2018 Galante Vineyards’ Malbec

The Galante Family: A History Rooted in Carmel

In the quest for great California wine, many wine lovers overlook Monterey County and instead look to its neighbors in the north, Napa Valley and Sonoma County. But this swath of land is more agriculturally diverse than both Napa and Sonoma, and its history is just as rich.

Few Carmel Valley winemakers understand this better than Jack Galante, who owns Galante Vineyards, and his wife Dawn, who owns Dawn’s Dream Winery. Jack’s family had already been living in the Carmel / Monterey area for nearly two decades when the first commercial grapes were planted in 1919 by Charles Tamm in what is now Chalone Vineyard. 

In fact, Jack’s great-grandfather James Frank Devendorf, is a founder of Carmel, so when it comes to families whose roots are tied to the area, few run as deep as the Galante’s.

Jack Galante: Tied to the Land

To say Jack Galante comes from an interesting family, and had an even more interesting upbringing is an understatement. In most of our posts, we lean into the history of the vineyard, the unique characteristics of the wine, and add some background on the winemaker. But we feel that Jack’s unique Renaissance man upbringing better brings to life the idea behind Galante wines. So, here it goes…

Life on the Ranch

Jack grew up in San Francisco but spent summers at the family’s 700-acre cattle ranch in Chacagua, which is a stone’s throw from Carmel Valley. It’s easy to imagine what happened next, Jack learned how to ride horses, an Appaloosa named Arab de Mayo taught a then four-year-old Jack the ropes. As he grew more confident, he also learned how to work cattle, and, as happens in wide open spaces, he developed a deep appreciation for nature.

Europe and Beyond

While in high school the Galante family moved to Switzerland for a year where Jack learned French, and took an interest in Alpine skiing, but not just any kind of Alpine skiing, the kind of Alpine skiing where you’re airlifted by helicopter and dropped on the side of a mountain!

After high school, he moved to Florence where he apprenticed for an Italian furniture maker, and then returned to California where he studied geology at the University of the Pacific. But geology wasn’t his only interest, he became so enamored with aquaculture, which is essentially water farming, that he was invited to China as part of the Oceanic Society. He would go on to spend a semester there studying this complex system.

An Appreciation for the Earth

You can’t separate Jack Galante from the land he loves. After he attained his geology degree, he went on to receive a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in human geography, which focuses on the impact humans have on the land.

He used this knowledge to become a geographer and an environmental planner, in addition to cultivating an interest in grape growing, and, ultimately, overseeing the vineyard practices of this family’s 30-acre vineyard that sits within the 700-acre ranch.

The Creation of Galante Vineyards

While Jack’s parents purchased the Galante family ranch in the 1960s, it wasn’t until 1983 that the first grapes, a block of Cabernet, and 10,000 rose bushes, were planted on the property. At the time, the family had no interest in making wine. Instead, both crops were a way to diversify the cattle ranch’s income. 

In an interesting twist of fate, however, when N.A.F.T.A. went into effect in 1994, the price of roses plummeted as a result of Mexican imports. It was then that Jack doubled down on his grapes, built a winery, dug out hundreds of feet of caves in the mountains to store his wine, and hired respected winemaker Greg Vita who had previously worked with Spring Mountain, Dunn, Frog’s Leap, and Chimney Rock. 

After two years of hard work, Galante Winery opened in 1996, and today produces 3,500 cases of wine with varieties like Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet. 

Although Jack and Dawn sold the property in 2020, they continue to grow grapes on the estate and use the family winery to produce their famous Carmel Valley wines.

The Vineyards

Because Carmel Valley experiences such dramatic temperature changes – the temperature can swing 50 to 60 degrees in a single day – grapes from this AVA benefit from extended hang time, on average an entire month longer than those grown in Napa. The result? The wines are soft, yet complex, and full-bodied, but balanced.

To bring out the best qualities in the grapes, winemaker Vita thins the crop to roughly two tons per acre, which focuses the vine’s energy on a smaller quantity of grapes, and yields incredible flavors.