Winery matriarch succumbs to cancer

Don Speich
Sun News Editor
Gertrud Schug, who along with her husband moved from Germany almost 50 years ago to become successful winemakers in both Napa and Sonoma counties, died Friday of cancer. She was 65.
Schug, the mother of three adult children, was a partner with her husband in Sonoma Valley’s Schug Carneros Estate Winery, which was established in 1990 and almost instantly became known for its pinot noir.
“I made the wine, she kept the money together,” said Walter Schug in an interview Tuesday about his wife, who was an accountant. “Without her we would never have accomplished what we accomplished.”
What they accomplished, among other things, was the realization of the American dream in a saga as rich in texture as the grapes from which their pinot is made
They met in 1955 in Germany – he a young winemaker from the Rhine Valley and she from the Platinate region of the country near Heidelberg. His dream was to come to America and make wine and he was able to secure a job in 1959 in California’s Central Valley.
His wife was supportive but a bit concerned about pulling up roots and moving so far away—“a natural apprehension about me taking her away from her family and she wondering, ‘What in earth are we getting into?’” said Walter Schug.
Schug, after his initial jobs with wineries, including E.J. Gallo, later hooked up with Joseph Phelps in St. Helena, where he became the winemaker and vice president. There he indulged his love for pinot noir by turning out quality wines for Phelps. Then in the 1980s, he and his wife went on their own, leasing first a facility in Yountville, which they outgrew in a matter of a few years. It was then that they moved to Sonoma, to a property off Bonneau Road near the intersection of highways 16, 12 and 121. Almost overnight, the Schugs created a landmark estate because its architecture replicated the style of wineries in their native country.
Pinot noir vineyards surround the winery where Walter and Gertrud Schug worked to bring out the essential varietal and regional characteristics of both white and red wines. In Schug’s words: “Pinot is our dream.”
Throughout the years, the Schugs have traveled back to Germany almost yearly, the last time for extended period within the last year.
Schug and his wife had retired. Their son Axel had taken over. It was time to enjoy retirement. On June 5, shortly after returning to Sonoma from Europe, Gertrud Schug, suffering from extensive pain, went to the doctor. Four months later, she passed away.
Besides her husband and son, Axel, Gertrud Schug is survived by two daughters: Claudia Schuetz of Germany and Andrea Vonk of San Diego.
A memorial service for Gertrude Schug will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 12 at Duggan’s Mission Chapel at 525 W. Napa St., Sonoma.