Acknowledgments

Bottled Poetry was conceived long ago, but actual work on it, as a doctoral dissertation in history at the University of California at Davis, only began in 1989. Any writer receives help and support from family, friends, and professional colleagues, but as a full-time academic employee split between two jobs, with a small winery to operate on weekends, I have received more than my share. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the following individuals and institutions.

First, my love and thanks to my wife Carol, my daughter Grace, and my son Jake for their support, patience, and understanding. Much of the time spent in writing this book was taken from them. Second, my thanks to Charles Lacy, dean of University Extension and friend, for his constant and unwavering support. A "late bloomer" himself, Charles knows all too well the additional problems engendered in completing a dissertation later in life when fully employed. Third, my thanks to Mort Rothstein, my dissertation adviser, for his willingness to take on a superannuated graduate student, and, more important, for his gentle encouragement that, yes, this could be done.

Historians seem to collect librarians, and I have special relations with three: my thanks to Axel Borg, wine librarian at the Shields Library at the University of California at Davis; to John Skarstad, head of Special Collection at the Shields Library and keeper of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms archives and oral histories; and to Vicki Herrmann, BATF librarian in Washington, D.C., who sent me the transcript of the Napa Valley Appellation Hearings.

The following industry members have given me time, resources, and encouragement and deserve thanks: Louis Martini, Peter Mondavi, Roy Raymond, and the late André Tchelistcheff for interviews; John Wright for making available the Arthur D. Little study; Jon and Eileen Fredrikson for sharing Lou Gomberg's industry statistics, as well as Gomberg's minutes of the meetings of the Premium Wine Producers of California; Zeke Oman and the board of the Napa Cooperative Winery for allowing me to review and use the co-op's minute books; and the Napa Valley Vintners' Association's board of directors for allowing me to review the Association's minutes.

The first three chapters were written while I enjoyed a three-month research leave funded by Academic Affairs of the University of California at Davis but created at the urging of the Academic Federation, a counterpart to the Academic Senate for non-senate academic employees. That leave allowed me to concentrate fully on the project and was crucial in convincing me that the dissertation was feasible. I thank the Academic Federation and encourage the continuation of the research leave program so that other academic staff members may experience the same chance for professional growth that I have enjoyed. Finally, my thanks to my colleagues in the Department of Viticulture and Enology and to my friends in the California wine industry, whose support and enthusiasm for the project convinced me that it was worth undertaking. Whether or not my winemaker friends are located in Napa, Bottled Poetry is their history too, since it is as much a history of the emergence of quality wine in California as it is a history of a region. To that end, I hope it edifies as well as entertains.