A VINTNER'S VISION

Outspoken Mac McDonald of Vision Cellars bridges gap between African Americans and the wine industry

Amanda Gold, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 2, 2008

Spend 10 minutes visiting with Mac McDonald, and within the same breath he'll likely pontificate on his favorite wine grapes and a recent visit to Harlem. To the 65-year-old winemaker, the color of his Pinot Noir is just as significant as the color of his skin.

Under his Vision Cellars label, McDonald plays in the same league as other top American Pinot Noir producers. But as one of a handful of African American vintners in the country - he estimates the number to be no more than 20 - he's desperate to bridge the gap between his heritage and a market that's still overwhelmingly dominated by white consumers. To that end, he's equally comfortable pouring at a fancy wine dinner as he is speaking to an African American audience in the depths of inner cities, or getting his hands dirty in the vineyard.

On a recent sunny morning, he's doing just that, proudly roaming what he calls his "slice of the pie," an 8-acre vineyard he owns with his wife, Lil, in a rural section of Windsor. Decked in his signature uniform - faded denim overalls and a straw hat - a cigar dangles from his fingers without ever actually touching his lips.
It's an image that melds with McDonald's pretense-free sentiments about wine. But those who know him best are very aware of just how much knowledge he has about the business side of wine, one of many skills he learned from some talented mentors, including the Wagner family of Rutherford's Caymus Vineyards.
"He's anything but the Farmer Brown, believe me," says Dr. Ernest Bates, owner of Black Coyote Chateau and an African American friend of McDonald's. "He's very astute, and very knowledgeable. We all kind of chuckle when he plays the down-to-earth 'my father was a moonshiner,' " says Bates, echoing a well-known line from McDonald's bio.

According to Bates, crowds love that side of him. But McDonald himself knows that the shtick only takes him so far - beyond that, he says, the product has to be good. And it is. Not only does he draw praise from sommeliers and grapegrowers - especially his own - but his Pinots have frequently been given high scores and awards.

McDonald's low-key demeanor has another purpose: to promote not only his wines but also the very notion that African Americans are - and should be - making, and drinking, wine. Bates says McDonald often pours Black Coyote wines on his sales trips around the country for Vision Cellars. A doctor in San Francisco, Bates doesn't have time to travel, and is appreciative that McDonald helps out.
Confirms McDonald: "I don't care if they're drinking my wine, I just want them drinking some wine." He recognizes that many of his wines are high end - up to $74 per bottle - but tries to make a few that are less expensive so a wider range of clientele will drink them. McDonald strongly believes that the best way to introduce people to wine is to strip away any pretensions, so that they'll feel comfortable drinking what they like.

"We still handle wine on scores and points. I like to get those because that's what sells wine," says McDonald. "But we need to be like, 'Hey, I like this wine.' If it's a White Zinfandel you like, it's your money and you should be able to drink that. I think people are too intimidated sometimes."

While he's grateful for the recognition he has enjoyed over the years from a primarily upper-class white audience, McDonald still speaks frankly about his frustrations given the lack of customers of color in the industry and marketplace. It's what led him to start the Association of African American Vintners with Bates and Vance Sharp III of Sharp Cellars.

McDonald also hosts an invite-only annual greens cook-off each year which, he says, is yet another way to get people of color into wine. This year will be the eighth annual cook-off, where he'll have guests bring the greens and other dishes to pair with wine.

"You've got to draw folks in somehow," he explains.
McDonald plays the part of laid-back farmer quite well, but it's all part of a story that begins in the woods 89 miles south of Dallas; a tale he has retold countless time over the years, both to charm his clientele and to encourage those with similar humble beginnings to get into wine.

"I was born the son of an East Texas moonshiner," begins McDonald, reciting a line that's splayed across the back label on most of his wines.
He grabs a stalk of asparagus from the cluttered vegetable garden that his young granddaughters helped him plant, snaps a piece off into his mouth and continues walking.

"When I was 12, there used to be these doctors and lawyers that would go hunting with my grandfather, and afterward they would drink my father's moonshine."

After one such hunting trip, a man had a bottle of Burgundy, and was taking heat from the others about drinking "communist wine" in Texas. He opted to share it with McDonald instead.

