Jamie Davies, co-founder of Schramsberg winery and a pioneer of American sparkling wines, has died aged 73.
Davies, along with her husband Jack, revived the ailing Schramsberg winery, in the Diamond Mountain region of the Napa Valley, in 1965.
The couple went on to become leaders in sparkling wine production in the US.
Davies had been fighting Parkinson’s disease for several years and a recent legal dispute with her estranged son John, over the sale of his shares in the family business, was ongoing.
Davies’ son Hugh took over the running of the winery three years ago. He and his brother Bill are understood to have been with their mother when she died.
‘She was certainly one of the great pioneers in the Napa Valley and probably in all of American wine,’ Mary Novak, owner of Spottswoode Winery, told local newspaper the San Fransisco Chronicle.
A memorial service will take place on Sunday at Schramsberg Vineyards in Calistoga at 1pm.
Written by Oliver Styles
