Of
Jewish-Lebanese parentage, Mr. Shrem was born in South America, from the age of
2 grew up in Jerusalem, finished high school. While studying for his Master's
Degree at UCLA, he was enticed to visit Japan and stayed there for 13 years,
creating a publishing empire, which he continued in Europe. There, selling his
business to pursue his passion for wine and art, he studied enology at the
University of Bordeaux and then came to the Napa Valley in 1980 and created a
450-acre estate.
Sparing no
expense, Mr. Shrem has built a temple to wine designed by Michael Graves, which
has set standards for the production of ultra premium wines. Enriched by 20,000
sq. ft. of caves hewn out of the rock, 300 works of art spanning 4,000 years, he
has surrounded his winery in Calistoga by a XX century sculpture garden with the
greatest artists of the day, which include Henry Moore, Richard Serra and Mark
di Suvero.
Mr. Shrem
has stepped into the spotlight as an industry leader concerning wine and health
as well as wine's first amendment rights. He is a Member of the Director’s
Circle, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Member of the Board, Family
Winemakers of California; member of the Board, Coalition for Free Trade in
Alcoholic Beverages; Founder, American Institute of Wine and Food; and Founder
of “Wine First.” He has chaired numerous charity wine and art auctions for
schools and museums and has hosted or contributed to hundreds of fundraisers for
museums, universities, and wine societies with his humorous slide lecture, “Bacchus
the Rascal: A Bacchanalian History of Wine Seen
Through 4000 Years of Art.”