Leaning against the fenced-in chicken coop, he recalls the moment like it was yesterday. " 'Boy,' he said to me, 'how would you like to have this wine?' "
McDonald gladly accepted. He cut out a portion of the cork with his pocket knife, pushed the rest in with a stick, and downed half the bottle (hey, he grew up on corn whiskey, what's half a bottle of red wine?). "We didn't have child protective services back then," he says with a grin.

In McDonald's eyes, Burgundy beat moonshine by a mile, and from that day on, he had his sights set on becoming a winemaker.
"I was as far out of the wine business as you could get at that point," he says. But this is a man who doesn't believe in barriers.

A basketball coach suggested McDonald head out west, and he moved to California soon after high school. He knew not a soul, but initially got a job washing cars in Oakland, and finally wound up at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. During this time, he began taking trips to visit wineries - one of those was Caymus Vineyards in the Napa Valley. "I've always felt that if you want to be good, you have to hang out with someone who's good," says McDonald. "And I thought Caymus was good."

To this day, he credits owners Charlie Wagner and his son Chuck with much of his success.

"I started hanging out there, and Charlie Wagner would always talk to me and tell me all about grapegrowing," he says fondly of the older man, who passed away in 2002. He and Chuck have been friends for many years.
"The way Mac enters a room today is the reason I was drawn to him then. He's amiable to say the least," says Chuck. "He can go into the room a stranger and leave with everyone thinking positively about him."

It's this personality that wins him an audience with wine aficionados across the country. He spends countless hours marketing himself, and his wine, to a wide swath of wine drinkers.

It usually just takes one meeting with McDonald to fall under his spell, but in a sense, he had more than three decades to hone his craft. While working at PG&E, he dabbled in wine for 33 years.

At PG&E, McDonald wore many hats, including line crew training, dealing with overhead line equipment and running the operating centers. "It was a great job, it's just that I always wanted to do this," says McDonald Winemaking was more of a hobby. He had some of his own equipment and would play around making small amounts in his garage. The Wagners ultimately convinced McDonald that he could really be in the wine business.

"I'm not sure why they put it into these words, but they said, 'You'd be good for the wine business.' They thought I would be really good at this. And I said, 'I don't have the money.' And they said. 'We'll help you.' They've been assisting me ever since."

His first bottling was in 1997, and today, Vision Cellars wines are still made at Caymus Vineyards. Currently, he's making about 2,000 cases a year.
Under his label, McDonald experiments with a few light and sweeter wines, like a Sauvignon Blanc-Pinot Gris blend, a rosé blend and a Santa Lucia Highlands Riesling.

"The Riesling's for my mother," says McDonald. "She used to put sugar in her wine 'cause she liked it sweeter. Now she knows a little bit more about wine, and she enjoys this wine."

But he's still stuck on that Burgundy. After traveling the world over to sample the best bottlings from the grape, McDonald is now best known for the nuanced Pinot Noir he creates. He buys his grapes from several well-known vineyards in Sonoma County and Anderson Valley, but his most sought-after Pinots come from the fruit he buys from the famed Garys' and Rosella's Vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands.

"What I love about his wine is that he lets it make itself," says Gary Franscioni, part-owner of Garys' Vineyard. McDonald met Franscioni and his partner Gary Pisoni when McDonald was working a harvest at Caymus, and fell in love with the Garys' Vineyard fruit. The vintner's first bottling was in 2001. Though both Franscioni and Pisoni have helped him with his Sonoma vineyard, they respect what he does with their fruit on his own.

"People who work with it gently are those who are most successful and consistent," says Franscioni. "Not only is Mac consistent, but I think his wine has gradually gotten better with every vintage."
According to Franscioni, McDonald has no qualms about getting assistance.
"I like him because he's not afraid to ask for help. This whole vineyard thing is new to him," says Franscioni about his Windsor property. "He has a great spot up there, and we've given him guidance to make sure he doesn't do something the wrong way."

Emmanuel Kemiji, master sommelier and owner of Miura Vineyards in Santa Rosa, also loves McDonald's Garys' Pinot. So much, in fact, that he included it on a wine list he created for 1300 on Fillmore, an upscale "soulful American" restaurant on San Francisco's Fillmore Street.

"We wanted to pay homage to the African American community," said Kemiji, "but my criteria, above all, is qualitative. If I didn't think it was one of the best Pinots from Garys' Vineyards, I wouldn't have included it on the list."
Kemiji's list at 1300 includes other African American producers, many of whom

McDonald has brought into his crusade. Over the years, he has reached out for help, especially when it comes to the vintners association.

