Though the path from Princeton student to wine consumer is clear, the road of Fred Fisher '54 is less traveled.
Fisher, the owner of five California vineyards, has gained national recognition for his wines.
It sounds like a wonderful life, and in some respects it is. But it isn't all fun and games.
"I'm sure your readers will be disappointed to know that I am working on a Saturday," Fisher said in a phone interview, "but that's the life of a winemaker!"
After graduating from Princeton with an engineering degree, Fisher attended Harvard Business School. He then served a tour in Europe with the U.S. Army.
It was in Europe that Fisher first fell in love with wine. "It was while I was on leave in Italy that I discovered and developed a fascination with wine," he said.
But after his time abroad, Fisher still had no idea he would eventually enter the wine industry.
He returned to his hometown of Detroit and entered the family business, automobiles. Fisher is the grandchild of Charles Fisher, the founder of Fisher Body, which was later acquired by General Motors.
For two years Fisher worked at his family's company. Though he would eventually leave, Fisher would not forget his roots. He uses the Fisher Body emblem, an old fashioned buggy, as a label for his finer wines.
Fisher first arrived in California in the early 1960s, hoping to seek his fortune in the business world of southern California. But as time went by, he was struck with a realization.
"I had had many careers and was pushing 40. I realized I was never going to rule the world nor make a fortune. So, I figured I would buy a piece of land and make something I loved: wine."
In 1973, Fisher and his soon to be wife, Juelle, embarked on a mission, purchasing a piece of premium vineyard property on the south facing side of Sonoma's Mayacamas Mountains. Two years later, the couple was married in the vineyard, which was subsequently named the Wedding Vineyard to commemorate the occasion.
Later, four more vineyards, in both the Mayacamas Mountains and Nappa Valley were added to the collection.
"I learned from the school of hard-knocks," Fisher chuckled. "Besides none of us wine-people really know half of what we need to know."
But Fisher does know what he is aiming for. "We want an end product that is of the highest quality, but also, equally important, we want a wine with a distinct flavor," he said.
"A good wine is a personal decision," Fisher stressed, "If you have a glass of wine at dinner . . . and you enjoy the first sip, but then you continue to enjoy it through the entire glass, and then you want to go to a second glass, that is the definition of a good wine."
In the wine industry, the best way to learn is from other professionals, Fisher explained, and he said that people are fairly willing to talk with their competitors.
"We all think that we have created something so unique that it can't be copied," Fisher said. But is he willing to share the Fisher wine recipe?
"We don't have a recipe in the way that most people define recipe. It's more like a method of making the right decisions at critical points," Fisher explained.
For example, when the fruit is picked greatly affects the quality and flavor of the wine. Years ago, the level of sugar in the fruit was tested, and the fruit was picked when it contained the correct sugar percent. Now, Fisher explained, they pick the fruit when it is deemed ripe.
"We depend on professional judgment to determine when the fruit is ripe," Fisher said. Fisher's expert opinion often comes from his winemaker and daughter, Whitney Fisher '98, and her mentor, Mia Klein.
During her days at the University, Whitney had been on the consuming, rather than the producing end when it came to her family's wine, carrying a few bottles back with her from California after breaks.
However, she said that she "never thought" she would end up returning to Fisher Vineyards as an employee.
After graduating from the University concentrating in American history, Whitney worked for a few years for International Wine Associates, which she described as "a small firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in the wine industry on a global basis."
Though she found her work rewarding, Whitney said she grew tired of dealing with wine producers from the confines of a computer desk or over conference calls to vintners in Australia and New Zealand.
When she heard that the winemaker at her father's vineyard was looking for an intern to work the harvest, she jumped on board.
"I just got in and started working from the ground up — literally," she joked.
Her father at first had some concerns about her coming to work for him, Whitney said.
"He's kind of anti-nepotism," she noted. However, after five years on the vineyard, both Fishers are happy about her decision.
"Now it's great, I love it," Whitney said.
Fisher noted that his son Robert, a Duke graduate and banker in New York, has "not yet" come back to work at the vineyard. Fisher's second daughter, Cameron, is a senior at Colby College.
Two of the Fisher Vineyards and the resulting wines were named after the children: the RCF Vineyard Merlot, in honor of Robert, and the Whitney's Vineyard Chardonnay.
Each of Fisher's vineyards produces a distinct wine. As Fisher pointed out, the varying characteristics of the vineyards produce unique grapes and therefore yield different tasting wines.
Fisher also produces two top quality blended vineyard reserve wines, proudly marked by the Fisher Body coach insignia.
The development of wine takes time and patience, Fisher said. Once the fruit is picked, the wine making process takes anywhere from 12 to 20 months, at which point the wine is bottled and allowed to age further.
The Fishers harvest their fruit in late October, at which point they move on to the fermentation stage. "Basic fermentation is understood, but each wine maker needs to decide what type of yeast will yield the desired taste," Fisher said.
What the storage barrel is made of and the length of time the wine is allowed to sit are also critical decisions in the winemaking process. At Fisher vineyards, white wines are allowed to ferment for roughly 12 months, while red wines are placed in oak barrels for 16 to 20 months.
Once fermentation has been completed, the wine is bottled and aged.
"We won't release the wine until it is willing to be enjoyed," Fisher noted.
The final product, after months of labor, is a flavorful wine with a mouth coating quality and flavor that lasts.
Over the last 30 years, Fisher's mission has been "to craft some of the finest wines of California that truly merit the Fisher Body Coach Insignia." According to reviews in the International Wine Cellar and Wine Spectator, he has done just that.
So what does the future hold? Unlike General Motors, and the automobile industry that Fisher knows so well, he isn't looking to greatly increase his production.
"With cars, the bigger the machinery, the bigger the production scale the better. With wine, the small producer has the advantage. We can make a high quality wine, and that is what matters."
According to Whitney, Fisher Vineyards produces 72,000 bottles of wine annually. While this may seem like a large figure, it is actually on the smaller end for a wine company. Fisher looks at the years to come as an opportunity to grow in quality, not quantity.
"Each year as the crop varies, so does the wine," he said, "but we are developing our own ability and our own preferences. It takes years to find the holy grail of winemaking, but we are well on our way." Whitney is currently working on making this year's new blends.
"There are so many different blends you could make. It takes a lot of tasting and a lot of talking," she said.
When Fisher first stepped outside FitzRandolph Gate he had no idea that he would spend a good part of his life making wine.
"When I graduated, the world was our oyster. We chose the paths that were laid in front of us. I made a wonderful choice. It has been great for us. It has been good for my family," Fisher said.
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