January 20, 2002

Women of Wine

From the rigors of high-tech to the rigors of winemaking

"I will give you and the winery 10 years," Annamaria Roudon said to her husband Bob.

Living in Southern California, they were working in high-stress jobs and wanted to get out of the rat race.

Bob had a knack for home winemaking, so Annamaria encouraged him to head north and start a winery. She offered to quit her job in advertising and devote herself fully to the new business.

Our four paths crossed in the early ’70s when my husband Jim hired Bob to work in a new computer company in Sunnyvale. Bob told Jim he was relocating so he could start a winery in Santa Cruz.

Jim needed little convincing to try a lifestyle beyond the rigors of the high-tech world, so they teamed up and became partners in the Roudon-Smith Winery, which we run to this day.

We purchased land in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the men built a home for the Roudons, with space to begin making a small amount of wine.

For the first seven years, Annamaria helped with the crush and tended the wine, while Bob and Jim worked over the hill, free only on evenings and weekends.

She also managed our newly planted Chardonnay vineyard, then tended the second planting after we lost the entire first crop to the deer.

While waiting for the second planting to mature, we bought grapes from surrounding vineyards, including Pinot Blanc from comedian Dick Smothers, who had just purchased the historic Vinehill Vineyard nearby.

Dick, his wife Linda and sons Dick Jr. and Steve moved into the home on the property and began building a winery of their own. Soon the Smiths and the Smothers had wine, grapes and Little League games in common.

I had enjoyed "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" for years, so at first it seemed odd to have a celebrity like Dick cheering along with us in the bleachers for our sons.

When I heard him say to Linda, "Let’s make enchiladas tonight with that good cheese," I realized that they were just like the rest of us.

Linda Smothers was a great woman of wine, accepting the same responsibilities as the rest of us. Years later, I was saddened to hear that she had been killed in an accident in San Diego.

It became apparent well before Annamaria’s 10-year deadline that we had a thriving business on our hands.

She used her dining room table to do our bookkeeping at first, but later had to establish a real office. How fortunate that she possessed a talent for managing our finances — working with numbers was not one of my strengths.

The synergetic balance of our interests and talents began to take form. I had dabbled in sales for a line of high-quality cosmetics and had learned the most important lesson there is to learn about selling any product: You have to love the product yourself.

What would there be not to love about a product made from grapes we had tenderly nurtured ourselves. (Twice!)

After a crash course in the characteristics of our wines, I hit the streets of Santa Cruz. It’s comforting to still be doing business with some of our original customers today.

As my four children grew, I was able to devote time to marketing and community relations. I joined the Scotts Valley Rotary Club, became a Court Appointed Advocate, and a board member for Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

Becoming acquainted with so many people in the community was good for business. We were invited to provide our wines for numerous banquets and fundraising events over the years.

Annamaria loved to cook and entertain. The guest list for her gourmet dinners usually consisted of people who were connected to our business.

I’ll never forget the time we were entertaining the sales staff of a new San Francisco distributor. She wanted everything to be perfect, and as usual the guests gravitated to her kitchen while she prepared dinner.

With great glee, she called everyone over to see the salad that had fallen into a state of disaster as she tried to remove it from a mold — deciding that the best way to save face was to make a joke out of it.

Carol Long, who assisted for many years with the dining room table bookkeeping, accompanied Annamaria many times to San Francisco to find Chinese or Japanese ingredients for her cuisine.

Annamaria also taught Carol all she would ever need to know about Moroccan cuisine, oriental rugs, fabrics, gardening and cats. Carol says they jokingly referred to their workdays as therapy sessions.

"She saved my life on the average of once a week," she said.

Annamaria was an avid gardener and loved to build walls and walkways with rocks.

"I remember times that Dexter and I would be invited to dinner at the Roudons," Val Ahlgren of Ahlgren Vineyards said. "If I asked Annamaria what I could bring, she always said to bring rocks."

When Annamaria became ill with cancer, she began lecturing me about the importance of doing things now, "before it is too late."

I took her word for it, and Jim and I travel regularly, something we had been putting off for a later time.

My wonderful friend of almost 25 years lost her battle with cancer in 1995, but her sense of humor remained intact. When one of the loving Hospice caregivers would come to bathe her, Annamaria would say that her "cleaning lady" was coming.

She was either very brave or was putting up a very good front.

When I first met Annamaria, I didn’t know about the pleasures of getting to know her over the years. I’m reminded of the way it is before you take your first sip of a fine wine: The delights and complexities are still unknown.

The estate Chardonnay vineyard has been renamed Annamaria’s Vineyard by the new owners, Caesar Ramirez and Asunta Martin.

Contact June Smith at rsvwine@pacbell.net

Here’s one of Annamaria’s favorite recipes:

CHICKEN BREASTS PICANTE A LA ANNAMARIA
Serves two

2 half chicken breasts, boned
2 slices bacon cut into sm. bits
l 12-oz. can Chile salsa
½ cup dry white wine
4 tbs. Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tsp. dried oregano, finely crumbled
salt and pepper

In heavy iron skillet fry the bacon bits until crisp and set aside. Pour off most of the fat.

Lightly sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and brown in remaining fat.

Pour wine and Chile salsa around the chicken, then top the breasts with Parmesan cheese, oregano and bacon bits. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with a red wine that can stand up to the salsa, such as a Syrah.

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