On Wednesday, the day before Dorothy Tchelistcheff died, El Dorado County winemaker Marco Cappelli and his family stopped by her Napa home to catch-up. (Photo courtesy of Ginetta Cappelli.)

(Santa Rosa wine writer Dan Berger, who has tracked the evolution of the California wine scene as long as anyone still writing today, wrote this affectionate tribute to Dorothy Tchelistcheff shortly after she died on Thanksgiving Day. Mrs. Tchelistcheff was a gracious, amusing and engaging link between the uncertain start of the modern California wine trade in the 1960s until its full realization over the past couple of decades. This is a lightly edited version of Dan’s obituary, published in the Napa Valley Register.)

By Dan Berger

Dorothy Tchelistcheff, widow of California’s greatest winemaker and an integral part of her husband’s broad impact on the entire American wine industry for decades, passed away Thanksgiving afternoon after enjoying a festive Napa lunch with two granddaughters.

She was 99, and until her last moments was perfectly lucid, able to get around on her own, and displayed a perpetual smile.

She was married to famed winemaker André Tchelistcheff and was an integral part of his career.

“One of the saddest things in my life is that I won’t have anyone to talk with on Sunday mornings any more,” said Sacramento wine merchant and Dorothy’s lifelong friend Darrell Corti.

Corti called Dorothy every Sunday morning, a connection he instituted shortly after André’s passing in April 1994 at age 92 and continued weekly for 26 years. Their friendship began in the 1960s.

“She was so proficient in navigating André’s ship, guiding him to all of his appointments, attending to his health like a very able physician,” said one of her closest companions, Rob Davis, the former winemaker at Jordan Vineyards.

“Few spouses had the temperament of Dorothy, allowing André to stand at the ship’s bow while she provided the muscle and know-how to keep the keel in the right position each time.”

Corti said her passing was so sad because she was so lively and alert, with a steel-trap mind. “She wasn’t ill,” he said. “Just last week at the Old-Timers luncheon, she said, ‘I don’t want to be 99,’ and I reminded her that she would be 100 in a few months!”

The invitation-only Old-Timers luncheon occurs three or four times a year, sponsored by one of the industry’s most important companies, Joseph W. Ciatti Co., the world’s largest brokerage of grapes and bulk wines.

Dorothy attended the most recent Old-Timers’ event, staged at the Charles Krug Winery’s carriage house Nov. 17, where she was greeted by Joe Ciatti.

Corti said Dorothy had two walkers, one in the car and one in the house, “but I really believe they were like security blankets. She was strong enough to get around on her own perfectly fine.”

After her lunch on Thursday, she was going back to the car when she collapsed on her walker, said Davis. Cause of her death wasn’t known immediately.

“I was getting ready to call her to make our date for lunch at her house and helping her with her Christmas tree with ‘André’s kids,’ said Davis.

André and Dorothy took under their wings at least two dozen winemakers who later said they were mentored by the great master. These “Andre’s kids” included Louis P. Martini and his son Mike, Joel Aiken (BV), Warren Winiarski (Stag’s Leap), John Williams (Frog’s Leap), Rob Davis, Michael Silacci (Opus One), Chris Markell (Arbor Bench Vineyards), Rick Sayre (Rodney Strong Vineyards), and Greg La Follette (Marchelle Wines, Ancient Oak). André also worked with the esteemed Dr. Richard Peterson at BV.

But the list undoubtedly includes dozens of others. André also was part owner, for a time, of Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma County, where he came into contact with at least a dozen Sonoma winemakers he consulted. And Dorothy was a key part of this ecumenical activity.

Until the end of André’s life, she kept records of Andre’s views of critical vineyard and winery practices and always was an attentive companion to the careers of André’s “kids.”

“André was confronted with troubled waters” on occasion during his career, said Davis. “He loved the spotlight. Dorothy did not. But André would not have shared the success he had with all of us without Dorothy.

“As Darrell said to me, ‘Her passing was inevitable.’ That’s true but we always feel the loss nevertheless. Dorothy joining André marks the passing of such a great time in my life. André defines my winemaking. Dorothy defines my joy of life. Her indelible smile will forever remain in my memory.”

Memorial services are pending.