Purchasing winemaking equipment and producing a few bottles of wine in their garage, a Malibu family turned a hobby turned into a passion.
Making wine is like making music. Some people do it because they love the excitement and the delicateness that comes with the process while others commit to it passionately to give a new character to what has already been done before.
All of the above connect for Delaney and Richard Guttler, she a culinary chef and he a thyroid doctor, both harmonizing when it comes to the winemaking process. Add 86-year-old “Papa” to the mix, and you end up with a family operation that brings together the wisdom of the past and the ingenuity of the baby boom generation.
“It’s a lifestyle choice,” said Richard, who is the director of a thyroid clinic in Santa Monica.
It all began in a garage operation when Delaney bought winemaking equipment for her husband in 1994. But the operation soon outgrew the boundaries of the garage and the Guttlers set course to Napa Valley.
From doctor and chef to winemakers
Richard Guttler graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and served his internship and residency at the University of Southern California Medical Center.
He has traveled extensively to exotic places such as Papua New Guinea where he set up a thyroid cytology clinic in liaison with the Santa Monica Thyroid Center. He also volunteers at Venice Family Clinic.
Richard likes to experiment with new endeavors and started attending winemaking classes at UC Davis.
Delaney grew up in Michigan and attended the Los Angeles Culinary Institute in the mid-’90s. She worked at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey where, among other things, she was responsible for preparing the Sunday brunch, seafood buffet and handled various weddings and private parties. She also works as a private chef.
“I like seeing people enjoy something that I have created,” she said.
After losing a vacation home in Kauai when a hurricane hit the Hawaiian island in 1992, the Guttlers fell in love with lush green Napa Valley where winemaking is a predominant occupation.
The rural lifestyle and endless vineyards offered a backdrop similar to that of Kauai in some ways, and the Guttlers purchased a vacation home in the upper Napa Valley. They named it Dolcetto d’Alba, after a Northern Italian wine.
Located between Calistoga and Mount St. Helena and surrounded by fertile Napa land, the vacation home became an idyllic spot to expand the Guttlers’ winemaking pastime. They planted a vineyard in the backyard.
“It’s a hobby that gets out of control,” said Richard.
Unlike most of the winemakers who were working on French vintages, the Guttlers focused on Italian wine because it is not well known and the profitability prospects were higher as there is not as much competition.
“There was only a handful of Italian winemakers when I started,” said Richard.
The small vineyard grew and the Guttlers began to lease other vineyards as well.
The first harvest in 2000 produced about 450 cases of wine. After spending a year in a variety of barrels, the Fontana Di Vita Dolcetto wine was bottled in the fall of 2001 and is now ready to meet the palates of wine aficionados who have an appreciation for Italian wines.
Delaney created a company for the product, which the couple was making.
Delaney Foods was started and Delaney is now working on commercial product spin-offs from the winery.
While Dolcetto means sweet in Italian, the flavor of this wine is that of a dry, non-sweetened wine.
Richard and Delaney, both Malibu residents since 1983, also had a special kind of help when “Papa” Frank Guttler, who grew up helping his own father as a cooper in a brewery, chipped in. A cooper makes barrels that hold liquids such as beer and wine.
“Papa” Guttler, who lives with Richard and Delaney and their two children age 10 and 13, had a twinkle his eye as he reminisced about the winemaking process.
“I am now giving a small bit of my knowledge to my son as he embarks on this new adventure of winemaking,” he said.