Winery trailblazer Kunde dies

<p>Arthur "Bob" Kunde, who founded Kunde Estate & Winery in the heart of Kenwood where his family grew grapes for more than a century, died Friday. He was 80.</p><p>Kunde, a stocky man with a perpetual smile, founded the winery that bears the family name with his late brother, Fred, in 1990. The brothers made the transition from grape growers to vintners because they believed in the quality of their grapes.</p><p>Although retired, Bob Kunde was still very much involved in the business, said his daughter, Marcia Mickelson, the company's marketing communications manager.</p><p>"He cherished in his success of the winery," Mickelson said. "He was our chairman emeritus. He would still come in once or twice a week."</p><p>Mickelson said her father died Friday afternoon of complications from surgery following a bad fall last Sunday. Kunde was watering his garden when he fell, she said.</p><p>"Basically, his 80-year-old body just shut down," Mickelson said. "It couldn't handle the stress of complication of surgery."</p><p>Before the Kunde family started the winery in 1990, they were a longtime supplier of grapes to the Sebastiani winery.</p><p>"For years and years, we never got recognition for the grapes we've grown," Kunde said in 1989 when the family announced plans to build its winery in the valley where they had long farmed.</p><p>In 1904, Louis Kunde, a German immigrant, acquired the Wildwood Vineyards ranch, which was first planted in 1879 by pioneer John Drummond. Upon his death in 1922, the vineyards were taken over by his son, Arthur "Big Boy" Kunde.</p><p>The family's third generation, brothers Bob and Fred Kunde, greatly expanded the Kunde Estate in the 1960s and 1970s, adding Kinneybrook Ranch in 1977.</p><p>Today, the family oversees 700 acres of vineyards planted to more than 20 different varieties of wine grapes, according to the winery's Web site. For two miles along Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley, Kunde vines border the highway.</p><p>Wine grapes were just one of the many farm products the Kundes produced during more than a century on the land. In earlier days, the Kundes' herd of red and white-faced Hereford cattle could be seen grazing under the oaks on the scenic hillsides.</p><p>But as Sonoma County transformed to Wine Country, the Kundes planted more grapes and ran fewer cattle. Still, Bob Kunde's love of cattle never waned.</p><p>"He loved his life and ranching," said Kunde's younger brother, Rich, of Windsor. "He was deeply involved in the Sonoma County Fair and was always doing things for them."</p><p>Kunde, who was appointed director of the Sonoma County Fair in 1982, strongly supported the fair's Junior Livestock Auction.</p><p>"He loved Sonoma County agriculture and the Sonoma County Fair," Mickelson said. "He would sit there every day for the beef shows."</p><p>Kunde was past president of the Sonoma-Marin Cattlemen's Association, director of the California Wine-Grape Growers Association, the California-Nevada Hereford Association and former director of the American Hereford Association. He was also a Sonoma County Trail Blazer.</p><p>Rich Kunde said that with his brother's death, the Kunde Estate & Winery now falls totally into the more than capable hands of the family's fourth generation, which also includes Arthur Kunde's sons, Jeff Kunde and Keith Kunde.</p><p>"He was a loving dad, he loved his life and ranching," Rich Kunde said.</p><p>In addition to his brother Rich and his three children, Kunde is survived by his wife of 55 years, Leslie, and six grandchildren.</p><p>A celebration of Kunde’s life will be held Friday at Kunde Estate Winery in Kenwood.</p><p>Friends and family are invited to attend the 4 p.m. celebration at the winery, located at 9825 Sonoma Highway. Inurnment is private.</p><p>Memorial contributions may be made in Kunde’s name to either the 4H Foundation of Sonoma County, PO Box 1283, Rohnert Park, CA, 94927, or, to the Kenwood Firemen’s Association, PO Box 249, Kenwood, CA, 95452.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.</p>