Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Former Congress Springs owner Vic Erickson visits the vineyards.

New owner and name for Congress Springs Winery

Property provides home to family, three wine labels

By Cecily Barnes

In 1971, Vic Erickson purchased a neglected mountainside of tangled, rotting grapevines. With patience and persistence, he turned the disaster into a dream, a vision he called Congress Springs Vineyards.

For Erickson, building the vineyard was much like raising a child, full of unexpected events. But recently, Erickson decided the time had come to separate himself from the land he had nursed back to health. As he prepared to celebrate the 25th anniversary of purchasing the vineyard, he signed final sales papers. Now a self-described "old, old man," the 86-year-old Erickson decided the time had come to sell.

The winery, on Congress Springs Road off Highway 9, was started in 1892 by Pierre Pourroy, who migrated to the United States from Gap, France. Pourroy and his wife, Marie, ran and operated the winery until the couple died in the 1950s. The winery was then inherited by their seven living children, who agreed to sell it.

When Erickson purchased the vineyards from the Pourroys in 1971, the property had only a few remnants of once healthy vines. Erickson did not have some grand dream of striking grape gold, or even a great love of wine. Rather, he purchased the winery in an attempt to bail out his friends, the Saratoga Land Co., which had acquired the winery and defaulted on their payments.

"It was a rundown piece of land that the Saratoga Land Company was going to develop into a conference center," Erickson explained. "I wasn't even thinking about a winery when I bought it. I was doing it to try and get these poor people out of trouble."

Erickson bought the property for $164,000, a fraction of its nearly $1.9 million selling price.

However, confronted with a burned and vandalized building, he doled out his share of fixer-upper fees. When Erickson first visited his new property, months after the purchase agreement, it was occupied by a gang of hippies from Haight Street in San Francisco. "I had to get the sheriff in there to get them out," Erickson recalled. "... They became angry, broke all the windows and tried to burn the place down."

Luckily, the building was made of concrete, so all that burned was the furniture. Yet the incident spurred Erickson to speed up the renovations he already had planned.

In 1976, Dan Gehrs and his new wife, Robin, were strolling the outskirts of the property when they came upon Erickson. Gehrs, who had been working at Paul Masson, struck up a conversation with Erickson, eventually convincing him into forging a partnership.

The men formed a partnership and called it Congress Springs Vineyards. From 1976 to 1988, they worked arm and arm, digging up old vines, planting new ones, pruning, irrigating and of course, picking grapes and toasting to success.

"We made that thing into a wonderful winery," Erickson said. "In fact, we had gold medals all over the country."

But as often happens, the partnership began to crumble as the two men pursued different dreams. In 1988, Erickson bought his partner out.

Erickson leased the winery to John Delmare and his wife, Marialisa, kin of Mariani's Packing Co. The young couple moved into the home that had housed a legacy of wine makers, and repeated a process practiced on the property since 1892: making wines.

Erickson hung on as an inactive landowner for another eight years, until he finally decided to sell the property. Last month, both the winery business and property were purchased by Michael Ballard, who renamed the spot Savannah Chanel Vineyards, after his two young daughters. Ballard and his family, who have spent the past three years back east, plan to build a family home on the property. The existing 1923 villa will be transformed into offices.

Savannah Chanel Vineyard will be home to three different wine labels: Alexander Sellers, Saratoga Vineyards and Clos La Chance Vineyard, who will be tenants of the property.

"We intend to make the property our family home and raise our children," Ballard said. "We were looking for a family business where the family can live and work together, sort of the family farm, back to basics thing. That's what this represents to us. It's about as American as you get."