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A word comes to mind when Bill Crawford talks about his life and work: "seamless." Bill sees work, family, community, obtaining knowledge and care of the land as part of a seamless whole. It explains Bill's commitment to sustainable agriculture, side by side with his dedication to public service and his love of family life: skiing, hunting, rodeo and spending time with his three sons.

Bill's introduction to winegrowing was up close and personal - at age 12 he began working in the vineyards when McDowell Valley Vineyards was established by his family in 1970. Bill graduated from the University of Oregon in 1982 with a BS in Biology and a minor in animal physiology with the intent to become a veterinarian. But the pull of the land and his family's dream of creating memorable wines proved too strong; in 1984 he returned to McDowell with his bride, Vicky, herself a third generation Mendocino grape farmer. By 1988 Bill was CEO at McDowell and deeply involved in expanding the business to make it more competitive.

The sale of the McDowell Valley winery facility in 1993 provided the resources to prioritize the replanting of old vineyards and the development of new vineyards and clonal trials in the McDowell Valley. Bill recognizes the importance of site-specific planting with the practical goal of better wines. More important, he is planting a variety of rootstocks and fruitwood combinations of Syrah and the other Rhone varieties, seeking the combination that best fits McDowell Valley's climate and loamy soils. "By comparing what each of these clones does, side by side in the same soil, the same climate, the only difference being rootstocks, we can see what the similarities and differences are and we can measure wine quality."

Perhaps nobody else in California has been working with these parameters as long as Bill - soil, rootstock and fruitwood - in regards specifically to Syrah--with the goal of producing the best Syrah grapes from each combination. Bill is gathering perhaps California's most extensive collection of Syrah clones; currently there are seven clones of Syrah planted in the McDowell Valley grafted on six different rootstocks. Bill works in research partnership with UC Davis and other committed grapegrowers to further the knowledge and quality of Syrah in America.

As a leader in Syrah clonal research, Bill is a frequently a featured speaker and generously shares his wealth of knowledge and experimentation at numerous industry conferences throughout the year. Most recently, Bill has spoken at Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, the annual American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) meeting, Monterey Wine Festival and Society of Wine Educators.

Bill is also a Director of the Mendocino Winegrowers Alliance, the Mendocino County Farm Bureau, and the Mendocino County Promotional Alliance. Clearly, Bill is dedicated to the growth of the Rhone category, his winegrowing community, and continuing to produce "America's Best Syrah".