Daniel Duckhorn, Napa Valley merlot’s greatest champion, dies at 87
Daniel J. Duckhorn, who helped elevate Napa Valley merlot to world-class status, died Wednesday, Feb. 25, from congestive heart failure, his family announced. He was 87.
Duckhorn, who co-founded Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa in 1976 with his then-wife Margaret Duckhorn and other investors, was considered a pioneer in the American luxury wine market. Known across the industry as “Mr. Merlot,” a title bestowed by former New York Times wine critic Frank Prial, Duckhorn championed merlot at a time when cabernet sauvignon dominated the market.
A Northern California native, Duckhorn earned a bachelor’s degree and MBA from UC Berkeley before holding management roles at shipping and technology firms, according to a statement from his family. He moved to Napa Valley in 1971, where he became president of Vineyard Consulting Corp. and immersed himself in viticulture, studying soils, clones, rootstocks and vineyard sites.
Throughout the late 1980s and beyond, Duckhorn guided careful expansion of the vineyard, building what would become The Duckhorn Portfolio. Even after the company was sold, first to GI Partners in 2007 and later to TSG Consumer Partners in 2016, Duckhorn remained involved as founder and chairman. In March 2021, The Duckhorn Portfolio became the first wine company in nearly two decades to go public.
Industry leaders consistently credited Duckhorn’s foresight.
“Like Robert Mondavi before him, he helped to change the way Americans think about and enjoy wine,” Zach Rasmuson, chief operating officer of The Duckhorn Portfolio, said in a statement.
Doug Shafer, former owner of Shafer Vineyards, said in a statement Duckhorn “played an outsized role in bringing the world to the Napa Valley and the Valley to the world. If there was ever a Mt. Rushmore of American wine, he would deserve a place on it.”
Duckhorn was deeply involved in industry leadership. He served on the boards of the Wine Institute, the American Vintners Association and Family Winemakers of California. He was a past president of Napa Valley Vintners and helped found the Premiere Napa Valley Trade Barrel Auction. Johnson & Wales University awarded him an honorary doctorate in oenology in 2005, and UC Davis recognized him as a wine industry pioneer.
In a 2010 interview with The Press Democrat, Duckhorn described leadership as the ability to motivate people in “an expanding global community of price/value consciousness.” When asked about changes within the wine industry, he pointed to advances in grape-growing technology and shifts in consumer preference. His advice to young leaders? “Learn to speak Mandarin Chinese and accounting.”
He understood resilience, too. “We have been through two world wars, two bouts with phylloxera, a real Depression and a national law banning the consumption of our product,” he once said. “This too will pass.”
Duckhorn’s first job was as a dishwasher at a Santa Rosa soda fountain. In addition to wine, he found joy in dry-fly fishing in Idaho and summer evenings at the barbecue. He admired Warren Buffett, read about bird migration and once joked about being asked to leave UC Berkeley for participating in a campus prank.
His greatest professional pride, he said, was “being associated with the appreciation of merlot in America.”
In addition to his wife, Nancy Andrus Duckhorn, he is survived by two sons, John and David Duckhorn; a daughter, Kellie Duckhorn; a stepdaughter, Nicole Andrus; nine grandchildren and two siblings. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the California Waterfowl Association.
Private services are planned. An online remembrance board has been created for those wishing to share condolences.
You can reach Staff Writer Elsa Cavazos at elsa.cavazos@pressdemocrat.com.