 |
|
|
George Bursick
Vice President of Winemaking
Throughout his career, George Bursick has proven his expertise in all aspects of the wine industry - winery design, vineyard management, ultra-premium winemaking and marketing. Many milestones have been achieved in his career, and countless awards and accolades have been awarded to his wines. He brings his extraordinary wealth of knowledge and experience to J Vineyards & Winery in his new role as Vice President of Winemaking.
George is considered to be among the winemakers who have shaped the current era in California’s wine industry and who brought it to the forefront of the international wine world. Wineries were relatively few in the early 1970s and the ambition of making a living as a winemaker was rare. Born and raised in Sonoma County, however, he was exposed to winemaking early on. George attended UC Santa Barbara, and when he returned home to Santa Rosa, he received the classic fatherly wisdom, "get a job." Just over the mountains from home at Beringer Winery, George was hired to assemble Christmas gift packs for the tasting room. Soon after in 1970, he graduated to the cellar, quickly rising through the ranks and learning the wine business from the ground up. He then returned to college and received his Masters in Enology from UC Davis. His first solo winemaking job was at McDowell Valley Vineyards in Mendocino County. After nine years at McDowell, George joined Rhonda and Don Carano as Director of Winemaking while in the early stages of their plans for a new winery called Ferrari-Carano and he remained Executive Winemaker there for 21 years.
Recognized as an expert in sensory evaluation, George has found a delightful playground at J Vineyards & Winery. "At first, my motivation to work with J was friendship. Judy and I have been close friends for over two decades, and the timing for me was right," he says. "J has always made consistently good wines, but when I discovered Judy’s desire to ‘shoot for the moon’ and position J as a world-class producer of Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, I realized I had the chance to shake things up a bit and be a part of something special." Since joining J in 2006, George has already taken steps towards Judy’s vision for J by cutting back on yields, increasing the number of lots used to blend J’s Russian River Valley Pinot Noir seven-fold in the first year, and he’s even acquired six very rare yeast strains from Burgundy "that have not been used since the 1930s!" He and Viticulturist John Erbe are also on the hunt for more vineyards in the Russian River appellation.
While wine is a passion for George as well as a profession, his secret love is playing the drums in a band called Private Reserve. Started in 1992, Private Reserve is a mix of wine colleagues that currently include Mike Martini, Ed Sbragia, Jess Knubis, Steve Buehl and John Hawkins. "We usually play gigs mostly at wine and winery related events. But it’s really just an excuse to get together every few weeks, eat a burrito, drink some wine and rock and roll." George lives in Alexander Valley with his wife JoAnn and their two sons, John and Dylan. |
|
|
