I have admired the Pleiades wines for years. I have not tried the others, but will look for them.
Reading more about this fascinating man, I just came across his blog at http://www.seanthackrey.com/. His last post is from 2019 and is, remarkably, on the topic that is currently lighting up the Asylum. The universe works in mysterious ways.
I first discovered his wines when I developed the library at Cannery Wine Cellar in San Francisco in the early 90s stacking vintages of Orion. I carried that over to Dean & Deluca. A local winery had purchased one of the vineyards he used ( I forget which one), and came in and bought every bottle we had. The wines were outstanding and he was one-of-a-kind.
A 2000 Orion was the first really good bottle of wine I can remember buying. I ordered it after reading an article about him in GQ (I think). I was not disappointed. RIP.
A unique man for sure but he used to drive me crazy. For 23 years I had a fine wine shop in Mill Valley, just over the hill from his winery in Bolinas. When people would stop by the winery looking to buy some wine Sean would usually tell them he was out but that they should go over to Vintage Wines in Mill Valley and Richard will get you whatever you want. Since I was usually out of his wines as well nobody ended up happy. Iād call Sean on a regular basis and ask him to either increase my allocations or stop sending people to my shop. Heād apologize but never changed a thing.
I still have the bottles of Orion and Sirius (1989) I bought from Draper & Esquin way back when. Legend. End of an era. RIP.
Any obituaries/tributes out there? I canāt find any.
Seen a few on Facebook so far.
He made my favorite California Mourvedre of all time, his Taurus.
I love Orion, as well! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
He certainly did it his way, so steal from Paul Anka.
The world is better for having has Thackrey in it.
Now seeing some on Instagram.
Sad news. Great wines and some of the most interesting posts on Facebook.
Sad news. Truly an OG and an inspiration to me. His wines were iconic and beautiful. And he was a very sharp individual. Most of all, I admired that he made the wines he wanted to make and seemed happiest in the cellar.
The world got just a little flatter and less interesting. I bought bottles of Pleiades in most vintages, and grabbed a few other things along the way. My wife and I were married in Bolinas, and we got to know some of the locals, but not Sean, alas. I saw his books were for sale and figured he was seeing the end coming. There really wonāt be another like him, and weāre all a little worse off for it.
We lost a good one today
For those looking to enjoy some of Seanās wine in the future, thereās a pretty good selection currently up on Winebid and K&L.
A couple of photos of Sean Thackrey - wish the photos were better but theyāre still good memories.
At the 2012 Marin County Wine Celebration, where he poured his āAndromedaā Pinot Noir from Devilās Gulch Ranch in Marin.
At a small private tasting in San Francisco in late 2017.
I was an early adopter of Seanās wines, back to the 80ās vintages. One night we were at Charlie Trotters, must have been late 80ās or early 90ās. They were swamped, the anaesthsiologist annual meetings were in town. The som, Larry Stone, was very busy because it was a big wine selling night. I ordered an Orion. Larry came over to chat with the people who ordered the Orion. He said he never had anyone order that wine without his recommendation. He loved it, but it was a hand sell. Larry came over several times during the evening to chat.
We loved Orion, Sirius, Pleiades and turned several friends on to them. At some point, for me, the eucalyptus became overpowering. I did some digging and found out as Tom mentioned that his āwineryā was in the middle of a eucalyptus grove.
Alder Yarrow published a tribute on the purple pages.
I never knew Sean at all and in all honesty, have not had many of his wines either. A few Orions and a few Pleiades (most of them cooked!). I did send him a few bottles of my Mission just because I admired his spirit and approach. Iād like to think he drank them, but never knew if he did (never heard back).
But it is perhaps his approach we should talk about. This is what Iāve gleaned from all the interviews Iāve poured over regarding Sean: In many ways heās the father of elevating the status of the estate-less winery. Before him, of course, grapes had been going to wineries for centuries, but in nameless blends or somehow not specified, as if the producers were ashamed of the fact that they took fruit from anywhere but their own estate. Sean kinda changed that - not only was he open with the fact that he never owned any vineyards (although I do remember he did plant a few PN grapes on his property with disastrous results), but he relished in it. This kind of set the stage for what was to come here in California and today we have numerous highly regarded producers that donāt own vineyards. One could also perhaps argue he was early in the movement of low-intervention, by virtue of just being so scrappy and lo-fi, but he certainly wasnāt a natural winemaker (from what I understand).
He was also squarely in the camp against terroir being the be all and end all, which maddened quite a few producers precisely because they owned said real estate and obviously wanted to push its uniqueness. He never denied that soil and weather changed grapes, he was just against the dogma that terroir is the only thing that matters. In his world winemaking was more important.
So in spirit, I have his type of winery to thank for many things - 40 years ago this type of setup would prob not have been accepted. Thereās also that very romantic side of it all - his scrappy outdoor fermentations in redwood tanks, his disheveled hair, the old tin cups, the old library, the wood-fired stove, the cottage under the trees, the old flatbed truck etc. I think all men and women at some point long for that simpler life, where you almost have no electricity, but you live stress free and farm and forage. In a way he embodied that free spirit. Maybe itās also uniquely American, which adds to the romance.
Very well said, Adam. It certainly captures the spirit of what SeanThackrey was. His disdain for the primacy of terroir rubbed lots of winemakers who worship at the alter
of terroir the wrong way.
Tom