The SOMM Journal

June / July 2018

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110 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } JUNE/JULY 2018 { who's who in wine } A DESCENDANT OF French explorer Jacques Cartier, Hundred Acre charismatic founder Jayson Woodbridge was born in Toronto in 1963 and, at age 18, was diagnosed with what he describes as "a very rare type" of cancer : "The doctors said to my mom, 'Take him on a nice vacation, he'll be dead in six months.'" Instead, Woodbridge received an experimental treatment that proved unsuccessful in almost all cases but his own. He's lived life on his terms, to the fullest, ever since. After serving as a commissioned infantry officer of Queen Elizabeth II, Woodbridge em - barked on a career as an investment banker and has developed a passion for, well, almost every- thing. "I'm interested in history. I'm interested in genealogy. I'm interested in fast cars and planes and submarines. I'm interested in the fabric of blue jeans and tapestries," Woodbridge says. "I'm interested in how a sewing machine works and how a satellite works. Dark matter. Gravitational ripples. You name it, I'm interested in it." But due to his upbringing around good cooks (his grandfather owned a pizza parlor), food and wine always held special fascination. Wood - bridge says he can trace the origins of Hundred Acre to a fateful moment in 1990: "I walked into a vineyard—I don't recall where, but it was not in France, I can tell you that—and I looked around and went, 'OK,'" he explains. "It was an epiphany—I just knew." Woodbridge immediately began saving so he could put "every single cent" aside for his own winery. Risks notwithstanding, he swears that he "wasn't at all nervous." "I felt that I was preordained," Woodbridge adds. "I wanted to stand among the very best in the world, that's all." The Guiding Light AN INTERVIEW WITH HUNDRED ACRE FOUNDER JAYSON WOODBRIDGE by Ruth Tobias Jayson Woodbridge is the Founder of Napa estate Hundred Acre.

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