Mark & Jeff Pisoni
Shaping The Soul of Santa Lucia Highlands
By W Peter Hoyne
The Pisoni name has always been synonymous with singular, unparalleled wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands, a legacy that spans generations and continues to evolve through the dedication of Mark and Jeff Pisoni. As stewards of the Pisoni Vineyards, these brothers have taken the pioneering vision of their father, Gary Pisoni, and refined it into a model of meticulous vineyard management, sustainability and world-class winemaking.
In 1952, Gary’s parents, Swiss-Italian immigrants, Eddie and Jane Pisoni established a successful produce business, farming vegetables on 500-acres of land on the Salinas Valley floor. Gary’s profound affection for Pinot Noir would bring worldwide recognition to the cool climate, high elevations of the Santa Lucia Highlands. In 1982, against his father’s reservations, Gary planted a 6-acre parcel of vineyards on the rocky, water scarce mountainous slopes of the Santa Lucia Highlands, 1,300 feet above the Salinas Valley floor. This parcel was expanded to 35 acres of individually farmed blocks of vines and became revered as America’s Grand Cru site in the Santa Lucia Highlands by wine critic Robert Parker Jr.
The Pisoni name has always embodied iconic Pinot Noir because of Gary Pisoni’s early obsession with this Burgundian grape. I chronicled Gary’s inspiring journey in my feature story on the Santa Lucia Highlands within this issue.
The windswept and fog laden Pisoni Estate Vineyards are situated near the northeast corner of the Santa Lucia Highlands. The vineyards are separated into 30 individually farmed blocks and sub-blocks that range from one half to 17-acres in size with varying soil types, microclimates, elevations and slopes. Each parcel is given a name that pays homage to family members and laborers that have influenced this parcel of land.
In 1997, Gary Pisoni formed a partnership with his longtime friend Gary Franscioni. Together, they planted and farmed a parcel of vineyards eight miles north of Pisoni Vineyard in a cooler sector of the Santa Lucia Highlands, designating it as Garys' Vineyard along with an adjacent vineyard called Soberanes.
With Gary securely handing his legacy to his sons Mark and Jeff, I was curious about how the next chapter would unfold. While I had visited the Santa Lucia Highlands and vintners several years ago, I now had the opportunity to engage with Mark and Jeff on a personal level during a recent conversation. Mark and Jeff have formed a synergy between the vineyard and the winery.
Mark Pisoni is recognized as the guardian of the land with an attention to detail in overseeing every aspect of the vineyards. He is a warmhearted, down to earth and very grounded individual with a commitment to his family’s heritage and their values. I asked Mark where it all began for him. Mark responded, “It began for me as free family labor, my parents grabbed these kids, myself and my brother and they put us to work on a ranch. People learned how to work, learned how to work with others, picked up on some Spanish, learned a great deal about growing grapes and growing vegetables and just began developing a love for being outdoors and producing fantastic wine and also vegetables. A lot of my stories are vegetable stories which is very unusual for the wine world.” In addition to managing all the acreage for the vineyards, Mark also maintains the 500-acre Pisoni vegetable farm that his grandparents established on the valley floor.
Given the challenges of the wine industry, he maintains a positive approach to life. “ I think I just love being outdoors. I love growing things. I love being part of our family, part of what we are doing. It brings me an amazing kind of like happiness and joy to see people drink our wine, eat our vegetables and just be happy. A lot of people’s lives are tough right now, you‘re going through the monotony of life and work. You open a bottle of our wine at the end of the day and it brings true happiness to people. It is really cool that I get to be part of that and bring a little bit of light to people’s days.”
Mark began his scholarly path in 1995 receiving a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis. Afterwards, Mark conceded, “I wasn’t quite ready to come back to our farm. I wasn’t quite sure of what I wanted to do. At the time, I was even considering pursuing a PhD and being a researcher.” He continued in a scholarship program at Cornell University receiving a masters degree in farm business management. but realized he wasn’t meant for the world of academics. His grandfather’s health wasn’t the best, so Mark returned home to the farm and has been loving his job ever since.
