October 28th – Winegrower and vintner John M. Peterson, Jr., owner of Peterson and Cortada Alta Vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and Mansfield-Dunne Wines, passed away on Thursday, October 7, after a courageous battle with cancer.
Born the oldest of eight siblings on Chicago’s South Side, Peterson graduated from Notre Dame University in 1973, and Harvard Law School in 1977. He spent 44 years at Baker McKenzie, an international law firm headquartered in Chicago, specializing in international tax law, eventually becoming a partner. He opened the firm’s Palo Alto office in 1981 after a three-and-a-half-year stint at the Chicago office.
A lover of wine, particularly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Peterson dreamed of developing a vineyard and after eight years of scouring California for the perfect vineyard, he fell in love with the Santa Lucia Highlands. In 2009, John and wife Lynn purchased 300 acres of rugged, unplanted mountainside land that would be home to Cortada Alta Vineyard, the highest altitude vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands.
In 2010, he purchased the River Road Vineyard, renamed it Peterson Vineyard, and started the Mansfield-Dunne label with Winemaker Ed Kurtzman. He began planting Cortada Alta Vineyard in 2013 with vineyard consultant Ruben Balderas. Wineries including August West, Calera, Luli Wines, Loring Wine Company, Morgan, Samuel Louis Smith, Testarossa, Windy Oaks, and Wrath among others, purchase grapes from Cortada Alta and Peterson Vineyards.
Peterson was a member of the Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans, the region’s wine association since 2011 and served on the Board of Directors since 2014.
