Sean Thackrey

Sean Haley Thackrey (July 9, 1942 – May 30, 2022) was an American winemaker based in the town of Bolinas in Marin County, California. Prior to winemaking, he was a director of an art gallery. Thackrey has been described as having been an unconventional winemaker who did pioneering work in promoting California Syrah.

Early life Thackrey was born in Los Angeles on July 9, 1942. His father, Eugene, worked as a journalist and playwright; his mother, Winfrid "Kay" Knudtson, was employed as a script supervisor in Hollywood. Starting in 1959, Thackrey studied art history at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he was taught by Lloyd J. Reynolds. He went to the University of Vienna as a sophomore, before going back briefly to Reed. He eventually dropped out in 1962. Thackrey's particular expertise was in early photography, exhibition of which the gallery was an internationally renowned pioneer in. and was prone to employ the unconventional technique of letting grapes 'rest' at least 24 hours outside, fermenting under the stars. which had an initial production of .

Thackrey's flagship wine is Orion (Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard St. Helena California Native Red Wine), produced from 1986 to 1990 using Syrah grapes from Arthur Schmidt's old vine vineyard near Yountville, California, until this was bought by Clarke Swanson, and his first wine from fruits exclusively from Marin County.

Other wines include the Taurus Cline Vineyard Mourvèdre, Sirius Eaglepoint Ranch Mendocino County Petite Sirah and the Aquila Eaglepoint Ranch Mendocino County Sangiovese. In total, his winery's output was approximately annually.

Occasionally voicing opinions contrary to conventional belief, Thackrey did not consider terroir to be the most important element in creating fine wine, having said, "I'm not saying terroir doesn't exist, there are just a lot of other things going on". Thackrey has described AVAs and appellations as a "gerrymandered marketing gimmick",

Thackrey's website held what was titled "The Thackrey Library", which included an extensive archive of early books and manuscripts relating to the subject of winemaking and the enjoyment of wine. Having collected ancient wine texts since 1996, the oldest document is a sixth-century papyrus receipt for grapevines written in Greek.

Thackrey's media appearances included a segment in the 2007 California season of Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, and a documentary film titled Sean Thackrey: Pleasure Architect, as well as a recorded interview on the Barfly Podcast in 2022. of Thackrey's wine were later recovered, in an event that resulted in the loss of 6 million bottles owned by 43 collectors and 92 various Napa Valley wineries, many of whom lost their entire stock.

Personal life Thackrey was in a domestic partnership with Susan Thackrey until his death from cancer in Walnut Creek on May 30, 2022.