Carole Meredith

Plant geneticist Dr Carole Meredith helped to change the way that winemakers think about the history of grapes – and now she is growing her own in Napa Valley. Elin McCoy meets her.

- Elin McCoy

HIGH ON NAPA’S Mt Veeder, Carole Meredith points out the burned trees on the 34ha estate she owns with her winemaker husband, Steve Lagier – the result of 2017’s devastating wildfires. ‘We were lucky. The flames didn’t reach the house, and only singed a few vines, but we could have lost it all.’

Making wine full time under the Lagier Meredith label is the ‘third era’ of Dr Meredith’s distinguished career, which includes 22 years at the University of California at Davis as a grape geneticist, aka ‘a vine sleuth’. In the Department of Viticulture and Enology, she pioneered DNA fingerprinting to unravel the parentage and history of grape varieties, resolved speculation about where Zinfandel comes from, and built an international network of researchers to establish a grape DNA database.

Along the way, she scooped up a slew of honours, including the French Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole and induction into the Vintners Hall of Fame. She retired from her academic position in 2003. ‘I don’t miss it, especially the long commute between Mt Veeder and Davis,’ she says, then smiles. ‘I survived with the help of Starbucks coffee and audio books.’

Science and nature

While we talk she grabs her camera to take a shot of a hummingbird hovering by a feeder on her deck. The winery’s Facebook page – Meredith is very active on social media – shows stunning photos of birds, as well as equally stunning views from the house and vineyards, which sit at 400m. Her present to herself after the wildfires was a $5,000 camera with serious telephoto lenses.

With her short white hair, rimless glasses and no-nonsense way of speaking, it’s easy to imagine her, white coated, in a lab, changing the way we think about the history of grapes. She often says: ‘I don’t like to follow the rules.’