-San Fransisco Chronicle, Thursday 7 Apr 94, pA24.

    A memorial service will be held Monday for Andre Tchelistcheff,
    92, an internationally respected vintner and leader in the
    California wine industry for more than half a century.

    Mr. Tchelistcheff died Tuesday at Queen of the Valley Hospital in
    Napa.  He had recently undergone surgery at the hospital for the
    removal of a stomach tumor, according to a hospital official.

    Widely considered the dean of American winemakers, Mr.
    Tchelistcheff was a mentor to wine industry giants such as 
    Robert Mondavi and Louis Martini.

    He was vice president of Beaulieu Vineyards in Napa for 35 years
    until his retirement in 1973, four years after the sale of
    Beaulieu to Heublein Inc.  He also assembled a fabled library of
    wine literature.

    Beside managing Beaulieu, Mr. Tchelistcheff operated a private
    wine laboratory in St. Helena for 15 years.  Later, he continued
    to share his expertise as a consultant for Beaulieu and dozens of
    other Napa and Sonoma wineries.

    Mr Tchelistcheff created the first world-class California
    cabernets at Beaulieu vineyards after the end of the Prohibition
    era, and developed the winery's "private reserve" appellation. 
    There, he also pioneered the cold-fermentation process now widely
    used in producing white and rose wines.  He developed frost-
    prevention techniques and helped curb vine disease in Napa Valley.

    Among the most influential winemakers in the country, Mr.
    Tchelistcheff spoke candidly about the mass marketing and
    commercialism that crept into the industry over the years.

    In 1991, Chronicle writer Sam Whiting wrote of him, "His palate
    was so refined he could tell by taste whether a wine came from
    Rutherford dust, Oakville dirt or a furrow in between."

    At that time, Mr Tchelistcheff commented, "Money is the dust of
    life.  I don't have a wine cellar, I don't have a vineyard, I
    don't have nothing.  I only have my head."

    His continuing preeminence was demonstrated in 1992 when he
    blended red wine donated by 105 wineries of Napa into a special
    barrel or "unity lot".

    A Russian native, Mr Tchelistcheff served in the anti-communist
    White Army during the Russian civil war of 1918-1921, and was left
    for dead on the battlefield after his unit was machine-gunned
    during a snowstorm.  His father held a funeral for him. 

    However, he and his family eventually fled to France, where he
    studied agronomy before meeting Beaulieu owner Georges de Latour,
    who recruited him to come to the United States in 1938.

    In 1954, the French government honored him for bringing French
    quality winemaking to America.  In 1990 he was named Wine Man of
    the Year at the Wine Industry Technical Symposium in Rohnert Park.

    The memorial service will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at St Mary's
    Episcopal Church, 1917 Third Street, Napa.  Burial will be
    private.