Louis Foppiano honored at age 99
KENT PORTER/The Press Democrat Louis Foppiano waits for his 99th birthday celebration to begin Saturday at Foppiano Vineyards in Healdsburg. Foppiano was born in 1910.
Louis J. Foppiano is unflappable when it comes to the economic downturn.
After all, the vintner, who celebrated his 99th birthday this month, has weathered the Great Depression, Prohibition and two world wars, and his winery has survived through five generations.
“It was rough at times, but everything in business isn’t smooth,” said Foppiano, shrugging his shoulders. “We’re still making wine and I’m proud of that.”
Family and friends gathered Saturday at the Healdsburg winery to sip wine, taste pork tenderloin kabobs and toast the icon who helped lead Sonoma County from its jug-wine days.
John Pedroncelli of Geyserville’s Pedroncelli Winery coined Foppiano “a real pioneer” who motivated small wineries to transition from jug wine to glass bottles after initially selling bulk wine to bigger wineries.
“He’s contributed a lot to Sonoma County,” Pedroncelli said. “Lou was the first president of the Sonoma County Wine Growers Association in 1942.”
Foppiano, who now walks with a cane, has watched Sonoma County evolve from hop yards to vineyards, with an ever-expanding wine industry that has mushroomed from 14 wineries in the mid-1940s to more than 200 today.
Paul Foppiano, the winery’s vineyard manager, said he’s particularly aware of the passage of time when he’s in the vineyards.
“When my grandfather was a kid, he plowed the fields with a horse, and I’m out there in a cab tractor,” he said. “It means a lot to me to farm the same land that my grandfather farmed and that his father and grandfather farmed.”
The wine venture began when Giovanni Foppiano immigrated to the United States from Genoa, Italy, and founded the winery in 1896. His son, Louis A. Foppiano, took over in 1910 and the winery thrived until Prohibition, which lasted from 1919 to 1933, shut it down. When he died in 1924, his son - Louis J.Foppiano who was honored Saturday — was left at 14 to help his mother run the ranch.
“It was rough during Prohibition, but we expected it to end,” Foppiano said. “People weren’t for it. There was liquor around, people we’re buying it.”
The winery’s most shocking day came s back in 1926 when government agents dumped 100,000 gallons of the family’s wine into a nearby creek. The family survived by selling grapes to home winemakers who were allowed by law to make up to 200 gallons a year.
Foppiano recalls another challenging period during World War II when it was tough to find enough vineyard help with the crush. The Foppianos were able to tap a prisoner of war camp in Windsor, and get German and then Italian POWs to help pick grapes.
Harry Wetzel, vintner of Healdsburg’s Alexander Valley Vineyards, said if he had one word to pick for Foppiano, it would be “tenacious.”
“His winery is one of a handful that made it through Prohibition in Sonoma County.” Wetzel. said. “That kind of tenacity not only makes you a survivor, but someone who thrives in business. Lou has a long term outlook in the wine business and that’s why he’s been so successful.”