Debi Kirkland

Debi Kirkland comes from a lineage where striving against seemingly insurmountable odds and a penchant for hard work course through the family veins. Debi’s father, Larry Kirkland, was born poor in Vallejo, but while still a child he began working his way up from being a newspaper carrier with 50 houses to one with 450. From there he became a licensed building contractor, an entrepreneurial cattle rancher, a wildcat oil tycoon and finally the creator and owner of Kirkland Ranch Winery. Larry also had a deep passion for his family and one of his dreams was to create a business that could employ all of his family. Though it took years for the dream to materialize today both of his daughters are central players in the winery business, and both are strong women who have blazed their own trails.

Like her father, Debi Kirkland began working at the age of thirteen when she basically assumed responsibility for tracking the family finances. “I had excess energy, a head for numbers and strong organizational skills, so my parents turned over the family accounting to me. I’ve been paying the family bills ever since.”

By the time I have listened to her entire story, I am struck by Debi’s exceptional drive, her inordinate affinity for detail, her ability to morph from one career to another, her willingness to start at the bottom and work her way up in record time and her insatiable curiosity. The growing list of professions she has mastered is clear evidence that she is a true Kirkland.

Debi has held a number of seemingly disparate jobs, including administrative assistant at her father’s oil business (where she was soon buying houses and cars for relocating executives - basically organizing their entire lives), receptionist at a law firm, administrative assistant for the Assistant District Attorney, forensic pathologist, cattle rancher, and now general manager of Kirkland Ranch Winery. Everything she has done along the way is colored by her drive to excel and her quest to keep learning.

In 1984 Debi had lost interest in the cattle business and was working for a law firm as a receptionist. She was quickly promoted to be a legal secretary to three attorneys. A year later she was working for the District Attorney where her attention to detail and relentless energy sparked an interest in the field of criminal justice. She began studying criminal justice and criminal law in college.

An FBI man was teaching a class at the time and he told her that she had the makings to become a forensic pathologist. “At the time I was recently divorced, raising two children and working full-time, but I was still fascinated by the possibility so I took a job as a forensic technician in Contra Costa County. I know everyone assumes it was similar to what you see on television but to tell the truth, it was pretty boring. I spent a lot of time comparing fingerprints, searching desperately for similar whorl patterns under a microscope. However I did work on dead people, extracting physical evidence, looking for entry and exit wounds, reporting all the markings and constructing a full physical inspection.”
As to whether she loved her job, she tilted her head briefly as if to consider her answer. “Well I know it sounds a bit creepy because the people I was working on were dead, but I was always thinking about the families of the victims who were out there waiting for an answer. If I could uncover something that brought them peace, it was very rewarding.”

Debi recounted this story because she is deservedly proud of her own ethics. “I learned I had cancer when I was 27 years old. Because I wanted to have children I underwent a series of minor surgeries and treatments for over two years. I went on to have my children, who are the light of my life, and I survived.” In 1991, Debi faced cancer surgery again. “It certainly made me realize that life is precious, and it’s important to make sure you enhance the lives of the people around you.

“My father wanted us to be part of the family business but he also encouraged each of us to go out on our own for at least two years so we would develop a real sense about how the world operates and what is required to earn a paycheck,” Debi explained. “He wanted us to learn that working for a family business is not a free ride; we all have to work hard to make it a success.”

Debi’s father purchased the 2400 acre Kirkland Ranch property in 1978. A portion of the property was originally part of the Suscol Rancho, owned by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and which had been known as the Sheehy Ranch. Another portion was the former Lynch Ranch which included the 1908 Lynch House, now the home site of the Kirkland Ranch. Traces of the old stagecoach road connecting Napa to Suisun still exist on ridges north of the winery.

For many years the Kirklands maintained the property as an active cattle ranch. “Where the winery is now located was the site of our ‘bull field,’” Debi said. “Male bulls were kept separate until time for breeding.” But according to Debi, the cattle industry became more and more fractionated. “The cattle business began being subsidized by the Federal Government, which created many of the same problems inherent to the chicken industry: we became manufacturers of a product. The pride of ownership was gone and it became more and more difficult to maintain a profitable business.”

At about the same time Debi and her sister were expressing an interest in coming back to work for the family business. “My father decided that it would be wise to develop a marketable product, and since we are in the Napa Valley he decided to plant a little over three acres with four varieties of grapes to see if the land could yield a marketable grape harvest.” Even though they thought white varietals would do the best they discovered that Merlot and Cabernet grapes were superior. They planted 20 acres a year for the next two years and sold the bulk of their fruit to Kendall-Jackson, as well as to Mondavi and Sonoma Creek wineries.

As their interest in the grape business developed her father, his brother, Lonnie, her sister and Debi all attended Napa Valley College at night to study viticulture. Debi and her sister actually planted vines by hand. “We were out there in the trenches,” Debi said, smiling broadly, “I was still driving a tractor until a few years ago.” They installed emitters for drip irrigation, nailed the end post tags and hunted gophers. “There we were in our mukluk boots, chasing gophers,” she reported. “We are so competitive that we made it a contest.”

In 1995 they sold juice but retained all of their Cabernet grapes and bottled their first wine. In 1996 they kept their Merlot and Cabernet grapes and decided that it was finally time to make the development of the vineyards and winery their family business. Cattle ranching moved to the back burner. “We still do cattle on the side, even bringing some in to graze on the winery property during the winter,” Debi explained. “We had 79 acres of vineyards at the time but are now up to 148 acres.” Over the last seven years they planted and developed thirteen varietals on their property.

As the vineyard matured construction of the state-of-the-art winery began. “Many people claim we built this winery with monies awarded from a lawsuit with the Napa Sanitation District, but that simply isn’t true,” Debi explained. “We were required to purchase additional property with those funds so my father bought a cattle ranch in Dixon, which we later mortgaged to pay for the winery.”

Once again Debi’s organizational skills were put into play. “We came up with a plan together but I actually had the opportunity to design and style the Visitor’s Center. Basically the overall design and the daily functions of the center are up to me.” The 50,000 square foot winery resembles a rustic mountain lodge and features hand carved wood throughout. There are massive Oregon Red Cedar tree trunks up to three stories high, rock fireplaces, a sweeping veranda, moose heads, furniture upholstered with hides, a genuine, fully decked-out antique chuck wagon and a large mural of the ranch when it was primarily open space. “I wanted to make it feel as if the visitors are literally visiting our home.

“The winery business is not the glamorous life everyone seems to think it is,” she admitted, settling into an overstuffed chair. “We were cattle ranchers all our lives and owning a winery can be a lot of fun but basically we farm grapes, make, bottle, and market wine and we work hard every single day. I know there are people out there thinking that we live in luxury but the winery business is a tough business that involves ongoing major expenses and extreme dedication.”

Asked if she has finally found her true calling, Debi admitted that it has taken her a long time to feel comfortable with who she has become. “I am just now coming to appreciate who I am and what I contribute to the business, but I’m also feeling lazy. I’m moving more and more into the public aspects of our winery business, so maybe it’s time to go back to night school and study marketing.”

Contributing Editor Susan Reynolds, is a freelance writer and photographer who has lived and worked in the Napa Valley for 14 years. Her work has been published in a variety of national and regional magazines.