1986 Distinguished Service Award: André Tchelistcheff
André Tchelistcheff - 1986
André Tchelistcheff reshaped California winemaking. When he first tasted California wine, in Paris in 1937, he was unimpressed. The next year—when this Russian émigré landed in California—he found out what the problem was: primitive techniques. At Beaulieu Vineyard in Napa Valley, he set about changing all that. Over the next three decades, his wine set standards for the entire industry. After retiring in 1973, he essentially invented the position of consulting enologist, assisting wineries in the western United States and Europe, most notably identifying the winemaking potential of Washington and Oregon. He died at age 93, in 1994. Photographed in 1972.