Still, Bates says that although he and Sharp had involvement, it was really McDonald who got it off the ground.

"I was traveling around the country doing wine dinners, and I never saw enough folks of color in the audience," says McDonald. "Then it got me thinking that maybe I should see what's going on right here in California. It was pretty much the same thing in our backyard."

That was 10 years ago, and since then, the association has grown to include nine members. McDonald is intent on only accepting those who want to be active, and it's his outspoken personality and passion that has gotten them this far.

"I like to call Mac the Dean of the African American Vintners," says Bates. "He's our leader."
Though the number of vintners may seem small, the real change McDonald has seen is in a growing audience of African American wine drinkers.

"Six years ago, we had our first event down at the pyramid building in San Francisco," says McDonald, who recalls that around 20 people showed up.
Now, the association puts on an annual event at Copia in June, and it's one of the more popular events.

"Last year, 500-600 folks came," he says, "and they were mostly African American."
These days, McDonald is most concerned with focusing his attention on the inner-city and high school kids, hoping to educate them on the possibilities available in wine.

"It's really just about education," says McDonald, "and my message is that you don't need to drink wine to be in the wine industry. You can be a vineyard manager, you can be a writer, you can work at Safeway, you could be in a restaurant." McDonald wants to teach kids the value in having a career in the wine industry.

Despite generally excellent reviews that have elevated his business, McDonald still practices what he preaches by living a very modest, down-to-earth lifestyle.
In his beat-up but spotless pickup truck, McDonald takes the occasional trip to the city himself to deliver his wines to high-end restaurants like Rubicon, Postrio, La Folie and PlumpJack. His vineyard boasts rows and rows of Valencia orange juice containers in place of fancier growing tubes.

Standing next to his and Lil's favorite two chipped yellow Adirondack chairs, McDonald talks about the fact that his Windsor operation is completely self-financed.

He has submitted plans to the county for a proper tasting room, which will go into a building that was formerly an old dairy barn. He says tasting will be by appointment only, and he'll be on site whenever possible.

"If you drive up from the city to see me, shouldn't I take the time to sit down with you and explain the wines to you?" questions McDonald. "In most cases, when you go to a tasting room, you don't get to see the guys who actually make the stuff. I just can't get adjusted to somebody who can't take the time to be with someone who is going to spend money on their wine."

McDonald hopes to have the project completed by 2009, though he says his own vines won't bear fruit for another three years or so.

In the meantime, when he's not staying at his large house near downtown Windsor, McDonald crashes in what he and Lil have dubbed "the Mac Shack," a dilapidated brown building near the entrance of the property. He says they have plans to build a house - only 840 square feet - a little closer to the vines, with a big outdoor area "just for sitting." He promises that the old yellow Adirondack chairs will stay put.

"I'll tell you," he says as he surveys his property, "this is it for me. I wouldn't care if I lived in that shack for the rest of my life, as long as I could spend my time outside, making good wine."

Tasting notes
In San Francisco, Vision Cellars wines are sold at Blackwell's Wines and Spirits. You can also find them on the list at several Bay Area restaurants or at visioncellars.com.

2006 Vision Cellars Santa Lucia Highlands Riesling ($18)
This slightly sweet wine delivers a slight effervescence on the tongue. Limpid nectar and guava on the nose. Sharp and edgy on first taste, with a gray mineral highlight, leading to a notably plump texture with some lingering sweet mango, melon, honey and apple.

2006 Vision Cellars Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($36)
Wood presence, but also floral highlights. Deep earth notes under cherry and black plums. Soft spice. High-toned berry and an intriguing leather note. A surprising force to it, given the appellation, though its refined mineral and leaf notes stand out. Some tannic grip.

2006 Vision Cellars Garys' Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir ($48) Flavors of blackberry and plum. A candied sweet oak presence overlays musk tones and a fine-boned structure on the palate. Surprising bright tones amid the black fruit, cola and licorice. Slightly muted now, but shows more fruit as the wine breathes.

2006 Vision Cellars Rosella's Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir ($50) One of the most nuanced of the bunch, with dark berry aromas and hints of tobacco on the nose. Nicely tart and balanced. Distinctly musky, with notes of damp earth, mint and roast cherry. It's silky on the palate, with well-applied oak and a distinct sweet plum accent. Again, the fruit's slightly suppressed, heightening the tannins on the finish.
E-mail Amanda Gold at agold@sfchronicle.com.
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