The opinions in this article are strictly my own and are offered only as my opinion. Row Eleven does not endorse any nominee nor necessarily agree with anything I write or say ever. They just shake their heads and look at me sadly like I have some condition. I have had a strange job in the wine industry which has allowed me to know everyone's secrets. Someday, I will write a book about it all.

I read that somewhere they are voting on 2010 inductees to the Vintners Hall of Fame. It is a pretty good list of people, many of them my friends. I am not sure what the charter, purpose, and voting rights are for the Vintners Hall of Fame. I find most of these things amusing. But there are a couple of names I would vote for.

I assume Hall of Fame entry requires that you had to do something extremely special. It is probably not a popularity contest. Creating a wine company, making good wine, longevity, etc., are not special. Bob Trinchero’s name is on the list. Bob created White Zinfandel. Silly snob opinion aside, not many people have created a whole new category of wine. Bob did, and millions of wine consumers are glad that he did.

Controversial Fred Franzia is also nominated. Fred is a pretty amazing guy. I met him just after his family sold their winery and name against Fred’s wishes. It has been a long road. You think I am going to recommend Fred because he is the creator of “Two Buck Chuck”. Selling $1.99 wine and building a brand through Trader Joe’s rather than the traditional “by the glass” is remarkable. But, it is not Hall of Fame worthy. But, Fred did something else that escaped the media and only a few people know about. He transformed the growing landscape of California and made possible for people to convert from drinking French Colombard to Barrel Fermented Chardonnay. At a time when banks refused loans to the wine industry, Fred grafted and planted thousands of acres to Chardonnay in areas where no one believed it would grow. He then built giant rooms for the barrel fermenting of those grapes without anyone knowing what the wine would be like. The quality of the wine was startling. Fred sold the wine, to wineries in Napa and Sonoma as well as around the State, who then bottled it and sold it to you. If he hadn’t, Chardonnay would never have had the incredible fast rise that it had. If you drink barrel fermented Chardonnay you owe Fred a nod. Thanks to Chardonnay Fred is probably the biggest grower in the state of California.

I think Joel Peterson should get a vote for taking the Zinfandel grape from the insider’s cellar to living rooms across the country. Rosenbloom tried to take it back. We will see who wins. But, there is another name on the list that fascinates me. It is worthy of comment and conversation. He is probably more controversial than Fred, if that is possible. I was amazed he was nominated. I was a young college student growing up int his industry during Ceasar Chavez’s hey day. I kind of came from the hippie movement, and I wasn’t in favor of many of his tactics. Remember I flunked art. I listened to a young man the other day expounding that Chavez was his hero. The young man who I know well, is an advocate of peace, gentleness and open borders. Now, maybe I am wrong here, but the Ceasar Chavez that I remember didn’t believe in any of that. It is documented that he had no problem with violence, and he was against illegal immigration. He advocated secondary boycotts and boycotted grapes and wine. But, I guess he was the first to try and unionize vineyard workers, something that had never been tried in the wine industry before. Whatever position you have on that subject, it fits my criteria for Hall of Fame entry.

I would like to put in one last plug for my old professor Vince Petrucci who is also on their list. If it wasn’t for Vince and Joe Heitz there would not be a Fresno University wine program. That would mean that a lot of us working today, why the very best wine makers working today would not have degrees, or would have had to enroll in a more inferior school.