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Born in San Francisco, Francis Mahoney attends St. Agnes Elementary, St. Ignatius High School, University of San Francisco |
| 1965 |
Francis leaves USF, travels through Europe |
| 1968 |
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Works at Connoisseur Wine Imports in San Francisco |
| 1969-71 |
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Studies enology and viticulture at U.C. Davis |
| 1970 |
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Works at Mayacamas Vineyards |
| 1972 |
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Buys land in Carneros |
| 1973 |
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Breaks ground for Carneros Creek Winery |
| 1974 |
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Begins first phase of Pinot Noir clonal trials with UC Davis |
| 1979 |
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Carneros Creek ’77 and ’78 Pinots gain national recognition |
| 1983 |
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Francis makes first wines from clonal trials
Los Carneros approved as AVA
Los Carneros estate bottling of Pinot Noir introduced |
| 1986 |
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Fleur de Carneros (“Pinot 101”) introduced.
Five-acre vineyard by Mahoney house begins to produce
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| 1987 |
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Phase 2 of clonal trials planted at Mahoney Ranch (formerly Las Lomas) |
| 1989 |
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Ken Foster joins David Bruce Winery, Santa Cruz Mountains |
| 1991 |
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Las Piedras, second estate Pinot Noir, introduced.
Mahoney Estate brand created for export to Europe |
| 1993 |
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Vineyards on “hill” (Mahoney Ranch) start to produce |
| 1994 |
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Second part of hill planting begins producing |
| 1995 |
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Cote de Carneros, a more serious Pinot Noir made for vintage-to-vintage consistency and Carneros typicity, introduced |
| 1996 |
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Francis purchases vineyard, Las Brisas, in south Sonoma Carneros |
| 1997 |
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After extensive study, Las Brisas is planted.
Carneros Creek exceeds 30,000 cases of Pinot Noir production |
| 1998 |
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Bill Hambrecht invests in Carneros Creek facility expansion |
| 1999 |
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First production from Las Brisas |
| 2000 |
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Francis and Kathy visit her family in Liguria, love Italian varieties |
| 2001 |
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Francis steps away from winery to focus full-time on farming |
| 2002 |
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Phase 3 of clonal study begins
Ken Foster hired as winemaker |
| 2003 |
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Francis returns to winery management |
| 2004 |
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Francis sells Carneros Creek brand, begins Mahoney Vineyards |
| 2005 |
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Mahoney Vineyards launches first wines |
| 2006 |
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Francis reverses roles with client Michael Mondavi’s Folio Wines, which purchases winemaking facility. Francis, Ken Foster and staff continue to make and sell Mahoney Vineyards wines on site. |
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