12/15/2023
My hero, Miljenko “Mike” Grgich died this week at age 100. I’m so thankful I got to meet him earlier this year. He was the epitome of the American Dream and left an amazing legacy for the world. An immigrant like myself, he fled war torn Croatia (Yugoslavia at the time) with $32 sewn into the sole of his shoe, his trusty beret, a cardboard suitcase of wine books, and his dream of entering a paradise named California. (Those items are on display in the Smithsonian.) Mike applied to enter Canada as a lumberjack (he’s tiny!), then worked as a dishwasher. He carved his way to Napa Valley by placing an ad to work at half the normal wages. He took a greyhound bus and arrived in paradise in 1958 with his paper suitcase of wine books.
There Mike started working with Andre Tchelistcheff and Robert Mondavi. In 1973, while working for Chateau Montelena, he made the Chardonnay that beat the French in the 1976 Judgement of Paris. He became a legend and put Napa Valley on the map. Before then, Napa was only known for their jug wines like Gallo.
The next year, he achieved his lifelong dream of opening his own winery with Austin Hills. Today they own 366 acres of Napa Valley and Mike’s known as the “King of Chardonnay” along with countless accolades including Vintners Hall of Fame. Most of all, he proved to everyone that California wines are indeed the best in the world.🍷
He has touched countless of lives including mine as a man of joy, creativity, passion, perseverance, and gratitude. He will continue to inspire me to “Everyday do my best, learn something new, and make a new friend.” Farewell my hero!
Read more about Mike’s incredible life in his book “A Glass of Miracles” and
https://www.grgich.com/miljenko-grgich-in-memoriam/