Growing up, Mark was greatly influenced by his grandparents and his father. Mark’s grandfather was part of that great WWII generation, “conservative, older school, worked really hard, went through a lot, really enforced on me the importance of taking care of our team, taking care of our ranch and if you're taking care of your team and your ranch, everything works out. My grandmother was a guiding hand, very involved in our finances, with a warm heart and loving nature, keeping all of us in line and focused on the important things, not just on our ranch, but our family. In the vineyards, I got to spend quite a bit of time with my Dad, but my Dad was a very different personality, a big, larger-than-life personality kind of like a hippie from the 70’s, super generous, loved wine, loved people, loved sharing it, a big dreamer and my grandfather was very grounded. Very different personalities, which was pretty fortunate for me to work with both of them and continue to work with my Dad on a regular basis now.”
I asked Mark how he ended up in the vineyard and his brother as the winemaker in the cellar. Mark admitted, “I kind of naturally drifted to the vegetable side of things and the farming side in the vineyards. I naturally preferred being outdoors. I was the kid out in the garden, I was the kid working with our vineyard team and with our vegetable team on a regular basis. I really embraced that farming side of things. My brother naturally drifted to the winery. He was the kid that had the chemistry set for Christmas; I got the tractor for Christmas, instead of the chemistry set. Jeff began getting jobs at wineries when he was in school, so he interned at various wineries throughout California and really loved that, where I was interning at various farming operations. Just kind of a natural split.”
Now, we get along really well… I think we are very honest, we are very real with each other. We are both very driven to make better and better wines and sometimes we butt heads on that. Overall, we agree on the same kind purpose and that keeps us going in the same direction.” My father often jokes, “Mark grows the grapes, Jeff makes the wine, and I drink for a living!”
In the cellar, Jeff Pisoni brings the same level of precision and artistry to winemaking as Mark does in the vineyards. A graduate of California State University, Fresno, with a degree in enology, Jeff honed his craft in some of California’s most respected wineries, including Peter Michael and Bernardus Winery, before returning home to carry on the family tradition. His winemaking philosophy is simple: respect the fruit, preserve the integrity of the vineyard, and craft wines that speak of place.
I asked Jeff if he found differences between the early vintages of Pisoni wines and those of today. Jeff responded, “When I think back to those wines, I feel there is a lot of focus, and not just in what we did, but also the world in all things Pinot, like intensity and power.” He strives in “finding more refinement and elegance. Still having the concentration from representing what we see as a high elevation, mountainous vineyard - having all the complexity and finesse with the structure and power, too.”
As far as age-ability, “Dad, always collected wine from all over the world. The wines he drank when we were growing up, was Burgundy, Bordeaux, German wines, everything that was collectible and age-worthy. So for us, throughout our lives, we’ve always wanted to make sure that everything is age-worthy. That is of utmost importance to us.”
I wondered if there was a classic Pisoni style. Mark responded, “There isn’t really a style we are shooting for - we want our wines to represent the ranches where they come from. I think the characteristics of wines from from our vineyards are wines with great natural acidity, density and weight. Very long lived and you know a great kind of spiciness and fruit. I want these wines to drink well upon release and age for decades also.”
With regard to how these brothers envision their future aspirations and legacy, Jeff believes that accountability for the Pisoni style and name rests with them. He is intent on “maintaining and continually improving a remarkable expression of California Pinot Noir for a very long time.” Mark has a similar vision, “I want to stay focused on our ranch and our team in making better and better wine and share these wines with people.”
Together, Mark and Jeff form a seamless partnership, ensuring that every bottle bearing the Pisoni name reflects their family's passion, their land, and the timeless allure of the Santa Lucia Highlands. Through their shared vision and commitment, the Pisoni brothers continue to elevate their family’s legacy in crafting Pinot Noir that honor their family heritage while pushing the boundaries of what is possible in this renowned appellation.
