John York Wears Many Hats

Talking to John York, I quickly thought he had quite enough on his plate without being President of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association (RVVA), the post to which he was elected back in January.

There’s the 50-acre Hellanback Ranch where he and his wife, Paula Payne, have been living and working since 1997, raising cattle, hogs, horses and, since 2006, grapes. Today they have three acres of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot and petit verdot grapes. Since 2010 they’ve been making wine from those grapes and other Ramona Valley grapes under their private Hellanback Ranch Vineyard label.

Then there’s the “day job.” A veteran of 30 years in the computer business, York today serves as vice president of product management in his own computer engineering firm, headquartered in Ramona.

Did I also mention he’d been RVVA president before, as well as serving in various other posts in the organization?

So why take this on?

“I specifically volunteered,” York replied, “because I wanted to provide some thought, leadership and vision in this third phase we’re now in.”

Phase One, he explained, was the designation of the Ramona Valley as an American Viticultural Area by the federal government in 2006.

“Phase Two was getting the ordinance passed,” he said, referring to the Tiered Winery Ordinance passed by the county in 2010 and upheld after a legal challenge earlier this year.

Now the wine community is in Phase Three, which York described as “Getting our identity, focusing on quality and becoming a leader, as a group, in the community.”

He’s doing a lot of outreach to various businesses, civic and charitable groups. For example, he and Payne have hosted wine/food pairings at the ranch as well as other places to familiarize the public with how best to enjoy what the valley has to offer.

York spoke in particular about working with the Ramona Chamber of Commerce on the upcoming chamber-sponsored Country Fair, July 28-31. While local wines will be offered for sale, regulations require it be done indirectly through the chamber. Working out such details requires close coordination.

There’s also a need for communication and education within the wine community, York said, because it consists largely of small, family-owned businesses still building up their inventory of product.

“I’m trying to give people some ideas because I do have some management skills I’m trying to put to good use,” York said.

Although he started out in Ramona ranching livestock, York was no stranger to wine, from a professional as well as personal standpoint.

“I was in the restaurant business before computers. I was a trained sommelier,” York said.

He made the acquaintance of some other Ramonans who were growing grapes, including some who founded the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association (RVVA) in 2002. York started helping Bill and Jennifer Jenkin. They founded Pamo Valley Winery as a private vineyard in 2000 and began selling grapes to local wineries in 2004, then bottling and selling under their own label in 2006.

York began working more and more with Pamo Valley.

“Then I met Lum Eisenmann,” he said. “He and I hit it off and he became my mentor.”

“Given my engineering background and restaurant background and right-brained background, winemaking was a natural fit,” he said. “Winemaking is part science and part art. I’m very passionate about it and very detail-oriented.”

York and Payne began planting their own vineyard in 2006. In 2007, when Jennifer Jenkin assumed sole ownership of Pamo Valley Winery, she made York her winemaker. During his tenure the winery earned a number of medals, including a gold medal at the 2009 Lum Eisenmann Ramona Valley Wine Competition for a syrah/cabernet/viognier blend and a silver medal from the 2009 National Women’s Wine Competition in northern California for a merlot.

In 2009 York turned the winemaker’s job over to Jenkin to concentrate on his own Hellanback Ranch Vineyard. He continues as a consultant and mentor to other winemakers and to the wine-consuming public.

“I’m just trying to provide some vision and education so the people are armed with some knowledge,” York said.