Salvador Preciado - Farmer Project | Napa Vineyard Photography


Salvador immigrated from El Grullo Jalisco, Mexico in the early 1970s. He began his journey in the vineyards working for Emmolo Nursery where he gained his grafting knowledge. He was able to start his own freelance grafting business in the mid ‘70s. In the 1980’s, phylloxera infested many of the vines in Northern California, threatening its entire wine industry. For over ten years, Salvador and his crew played a crucial role in grafting over infected vines with resistant rootstock, preventing the collapse of the local grape production in Napa and Sonoma valleys. His incredible skills have taken him throughout the worlds most prominent wine regions, traveling to work in France, Spain, Italy and South America.
Salvador has raised his family in St. Helena, and over 40 years later is still grafting and consulting for some of the top wineries in the area. Not only is he a master and pioneer grafter, but he is a highly respected man in his community and the wine industry as a whole.

Photo of a man in the vineyard in Napa, CA, taken by Margaret Nissen a Napa vineyard photographer.
Images of vineyard grafting materials in Napa, CA taken by Margaret Nissen a Napa vineyard photographer.
Image of vineyard grafting in Napa CA taken by Margaret Nissen a Napa vineyard photographer.

Jose Albino Barrera - Farmer Project | Napa Vineyard Photography

Albino came to Napa from Bocaneo, Michoacán in 1975 with his brother and cousin. These three worked for Charles Krug and lived in the tank house on the Brown Ranch in Carneros (my parents lived in the ranch house). In 1979 he began working for Nissen Vineyard Services, and helped become part of the foundation for the company (which he still remains a member of forty years later). They brought many others from their tiny pueblo, and a good percentage of them still make up the NVS workforce. Albino went through the amnesty program in 1986, and eventually became a United States citizen. In the late 1980s, he learned how to mark and layout vineyards. He has marked upwards of 2,500 acres of vineyard in and around Napa County and still continues to do so today.

Frank & Annie Emmolo - Farmer Project | Napa Vineyard Photography

Rutherford, California

Frank was raised with his hands in the dirt, helping run his family nursery and ranch wherever he could. His love of tractors is great, meticulously caring for and repairing them. Her worked long hours, nearly every day of the week, and rainy days were spent in the shop repairing equipment. Frosty springs were spent lighting smudge pots and starting wind machines all night long. When his father passed away in 1966, he took over Emmolo Nursery, and grew it to be the largest rootstock nursery in California. During harvest, he loved driving his double gondola to the CoOp (now Hall Winery), Charles Krug, and Oakville Winery (now Napa Wine Co.)

:::

Annie held her own in a man’s farming world, managing the office for Emmolo Nursery. She knows everything about planting, grafting and growing. She helped translate for their employees, put together crews, and drove tractor when she needed to. Annie was the second woman to obtain a license to haul gondolas to the winery. Where their three car garage stands now was originally built as a lath house, a mini nursery, where Annie sold small trees and plants.

:::

Today, these two boast an unbelievable vegetable and flower garden that they tend to daily as soon as the sun comes up. This year they “only planted about 40 tomato plants…” Just about every single one of their children and grandchildren are involved in the wine industry in some way. What an incredible testament to their hard work and roots in this special valley!

Frank and Annie Emmolo at their home in Rutherford, CA taken by Margaret Nissen a Napa vineyard photographer
Frank and Annie Emmolo at their home in Rutherford, CA taken by Margaret Nissen a Napa vineyard photographer
Frank Emmolo at his home in Rutherford, CA taken by Margaret Nissen a Napa vineyard photographer