St. Francis Winery founder Joe Martin dies at 80

Joe Martin, the founder of St.|

Joe Martin, the founder of St. Francis Winery and Vineyards who helped usher merlot into the mainstream, died Thursday at his Sonoma Valley home, a company spokesman said.

He was 80.

Martin started out as a grape grower in the region in the early 1970s, buying a 100-acre Kenwood orchard and converting it to vineyards. He got into winemaking after watching vintners win numerous awards using his grapes.

He and business partner Lloyd Canton opened their own winery in 1979, right beside the vineyard. Martin bottled merlot by itself, earning the nickname the “Father of Merlot Madness” after the wine’s popularity soared in the 1980s.

He expanded his holdings and built a new facility at Highway 12 and Pythian Road in Santa Rosa before selling the company to the Kopf family in 2004.

“He was a wonderful guy,” said Christopher Silva, president and chief executive officer of the company. “He believed so deeply in the promise of Sonoma County as a world class wine and culinary destination.”

The rise of St. Francis coincided with the shift of the county’s agricultural focus to wine. Martin planted vineyards at a time when most farmland was still devoted to orchards, Silva said.

“He was among the early ones,” Silva said.

Martin suffered a stroke in 2012 while on a trip to Europe with his wife of about 10 years, Nancy. He had been in failing health ever since.

Joseph Thomas Martin was born in the Central Valley town of Tracy in 1934 and grew up on a dairy farm. He moved to San Francisco as a young man, eventually opening Modern House Furniture Store, which he operated through the 1960s.

Martin sold the company in 1971 to purchase a “funky” 100-acre orchard in Kenwood owned by the Behler family. He thought the Sonoma Valley’s cool mornings and warm evenings would be ideal for a number of grape varieties, including temperamental merlot, which until that time had mostly been used to blend with cabernet sauvignon.

He and his first wife, Emma, who died in 2001, were devoted to the St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint and protector of animals and ecology, so they chose the name St. Francis Vineyards.

Martin took night classes in viticulture over the next six years at UC Davis, about 65 miles away, and gradually planted merlot and chardonnay, selling to local wineries.

Following the success of his grapes, he and Canton turned to winemaking, gaining a reputation for merlot and adding old vine zinfandel as a mainstay.

Things took off after wine critic Robert Parker recognized St. Francis in the late 1980s. The label was picked up by the national wine distributor Kobrand, owned by the Kopf family.

Martin retired after the Kopf family took over the business in 2004 but stayed on as a consultant through 2008.

Earlier this month, he served as co-chairman of the Santa Rosa Junior College Wine Classic, to raise money for the school’s viticulture program. He was recognized for a “highly consequential and distinguished career, his key role in the success of the Sonoma County wine industry, and his lifetime of service to others.”

He served for many years on the boards of several prominent nonprofit organizations, including the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Foundation and Catholic Charities. He was a supporter of Kids Street Learning Center and one of the founders of Star of the Valley Church.

In addition to his wife Nancy, Martin is survived by two granddaughters and several nieces and nephews. Services will be held next week at Star of the Valley Church.

You can reach Paul Payne at 568-5312.

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