The Russian Who Made Napa

André Tchelistcheff (1901-1994) was the son of Russia’s Chief Justice of the Moscow Court of Appeals, and the godson of Prince Lev Golitsyn. He fought with the White Army in World War I and was left for dead on the battlefield. He subsequently fled Russia to Yugoslavia in 1919 and was educated in Czechoslovakia and France. In Paris in 1937 he was recruited by Georges de Latour to help rebuild the California wine industry after it had been decimated by the thirteen years of Prohibition, and made invaluable contributions to the style of Napa’s finest wines and winemakers.

A documentary of Tchelistcheff’s life has just been released, André: The Voice of Wine, by his grand-nephew, the filmmaker Mark Tchelistscheff, and narrated by Ralph Feinnes. The film is an enthralling and affectionate biopic  of the colorful and charismatic Russia-born winemaker who more than any other individual was responsible for making Napa the wine capital of America.

There were just six wineries in Napa when Tchelistcheff arrived in 1938, and over the next half-century he worked with nearly every one of the valley’s new growers, from Beaulieu, Charles Krug and Louis M. Martini, to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Rodney Strong, and many, many more.

Warren Wisniarski, winemaker and founder of Stag’s Leap, says in the film that Tchelistcheff was “a combination of a scientist and a poet.” And indeed, in his interviews in the documentary, Tchelistcheff speaks lyrically of wines as if they were living human beings. At one point he notes, “a wine is like a person, and needs to be looked after.”

And so does the land. Tchelistcheff was an early proponent of malolactic fermentation and ecologically sustainable production – proper care for the land that yields these precious vines. He was also a proponent of the idea that wines needed to struggle to be great, a theory that may have something to do with explaining his own life of war, exile, struggle, and success.

Filled with superior archival and modern footage, and packed with countless fascinating interviews, André: The Voice of Wine is a film worth seeking out.

The film’s trailer can be viewed at maestrofilm.com.