.’”
The investors formed a parent com-
pany called OGB Partners, which stands
NEIGHBORS N
for “One Great Blend,” and started plant-
ing grapes on the land they had purchased
in Temecula. The first vineyard, Vista Del
Monte, was planted in 2002 with Cabernet
Sauvignon and Syrah on 18 acres. Then
came De Portola and Galway vineyards in
2003, with another 42 acres planted with
Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Viognier, Zinfan-
del, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat
Canelli, and Chardonnay. “We learned a
lot along the way about the kind of invest-
ment we need, and time, and energy, and
waiting,” says Zignorski. “’We planted the
vines, great!’ ‘When will they be ready?’
‘Three years?’ What do we do in the mean-
time? We wait!”
As they waited for the grapes to ma-
Continued on Page 17
ARDS
VINEY
Christine Dull
VISITING OUR
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