Vintner who made Central Coast haven for Pinot Noir dies
Nicolaus “Nicky” Hahn, a pioneering vintner of Monterey County, died March 2 at his home in Zurich. He was 81.
Hahn was one of a small group of vintners to begin making highquality wines in the 1970s in the Santa Lucia Highlands, a 12-mile stretch along the Salinas River. He later led the effort to establish the Santa Lucia Highlands as an American Viticultural Area, winning federal approval in 1991. Later, Hahn was instrumental in shifting the region from Cabernet Sauvignon cultivation to Pinot Noir, which remains the area’s predominant grape.
“He always thought in 50- to 100-year increments,” said Hahn’s son, Philip, who succeeded his father as the chairman of Hahn Family Wines in 2007. “Everything he did was always for future generations.”
Hahn was born in 1936 in Switzerland, the son of a Jewish father and Protestant mother who had fled Nazi Germany. Eventually, the family went to Portugal, then sailed to Florida by way of Cuba. They landed in New York City, which is where Hahn spent much of his childhood. “My father’s earliest memories were of Coney Island,” said Philip Hahn.
After a stint in South Africa helping to grow hybrid tomatoes, Hahn worked as a businessman in Paris, New York and London. He became chairman of the multinational software corporation Computer Associates. But California called. “It’s one of those coming-to-America stories,” said Philip Hahn. When Hahn decided to start a wine business, “the easy thing would have been to go to Napa. But he didn’t want to do what everyone else had done.”
In the 1970s, Hahn purchased a cattle ranch and a horse farm in the Santa Lucia mountain range. He planted Cabernet Sauvignon on the properties, which he called the Smith and Hook vineyards, releasing his first wine in 1980. Hahn moved his family from London to Monterey in 1984, and spent two hours every day commuting to the vineyards. Over time, Hahn Family Wines acquired more properties, now farming 1,100 acres, 650 of which are in the Santa Lucia Highlands — about 10 percent of the total AVA. Hahn Family Wines produces about 400,000 cases of wine per year.
“It took him about 14 years to figure out that this was the next big Burgundian region,” Philip Hahn said. His father began experimenting with Pinot Noir, which could benefit from the Santa Lucia Highlands’ cooler temperatures. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hahn decided to tear out his Cabernet and replant Pinot. It was a big financial investment, and a huge risk — but one that paid off. Today, the vast majority of Santa Lucia Highlands acreage is planted to Pinot Noir, and it’s recognized as what the region can do best.
Last year, Wine Enthusiast magazine gave its annual American Wine Pioneer award to Hahn.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Gaby, and his two children, Philip and Caroline.
A small memorial in Europe is planned.
“He always thought in 50- to 100-year increments. Everything he did was always for future generations.” Philip Hahn, on his father Nicky