NAPA VALLEY (California) REGISTER

July 13, 2008

Patzimaro: An Upvalley vineyard, a tiny Mexican town

By CARLOS VILLATORO and LIANNE MILTON

At the base of Spring Mountain, west of St. Helena, lies a 15-acre tribute to a town thousands of miles away.

It’s a vineyard called Patzimaro — named by owner Dan Duckhorn for the hometown of the Hurtado family.

Over the years, brothers Juan and Fermin Hurtado and their children have tended Duckhorn’s vines and become an integral part of the Duckhorn Vineyards operation. The Hurtados have been instrumental in helping staff the winery with their neighbors and relatives — 95 percent of the vineyard and cellar staff emigrated from Patzimaro, a town of less than 500 people in the Mexican state of Michoacan, according to Dan Duckhorn.

Juan Hurtado, speaking of his early years in Napa in the 1980s, said, “We started working with vineyard manager Jack Neal and came to work at Duckhorn. I returned to Mexico (for the holidays) and when I came back, we went to work directly for Duckhorn.”

Added Duckhorn, “We just ended up becoming friends and talking, and they kind of asked me (for work).”

Ever since, the Hurtados and Duckhorn Vineyards have been inseparable. The Hurtados work at Duckhorn’s vineyards and cellars, and have assisted with projects at Duckhorn’s home and his duck club near Sacramento. As more of the Hurtado family found work at the winery — brothers Agripino, Alfonso and Enrique found jobs at Duckhorn, as have both Fermin and Juan’s sons — the connection between the winery and Patzimaro grew deeper.

When it came time to name the St. Helena vineyard, Duckhorn said he turned to the Hurtados to ask them how they’d feel about it bearing the name of their hometown.

“We were proud to have something from back home here in St. Helena,” Fermin Hurtado said.

Cab country in Michoacan

Every winter, the Hurtados join the many Napa Valley families who return to Patzimaro for an extended holiday. While beer and tequila are the drinks of choice in Patzimaro, the Hurtados bring with them the bottles of wine with their town’s namesake.

Duckhorn Patzimaro Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, which sells here for $95 a bottle, is an affirmation that the place to make a decent living lies up north, said Fermin Hurtado. But the impact of the Napa Valley extends far beyond the holidays and the bottles the Hurtados truck down to Patzimaro each winter.

When the families return to the United States after the holidays, the town empties out to its year-round population of about 430 people. But the influx of Napa Valley money — from donations, savings sent south by wine country workers and the holiday boost to the local economy — keeps Patzimaro going.

While the funds from the United States have helped the town, the Hurtados say the migration of so many Patzimaro residents to the U.S. also has a downside, creating a dependency on family members living in El Norte.

“The schools are empty, (migration) has affected (the economy in Patzimaro) very much,” Fermin Hurtado said. “Ice cream stands and tortillerias have had to close down. I think the (Mexican) government could help by supporting agriculture more, supporting farmers.”

Even so, there is evidence that the combination of the wages earned in the United States and aid from the Mexican government is bringing about improvement.

Giving back to Patzimaro

On any given day, hundreds of gallons of water emerge from a natural spring on the edge of Patizmaro — the name means “place of abundant water” in the language of the native Purhepecha tribe — and spill onto the dirt roads nearby. When the summer sun becomes too much to bear, children splash and play in the spring.

But aside from its use as an impromptu swimming pool and a watering hole for local cows, dogs and chickens, the community has not been able to put the spring to use. With the help of families like the Hurtados, that is changing.

Today, a group of Napa Valley and Sonoma residents, who come from Patzimaro, have banded together to raise money for municipal projects in their hometown, including one that will turn the spring into a viable source of household drinking water.

Club Patzimaro formed a year ago in Napa and includes 152 people who live and work in Napa and Sonoma counties. The club formed with the goal of taking advantage of the Mexican government’s Tres-por-Uno program, said Rigo Castillo, club president. Under the program, the Mexican government provides $3 for every $1 donated by groups such as Club Patzimaro to make civic improvements in Mexican cities and towns.

“We formed to take on projects,” said Castillo, a former bodyguard for United Farmworker leader Cesar Chavez who is now a security coordinator at Gallo Vineyards in Sonoma County.

Castillo said an engineer recently visited Patzimaro to assess the cost of piping water from the natural spring to nearby homes. Club members also are working alongside the Mexican government to retrofit a dam outside the town.

In recent years, club members bought an ambulance to transport ailing or injured residents of Patzimaro to the hospital in Zamora, a much larger city an hour away. They are also paving their streets, have restored their church and have gathered $25,000 to help families with funeral expenses. The club has also partnered with others throughout the Bay Area to establish a Federation of Michoacanos, a loose coalition of clubs that work alongside the Mexican government.

“Our goal is to unite, protect and educate Michoacanos living here,” Castillo said.  

Through federation ties, Castillo’s Club Patzimaro hosted the existing governor of Michoacan, Lazaro Cardenas Batel, in December at Napa Valley College. During a public forum, Club Patzimaro members had the opportunity to discuss their projects with the governor and to forge stronger ties between Wine Country and Patzimaro.

Fermin Hurtado said all the families feel the need to support their hometown. Traveling to Patzimaro during the holidays has become a way of life.

“I think it’s very important to return to Patzimaro,” Fermin Hurtado said. “You have fun, you forget about the (problems), about the bills.”

Hurtado then returns to little Patzimaro, the vineyard in the hills of west of St. Helena.

Dan Duckhorn said his reason for naming the vineyard for a small speck of a town in rural Mexico is simple: Returning the loyalty and dedication the Hurtados have shown him.

“Loyalty is something that is hard to find in any worker,” Duckhorn said. “To find the loyalty in that family was so gratifying to us that we wanted to reward them. We wanted to memorialize that relationship.”