San Francisco, Calif. – Doug Sparks ’69 is twice the geek. He spent years in the hi-tech, Silicon Valley business and now mingles with wine afficionados.
He notes many of his best customers for his two Zinfandels and his flagship Barbera are his former tech buddies from years in his consulting business.
His Barbera has won Best of Show in a couple of statewide competitions. Barbera is an Italian grape grown in the Piedmont region.
Sparks also makes some syrah, petite syrah, and a Pinot Gris.
"Characteristics of a good wine is a wine that you like," he said. "People’s tastes vary enormously. Some people will hate what we make."
Doug tells a story of taking a bottle of his Dry Creek Zin home for Christmas in Anderson, Ind., to an aunt’s home. They opened the bottle on the holiday and "she opens it and has this look on her face. I ask if anything is wrong and she says, ‘no, this is good and I didn’t even have to add any sweetener.’"
But Sparks acknowledges many people like the sweet wines, he doesn’t. "The wine she likes is going to be sweet – those drive me up the wall. But she likes it so ultimately it’s simply what you like and the rest of it is vocabulary.
"It’s not magical. It’s something that goes with what you’re having with it. Maybe some people like a white zinfandel with their hamburgers and if that’s what you want, I don’t have any problem with that. Maybe sometime, as they try more and more wine, maybe they will like one of our Zins with their hamburgers. Maybe they won’t, and that’s fine too."
Sparks enjoys the wines he makes and has an extensive wine cellar in his basement/garage in San Francisco. His home is located near Golden Gate Park and also near the famous Haight-Ashbury district.
"I like wines that are not heavily oaked," he said when pressed about his own taste. "I like wines that express a lot of fruit and are dry. I like wines that I consider balanced. The whole game is balancing fruit with acid, with the tannins, with the alcohol – it’s a balancing act.
"I like wine that goes with food. That’s another problem with heavily oaked wines, a lot of them don’t go well with food. For heavens sake, this stuff is fermented grape juice don’t make it too complicated."