Sixth Generation Winemaker Katie Bundschu
SPREADS HER WINGS AT ABBOT’S PASSAGE
Three years before Charles Krug established his eponymous winery in the Napa Valley in 1858, his contemporary and fellow German Jacob Gundlach purchased 400 acres on the other side of the Mayacamas, closer to the Pacific, in adjacent Sonoma County. Gundlach married his wife, Eva, in Bavaria that same year, and on their honeymoon in Germany and France the newlyweds collected Vitis vinifera, European grapevines, to plant on their new Sonoma estate. They named the vineyard, one of the first in the area, Rhinefarm.
Ten years later, Jacob Gundlach was joined in the wine business by Charles Bundschu, another German. Charles married Jacob and Eva’s daughter in 1875, cementing their relationship. Today, nearly 150 years later, the Gundlach Bundschu winery remains a family-owned operation. Jeff Bundschu is the president; Rob Bundschu works in hospitality under the title “orchestrator of happiness”; and Katie Bundschu, the third sibling in the sixth generation of Bundschus dating back to Jacob, is the chief marketing officer and, more recently, the founder of her own wine brand, Abbot’s Passage.
Over time, Gundlach Bundschu—or “Gun Bun,” as it is affectionately referred to by club members and fans—has become a household name. So why would a member of this famed family decide to strike out on her own? That’s exactly what we wanted to find out.
“I grew up in a sixth-generation winemaking family that had been predominantly dominated by men—the industry has been predominantly dominated by men, and that’s what it looked like in my family as well. There were always strong women standing by the men, but they never really had a seat at the table,” says Katie. There is no emotion in her voice; this is simply a statement of fact. “The women played a significant role but they didn’t get the credit.”
She continues, “It’s not lost on me that I come from a family with an established history in the wine industry. And I’m grateful for that. It’s a challenge for anyone to get into the wine industry these days.”
But getting into the industry, really into it, was something she knew she needed to do. “I’ve always wanted to put my own notch on the belt of my family’s legacy, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do that with the existing Gundlach Bundschu brand, so with my family’s blessing I started my own brand,” she says with a glimmer in her eyes and a hint of pride in her voice. Thus, Abbot’s Passage Winery + Mercantile, Katie’s own wine brand based in Glen Ellen, was born.
Katie says that the name Abbot’s Passage pays homage to an abbot from Mont La Salle Christian Brothers who, according to local legend, trekked weekly from the monastery on Napa’s Mount Veeder into Sonoma along an ancient Native American footpath—a wild, heavily wooded ridgeline—to reach his favorite watering hole (aka bar) in “downtown” Sonoma (now the Swiss Hotel on the Sonoma Plaza). He would have a few drinks and then make his way back home. According to her, the monks from Mont La Salle still make this pilgrimage into Sonoma today, but evidently get a lift back up to the monastery when they’ve completed their quest.
Katie Bundschu is one of those people who you can’t help but like. Unassuming, despite her family’s storied history in the area, she’ll answer any question you ask, but she isn’t one to go out of her way to talk about herself. It is her actions that have her well on her way to being one of Wine Country’s leading women as the face of—as well as the mind behind—one of Sonoma’s newest and most interesting wineries.
She says that in Abbot’s Passage she wanted to create something “less traditional.” She started with Rhone varietals, grapes she never had much opportunity to work with at Gun Bun, where the portfolio remains heavily influenced by their founder’s honeymoon tour through Bordeaux and Burgundy, as well as German wine country. When asked “Why Rhone?” Katie laughs.
“I laugh because I feel like I should have a way more romantic story, like ‘I did a harvest in southern France and fell in love with a winemaker and his wines’—but I don’t have that story, unfortunately. I just love the wines. I love the variety of the northern and southern regions. I love the diversity of it. I do think for the most part that those grapes produce a fresh brightness.”
A quick sip of Abbot’s Passage “Points Unknown” and you’ll quickly see what she likes about the Rhone varietal blends of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes. Her own take on the classic Rhone concoction walks the fine line between Old World craftsmanship and New World flair in a way that many attempt and far fewer actually achieve.
“I’m having so much fun developing the portfolio,” says Katie, who is clearly taking advantage of the chance to spread her wings. Asked about a favorite wine that she has made, she gets excited and her cadence picks up slightly. “Tried and true is the first white wine that I made in the portfolio!” she says of Sightline, a crisp, flavorful blend of Chenin Blanc and Verdejo sourced from Heringer Estate Vineyards in Clarksburg. Katie made 625 cases of Sightline in 2020, the Abbot’s Passage version of “mass production” as she makes as few as 100 cases—around four barrels—of many of her wines. “I love the weight of it, and the freshness and the brightness.”
The “mercantile” part of the Abbot’s Passage name is a retail area at the winery that offers artisan crafts and other boutique items from fellow female makers that are curated by Katie.
Just as Abbot’s Passage was gearing up, the pandemic hit and wreaked the same havoc on Katie’s dreams, vision and mission as it did on those of so many others. And if the pandemic weren’t enough to complicate the launch of a new wine brand, Katie also got married—to Chris Tynan, the winemaker at Napa’s Cliff Lede, who also has his own label, Christopher Tynan Wines— around the same time.
“Poor Chris,” chuckles Katie. “Being part of a Sonoma family when you’re a Napa winemaker is rough. There’s a lot of jokes. He gets roasted pretty bad, but he takes it—he kind of likes it, I think.”
Then just as Katie was mastering the act of juggling a new marriage, a new wine brand and her continuing obligations at Gundlach Bundshu (she is the first woman to sit on its executive board)—all in the midst of a pandemic—Katie gave birth to a son. Named for Katie’s dad, Jim Bundschu, and Chris’s great-grandfather, Henry Zweifel, James Henry Tynan is now a member of the seventh generation of the Bundschu family tree, extending its roots that run deep into the rich Sonoma soil.
Building on her family’s rich viticultural legacy, it seems clear that Katie Bundschu and her Abbot’s Passage are a part of Wine Country’s future. Like the Abbot, says Katie, “we enjoy the quest which leads us to new discoveries, whether that may be a vineyard site or new treasure for the Mercantile.”
