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| David Harris is owner of BlackStock Vineyards. Harris received a viticulture and enology degree from Fresno State University in 1985 and has 20 years experience as both a winemaker and winegrower in the eastern wine industry. As winemaker for Chestnut Mountain, Habersham and Creekstone, his honors include the first Gold Medals ever awarded for a Georgia-grown White Vinifera, Red Vinifera, and the first “Best Southeastern Wine” awarded to a Georgia wine (a 1992 Chardonnay). In the 1993 International Wine Summit Competition, Georgia wines received a total of 11 medals, and David had produced nine of those wines.
In 1994, Harris left winemaking to pursue developing Blackstock Vineyards. Harris has been a driving influence in sparking the development of the premium wine industry in Georgia through not only the results of his winemaking, but in his leadership in vineyard development, evolving and sharing innovative winegrowing techniques for the southeastern region. |
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| Wines produced from Blackstock Vineyards' grapes have received over 75 awards in only six vintages, including Georgia’s second "Best Southeastern Wine" (2000), "Best Viognier" (2004) and "Best Georgia White" (2004), and most recently was selected as one of the “Top 50 wines of the Year” reviewed by the Wine Report. The red wines of Blackstock have been particularly notable for their ripeness, richness and balance receiving a “Best of” review of Southeastern wines in the Wine Spectator, as well as having garnered a Double Gold, five individual Golds, and over ten Silvers in International competition.
Motivated by a love of his native state and a passion to develop an industry here, Harris has always believed in fostering the growth and development of the industry as a whole. Georgia Trend magazine called Harris the “sensei of North Georgia’s winegrowers, who have all, at one time or another, picked Harris’s brain.”
Harris was born and raised in Decatur and Conyers, Georgia and attended the University of Georgia studying Pharmacy before transferring to Fresno State to pursue an enology degree. Earlier work and consultation experiences have included positions in North Carolina, New York, Australia and the Republic of Georgia.
In 2004, Harris, for the first time in ten years, began producing wine from Blackstock grapes, in anticipation of opening a new winery at Blackstock Vineyards in the Spring of 2006. |
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| Ariel Padawar, Director of Vineyard and Cellar Operations |
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| Ariel Padawar is a native of Chicago, IL, who, at 18 years old joined the Israeli Army and served three years as a paratrooper, where he met his wife, Orli. Upon discharge from the military, Ariel gained valuable experience as a fruit grower in the small Israeli village, Kibbutz Nachshon, where the couple also began raising a family. Their closest neighbors were Trappist monks at the Latrun monastery, where premium wine had been produced for over one hundred years. Eighteen years into directing the kibbutz’s farm operations, Ariel decided to add wine-grapes to the almonds, avocados and olives. A pivotal moment for Ariel came in a meeting with Frere Paul, where he was led into the deep cellars dug into the rock below the church. There, Ariel sampled from the casks of wine and followed the Frere’s sound advice to plant the Classic European varietals. Despite his personal doubts at the time, Ariel would also go on to fulfill the Frere’s sage prophecy: That soon he would be captivated by the miracle of fermentation, and join the Frere in becoming a passionate winemaker.
Ariel took time from his fruit-growing responsibilities to pursue his new-found passion by attending classes at the University concentrating on chemistry and viticulture, and eventually established a winery at Kibbutz Nachshon. At that time there was yet to be an accredited winemaking curriculum in the small country. Ariel organized the local producers with monthly meetings to taste, learn and develop marketing avenues for new product. The Nachshon winery began to divert more and more of its own quality Merlot and Cabernet to its own wine production while beginning to receive valuable recognition for its quality wines.
With a growing family of an elder son and two daughters, in 2003, family considerations led the Padawers to relocate to the United States. Ariel served three years at a winemaking operation in the Northeast. Though he managed a small estate vineyard, the operation had an emphasis on importing and processing West Coast juice. Looking for an opportunity to expand his knowledge in a quality driven atmosphere, Ariel answered a job posting that led him to visit the Blackstock property. Impressed with the manicured condition of the vineyards and the resulting quality in the cellar, Ariel also observed a combination of unique factors that logically formed a marriage to the climatic challenges of the East Coast, conditions much different from the hot, dry Mediterranean that he hadn't experienced since leaving Israel. In the Spring of 2006, just as Blackstock was opening the doors of its winery to present its first wines, Ariel joined Blackstock to succeed the owner, David Harris, in overseeing day to day operations in the vineyard and the cellar.
Ariel’s family is also taken by the natural beauty of the region, noting the similarity of Georgia’s mountains to Israel’s finest wine-growing region, Galilee and the Jerusalem Hills. They are feeling right at home, closer to other family members in the South and fast adapting to local customs…Shalom ya’ll.
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