Napa Valley wine legend who made merlot a global icon dies

Napa Valley has lost a true icon with the passing of Tom Rinaldi — a winemaker whose career spanned five legendary decades.

As Duckhorn’s founding winemaker, Rinaldi, 77, devoted 22 years to building its enduring legacy.

At a time when merlot was mostly used in blends, he crafted the first Three Palms Merlot, catapulting Duckhorn to fame and forever transforming the reputation of the grape.

As Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards recalled on his podcast to the San Francisco Chronicle, “He put Merlot on the map in the modern era. That’s what I think most people know him for. But the other thing was that he was so generous with his time and advice for all of us. He’d be incredibly forthcoming.”

Rinaldi passed away peacefully in his sleep.

His death this past weekend was unexpected, his daughter Angelina Bigelow told the Chronicle.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Rinaldi developed a taste for wine as a teenager, riding his motorcycle to Napa Valley wineries in the 1960s. He later recalled buying a bottle of Beaulieu Vineyard’s Georges de Latour for just $3, a wine that now sells for $180.

But his path to becoming one of the region’s most influential winemakers wasn’t conventional at all.

At 17, he enlisted in the Navy and served during the Vietnam War as an aircrewman in Guam, tracking typhoons and flying into the eye of 30 storms. He also worked with the 101st Airborne Division.

After leaving the military, Rinaldi enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College, planning to become a doctor or veterinarian. Wine classes eventually changed his mind, and he went on to study oenology and viticulture at UC Davis.

He later joked on Shafer’s podcast that he had “met a lot of miserable doctors and a lot of happy winemakers.”

His defining opportunity came in 1978, when friends recommended him to Duckhorn founder Dan Duckhorn.

Rinaldi rode his motorcycle past the winery, stopped to speak with Duckhorn as he worked on some trees and was hired on the spot, according to the Chronicle.

By the time he left Duckhorn in 2000, the winery had grown into a major wine company with four additional brands.

Rinaldi went on to become the founding winemaker for Hewitt Vineyard and Provenance Vineyards, working with grapes from celebrated grower Andy Beckstoffer’s vineyards.

He told the Chronicle in 2003 that he had reached a point where he wanted a new challenge.

“I felt that I was leaving Duckhorn in a steady state. I wasn’t creating anything new there, and I had three winemakers under me who were very good,” he said. “I had also turned 50, and that puts you into a different frame of mind.”

Known for his thick beard, Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts, Rinaldi became as admired for his generosity as for his expertise in blending and barrel selection.

Even in retirement, he remained a familiar presence at Napa wineries.

Away from the cellar, Rinaldi was an avid cyclist.

“He was full of energy, always upbeat and a big-time (San Francisco) Giants fan,” Shafer said.

Rinaldi had also been working with a writer on his biography. Bigelow said he was reviewing the final chapter shortly before his death, and the book is expected to be published soon.

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His wife of 43 years, Beverly Kinney, died in 2024. He is survived by his daughter Angelina and six grandchildren.

“He was very charismatic, a people person. We would go places and he just knew everybody,” Bigelow told the Chronicle. “He led a beautiful life and I think he did everything he wanted to do. He took advantage of all the opportunities life gave him.”