The Family
George
Cooper, Winemaker and Winery Manager. Married
Louise Garrod in 1941. Educated as a mining engineer, trained
as a pilot in WWII, and flew the P-47 "Jug" with the 412th
Fighter Squadron in the European Theater. After the war, he
pursued a successful career as chief research test pilot for NASA.
Wanted something fun to do after his 1973 “retirement”, so planted
grapes and set about learning to make wine. Produced a private
reserve enjoyed by the family for 20 years before commercial sales
began in 1994.
Jan
Garrod, Vineyard Master. George’s nephew.
Jan remembers all the family who helped set out those first Cabernet
Sauvignon vines back in 1972. Pictures show his enthusiastic
grape stomping in a bathtub the first harvest of 1975! He’s
been along every step of the way, overseeing cultivation of vineyard
land, planting, trellising, and maintaining every bit of our 5
acres of Chardonnay, 5 acres of Cabernet Franc, and 11 acres of
Cabernet Sauvignon, while looking ahead to eminent vineyard development.
As Operations Director for the entire ranch, he also manages an
excellent equestrian facility with 200 head of horses and the
people who go with them. Not a small task.
Bill
Cooper, Winemaking and Sales. George
and Louise’s
eldest son; Jan’s
cousin. Fulfilled his career in the Foreign Service and
brought his young family back to the ranch he grew up on.
Apprenticed to his Dad, took courses at Davis, and became immersed
in winemaking and the nascent sustainability movement. Bill
does everything from punching down the cap during crush to fine-tuning
computer systems.
When people from Washington call to check up on him, his wife
tells them he either comes home smelling like fresh air or wine,
and either way, he’s smiling.
Doris Cooper, Marketing
Director. George and Louise’s daughter-in-law; Jan’s cousin-by-marriage;
Bill’s wife; Barbara’s sister-in-law. She met Bill in Warsaw,
married him while he lived in Virginia, gave him two daughters
while they lived in Paris, and started working for his family’s
winery while pushing a double-stroller around Midtown Manhattan,
a couple years before the first wine was even sold commercially.
Doris writes the newsletters, pours at events, bakes biscotti
for Vintners’ Festival, and tries to plug any holes she becomes
aware of.
Those are some of the family members who work for Cooper-Garrod
Vineyards on a daily basis. If you are able to visit our
working ranch, you’re bound to make the acquaintance of other
family members who live here and keep the place what it is:
the quintessential family agriculture operation it’s been since
1893.
|
