Family
Walter and Gertrud Schug
Schug Carneros Estate Winery is a family operation. Both Walter and Gertrud’s respective fathers managed wine estates in Germany. Walter first met Gertrud, his then wife-to-be, while working as an winery intern near her father’s estate, the Weingut Annaberg.
Their romance survived the six years that Walter spent training at various wineries in Germany, England and California, and while he completed his diploma in Viticulture & Enology at Geisenheim, Germany. In 1959, during the year that Walter spent in California as an apprentice at the California Grape Products Corporation, Gertrud went to work as an au pair in England and was living with the family in Little Wymondley, when, after a year apart, Walter crossed the Atlantic straight to Gertrud’s employers’ home, and asked her to marry him.
The wedding took place in Germany in March 1961, and less than a month later they packed up their belongings and took the boat to New York. Driving across America in their Volkswagen Beetle with their skis on the back and custom-made luggage to fit every corner of the car, they finally reached California, where they have remained ever since.
Twenty years later they set up their own winery, and in 1989 were operating from the Carneros Estate that is the heart of the business today. Each one of Walter and Gertrud’s three children has also helped out the winery at some point. Andrea used her experience as bank CPA to provide financial advice during the early years of operation; Claudia moved to Germany and set up Schuetz Weinimport where she brings in Schug wines and distributes them throughout Europe.
After an initial career working for Hyatt Hotels, Axel Schug joined the winery at age 25 and took over the sales side of the business. Now Sales and Marketing Director, he is based in the Carneros offices, but regularly travels across the country to promote the family brand. Axel’s wife, Kristine Schug, is a chef who has worked at Domaine Carneros and at restaurants in Sonoma and Napa, before becoming the Winery Chef at Schug. She caters for special events and dinners at the winery, contributes to the newsletter and has created over one hundred recipes to pair with Schug wines.