Winemaker Kirk Venge’s Enduring Signature
By W Peter Hoyne
Kirk Venge is a respected winemaker and steward of the land in Napa Valley and Sonoma whose precision winemaking follows a legacy of generational excellence. He appears to have has an inherent ability to be an accomplished winemaker or perhaps was just genetically gifted. Either way, Kirk is a fusion of intellect, passion and reverence for the soil that is manifest in all his wines and is someone who should be recognized for his noteworthy craftsmanship.
Kirk is the son of legendary Nils Venge, who cemented his place in wine history and was the first American to receive a perfect 100 point score from prominent wine critic Robert Parker Jr. for his 1985 Groth Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. At an early age, it was easily seen that Kirk would follow in his father’s footsteps.
Kirk was raised in Rutherford, Napa Valley surrounded by prominent wineries as he attended school in nearby St. Helena. While quite young, he was immersed in the vineyards and working in the winery. “My days growing up was mainly, every weekend, every summer working the bottling lines, working on the tractor, in the vineyards constantly, both the vineyards and the winery. My first job in the winery was when I was six years old washing barrels you know, that was what I was kind of suited for. And then, when I was nine years old I got on the bottling line at Groth, worked every summer putting capsules on bottles or helped stacking from a very early age.”
His father Nils was an inspiration as he was a viticulturist for Sterling Vineyards, winemaker at Villa Mt. Eden and established Saddleback Cellars in Oakville before settling in at Groth Vineyards. Kirk recalls “Growing up watching my Dad, he was always on the road or he always held the big positions at the wineries he was working for, so I appreciated that from an early age. I thought this is what I want to do. It was never a question, it was always that I would be doing this all my days.” At a very early age, Kirk was unwavering in his decision to become a winemaker with a clear vision of the future.
When he was ten years old, Kirk had already solidified his destiny writing an essay about his career while in school, “I’d like to be a winemaker like my dad, because I can make lots of money. Also, I’d get to travel a lot to be a winemaker. I’d have to have good taste buds to taste the wine and a good nose to smell the wine. The school I can go to is UC Davis to get my masters degree in winemaking after two to four years.…If I want to be a fairly well-known winemaker, I should try to sell my wine to important restaurants and consult with well-known salesmen and brokers.”
By the time Kirk graduated with a degree in viticulture and enology from UC Davis in California in 1998 he had already participated in 14 harvests and aced his exams in winemaking, but this was just the beginning. During his summer internships, Kirk accepted a position as experimental winemaker at Mumm Napa under the guidance of winemaker Greg Fowler. It was also a short bicycle ride for Kirk back home.
Kirk admits “Greg was my first mentor. He put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. I did all the clonal trials, different cuvees, yeast trials, headed up all the malolactic programs and I managed the barrel programs. He challenged me with all kind of things. And because I was there for so many years, I got to see a lot of these experiments through to fruition. Five years later, trying wines that I had made my first year, it was a great basis.” Kirk was also exposed to the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay program at Mumm, sourcing fruit from different AVA’s throughout California, including the Russian River Valley. This would later serve as a platform for Kirk’s crafting stylistic Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs at Croix Estate within Russian River Valley.
Winemaker Ric Forman was also one of those influential figures in Kirk’s life. “He was very instrumental, because he really pushed, he really drove quality. He knew quality inside and out. He always ingrained in us to make the very best you can and to stand behind your product with a firm belief in it.”
After graduating from Davis, Kirk traveled abroad to New Zealand, working at Rapaura Vintners in Marlborough honing his skills with Sauvignon Blanc and backpacking through Europe before returning home to assist his father in establishing Venge Family wines. “College taught all of us as young people the theory behind wine, but he really taught me the practice of winemaking.”
By 2008, Kirk purchased a 12.5 parcel of land in the foothills of Calistoga. He acquired full ownership of the Venge Vineyards brand, remodeling and restoring the property, while drilling caves for barrel storage. Kirk professes “I think I can attribute a lot of success just to a lot of responsibility on my shoulders from a very early age. With that, I think it launches you a little further to owning your own business one day.”
In 2016, Kirk purchased the former Robert Rue Winery in the Russian River Valley renaming it Croix, meaning cross in French. It references Kirk’s crossing over the mountain from Napa to Sonoma. By 2018, he had completely remodeled Croix Estate. He replanted all the landscape, reusided the buildings, remodeled the interior in the tasting room and the barrel cellars. To date, Kirk has been involved in the design and building of five wineries. He also has been a consulting winemaker for Bacio Divino Cellars, Eleven Eleven, Hunnicutt Wines, B Cellars, Mirror, Macauley Vineyard, Renteria Family Wines, JaxVineyards, Promise Wines, Summers Estate, and Trespass Vineyards.
I questioned Kirk about why he purchased Croix when he had already owned Venge Vineyards in Napa and had established an exceptional reputation for crafting Cabernet Sauvignon. Kirk acknowledged his passion for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. “Every winemaker that makes Pinot Noir is passionate about the differences, the subtly and nuance of Pinot Noir. I wanted to chase that down further. My mother is from Sonoma County, so how good to have a Sonoma County presence. I was passionate about seeking more single vineyards and working with the best growers. We’ve really done a great job at Croix of finding the best vineyards and the best growers and the best places that this varietal comes from.”
I inquired if there was a Kirk Venge style. “I pick on the riper side, a little more ripeness, maybe the use of oak is a little riper, but I would say so. I never acidulate, I always blend for balance. I never try to chase one thing down. The big mentors that I had in my mind as far as wine styles were always Paul Hobbs and Dave Ramey. If I had to chase down a winemaker, they were the two… we try to overdeliver of course on all of the wine. I think we do.”
After barrel tasting with Kirk, I wondered how do you account for the aromatic profile of your wines? They are beyond anything I have ever experienced. Kirk responded “That is going to be through the use of oak, also the different yeasts, ripeness of course and how we establish the vineyard, just the vinescape of it all… I just really work with the growers, work with the fruit and found the right clones. I have to move around from block to block on different ranches just to find the right thing, especially with Pinot Noir. You find where that balance is in the vineyard.”
As far as his motivation, “What gets me out of bed I think is the craft and the art of winemaking. I know it’s a little cliche. The suspense of every new vintage, then seeing the joy, I enjoying drinking wine, I love the history of it.”
What is Kirk’s end goal at Croix. “To pass it along to my children would be my greatest hope and not build something so large that they’re are not going to want to keep it. Maintaining quality, having a very healthy business for them to step into. My son talks about it time to time. He talks about being a winemaker one day. He needs to get started though, because where I was at 13 or 14, I was driving tractors and running eight person crews. I will be patient.”
Then what will be your legacy, “A brand that is looked up every time, that we leave this place better than we found it, we build something over the course of time that is well respected and admired, not a brand that cuts any corners. Maintaining quality, staying creative, staying humble and being known for that.”
In an ever changing California landscape, where trends tend to rise and fade with each vintage, Kirk Venge remains a steadfast voice—rooted in tradition, yet unafraid to explore. His wines are confident without being showy, deliberate yet soulful while bridging the gap between classic and contemporary. His storied legacy reminds us that true craftsmanship is timeless.
