Margo Van Staaveren comes full circle

Serendipitous. That’s the word Margo Van Staaveren uses to describe her career in the wine industry. Over the past 36 years, Van Staaveren, 60, has served as winemaker at Chateau St. Jean in Kenwood.

“I did not set out to work in the wine industry. It wasn’t a childhood dream,” says Van Staaveren, over a glass of her newly released 2013 Cinq Cépages Cabernet? Sauvignon.

But work in it she does – and does very well. Not only is Van Staaveren an award-winning winemaker at Chateau St. Jean, but she’s been tapped by the winery’s Australian owner Treasury Wine Estates to oversee a new luxury wine facility at another Treasury property, Beringer in St. Helena – the very place her career began.

Van Staaveren, who was raised in the Terra Linda neighborhood of San Rafael, became the first of her family to attend college when she was accepted to UC Davis in the 1970s to study special education. “I knew nothing about going to college. I applied because a high school counselor told me to go to UC Davis,” she says. “So, I applied with a handwritten application.”

Her foray into special education was short lived. Van Staaveren decided to shift her college focus to the sciences, with the encouragement of a counselor. She entered into UC Davis’s renowned plant science program, one step closer to wine.

Van Staaveren had limited knowledge about the wine industry, but she was aware of it. Her family’s house wine was Gallo Hearty Burgundy and her father carpooled to San Francisco with the late Dan Turrentine of the Wine Institute.

After five years in plant science, Van Staaveren entered the winemaking program at UC Davis. After graduation, she traveled through Europe and returned to Napa Valley, where she worked her first harvest, in 1979, at Beringer.

In 1980, a friend at Chateau St. Jean reached out to Van Staaveren, asking if she was looking for a full-time job. She joined the team as a lab technician, thus embarking upon one of the longest tenures at a winery in Sonoma County. Over the years, Van Staaveren would, step by step, take on new roles at the Chateau: enologist, lab manager, assistant winemaker, associated winemaker and, finally, head winemaker in 2003.

“I have the slowest progression of anyone in the wine business,” says Van Staaveren, “but it fit my family life.”

For Van Staaveren, that family life is deeply intertwined into Chateau St. Jean and Sonoma Valley. She met her husband, winemaker Don Van Staaveren, when the two worked at the Chateau. He eventually left Chateau St. Jean, becoming winemaker at other acclaimed wineries including Three Sticks Wines. The couple have two children, and reside in Glen Ellen.

“It just feels good here,” Van Staaveren says about the Sonoma Valley. “It’s laidback.”

Van Staaveren also appreciates the area as a winemaking region. The diversity of the terroir is important, she says. Van Staaveren works with varietals from throughout Sonoma County, aiming to represent the place she calls home in every bottle of Chateau St. Jean wine. “It’s hard to find a more interesting wine country in my opinion,” she says.

In the 1980s, Chateau St. Jean became a “white wine house” – earning accolades for its chardonnay. That was until phylloxera began to spread, destroying vineyards throughout Sonoma and Napa counties, including at the Chateau. During a massive replanting, Chateau St. Jean decided to return to red wine production. Today, the majority of its estate wines are red and they continue to make quality, luxury whites using grapes from throughout the county.

With the replanting of reds at Chateau St. Jean, came the creation of Cinq Cépages, a red Bordeaux blend that is at least 75 percent cabernet sauvignon, alongside merlot, cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot.

Van Staaveren worked with husband Don to create the wine.

“It was a real treat to make,” she says. “It was like a puzzle to put together.”

Cinq Cépages’ first vintage was in 1990 and the wine proceeded to gain a fanbase throughout wine country. By 1996, the Van Staaverens had solved the puzzle in creating a wine that showcased the best of Sonoma County Bordeaux varietals.

In 1999, Wine Spectator named Cinq Cépages “Wine of the Year,” making the wine, which retailed for a mere $28 at that time, the first Sonoma County wine to earn the distinctive title. Chateau St. Jean was no stranger to Wine Spectator honors; in 1996 it became the first winery to have five wines on the magazine’s annual top 100 list.

“It was just a crazy time,” Van Staaveren says. Chateau St. Jean was just starting to ship the 1996 Cinq Cépages when the “Wine of the Year” announcement was made. “It was pandemonium. We made enemies and some friends, because there wasn’t enough for everybody.”

She says there was a one-bottle per person policy – but customers would send different people in with money in order to acquire multiple bottles. A few years later, Chateau St. Jean’s 1999 vintage would capture the No. 2 spot in the Spectator top 100. Van Staaveren would go on to be named “Winemaker of the Year” in 2008 by Wine Enthusiast.

For Van Staaveren, her biggest concern isn’t about scores and awards, it’s about making a wine that represents the best expression of Sonoma County cabernet. “You can’t second guess it or you’d drive yourself insane,” she says, “It’s just a bottle of wine, let’s get real.”

The 2013 Cinq Cépages has been released in time for the holidays. “I love the charm of it,” Van Staaveren shares, while sipping the new release, “It has a structure and generosity that matches the fruit.”

As she prepares for her 36th vintage, Van Staaveren will continue as winemaker at Chateau St. Jean, while also overseeing a new luxury winemaking facility at Beringer in St. Helena.

Thus, she’ll be returning to the facility that launched her wine career nearly four decades ago.

Serendipitous indeed.