Winemaker Rich Parducci Receives the George Zeni Award

At age 12, Rich Parducci worked the bottling line, where the pace of glass, fill, cork and label teaches a cellar lesson before any title does. He moved from that line into vineyard, laboratory, cellar and winemaking work. Parducci, winemaker and managing partner at McNab Ridge Winery, is the 2026 recipient of the George Zeni Award, Mendocino Winegrowers, Inc.’s memorial trophy for a winegrower or vintner with an exemplary history of advocacy for Mendocino County’s wine industry (Winejudging¹).

The award marks cumulative work: a family line that began with Adolph Parducci’s Mendocino County roots in 1932, formal viticulture and enology training, nearly three decades at McNab Ridge, and board service from the Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance to Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. The ceremony will take place at the annual MWI Harvest Party on Saturday, November 14 at BARRA of Mendocino, an event open to the public (Wineindustryadvisor²).

Rich Parducci and the George Zeni Award

Mendocino Winegrowers, Inc. gives the George Zeni Award as a memorial trophy to a winegrower or vintner with a record of advocacy for and dedication to Mendocino County’s wine industry. Rich Parducci, a fourth-generation member of a California winemaking family and the maker at McNab Ridge Winery, received the award in 2026.

Parducci earned an Associate of Science degree in Viticulture from Santa Rosa Junior College in 1989. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Enology from California State University, Fresno, graduating magna cum laude in 1992. He then served as assistant winemaker at Parducci Wine Cellars from Summer 1992 through Spring 1998, before working as winemaker for Associated Vintage Group’s Hopland Winery from Spring 1998 to December 1999 (Winejudging¹).

Parducci’s board service follows the same long pattern. He served on the board of the Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance from 1998 to 2008, then on the board of Zinfandel Advocates and Producers from 2009 to 2021. The George Zeni Award recognizes that public work beside the private work of fermentation, blending and keeping a cellar program moving year after year (Wineindustryadvisor²).

Parducci has said, “People behind the vines. That’s what it’s all about.” The work behind a county wine label includes the grower, the cellar crew, the bottling crew and the board member who sits through policy conversations while the next vintage keeps coming.

Four Generations from Adolph Parducci to Rich

Adolph Parducci established the family’s Mendocino County winemaking roots in 1932. Rich is the fourth generation of the Parducci family to be involved in the wine industry. His grandfather, John Parducci, also stands in the lineage, and Rich later joined John at McNab Ridge following the 1999 harvest. They continued there together until John’s passing in 2014 (Mcnabridge³).

Rich Parducci began working at age 12. He started with bottling, with vineyard, laboratory, cellar and winemaking experience coming before the formal degrees. Bottling teaches repetition and consequence. Laboratory work teaches measurement. Vineyard time gives the cellar a source. Winemaking asks the maker to hold all of that in sequence, then make decisions when fruit, timing and capacity meet on the crush pad.

For Mendocino County, the Parducci name also carries regional memory. Adolph’s 1932 start anchors the family in the county’s wine history. Rich’s receipt of the George Zeni Award ties the family line to the county’s present institutions, through MWI, McNab Ridge, Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance and ZAP.

He went from early cellar exposure to Santa Rosa Junior College, then to California State University, Fresno, then back into assistant winemaking and Hopland cellar responsibility. By the time he arrived at McNab Ridge in December 1999, he had already been shaped by family, school, line work, lab work and the pressure of holding a winemaker title.

The McNab Ridge Years and the Wines on the Table

Rich Parducci joined McNab Ridge Winery in December 1999, after the winery’s founding that year. At McNab Ridge, he became the winemaker and managing partner, carrying the Parducci family’s Mendocino work into a different house while remaining in the county that formed him. The George Zeni Award recognizes that long station for Parducci (Wikipedia⁴).

Parducci has been guiding the cellar program behind the McNab Ridge portfolio. The wines include classic Mendocino varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Chardonnay, along with Family Reserve wines, vineyard-designated bottlings and The Fun Bunch collection.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah ask for structure decisions. Chardonnay tests the maker’s sense of texture and restraint. Zinfandel, especially in the context of Parducci’s later service with ZAP, carries both regional and varietal advocacy into the glass.

No award can replace tasting. Parducci’s work includes established family history, Zinfandel visibility, grower relationships, and a portfolio that moves from varietal bottlings to vineyard-designated wines. The useful starting points at McNab Ridge are already on the table: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Chardonnay, Family Reserve wines, vineyard-designated bottlings and The Fun Bunch collection.

Parducci has described the aim in direct terms: “We make wines that get people to ask for a second glass.” McNab Ridge also carries another version of that thought from him: “We make wines that make you want more.” Both lines refuse ornamental language. They put the test in the hands of the drinker, after the first pour, when the table decides whether the bottle keeps moving.

Parducci’s work at McNab Ridge began after the 1999 harvest. By the time of the 2026 George Zeni Award, his Mendocino career has included family cellar work, formal study, assistant winemaking, Hopland winemaking, McNab Ridge leadership and regional board service. The cellar and the meeting room sit in the same arc.

Board Service as Cellar Work Outside the Cellar

Regional wine leadership often happens away from the tasting room. It means board meetings, category advocacy, public education, grower conversations and the slow repetition of explaining why a county deserves attention. Parducci served on the board of the Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance from 1998 to 2008, a period that overlapped with his move from Associated Vintage Group’s Hopland Winery to McNab Ridge.

The Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance service began before his December 1999 move to McNab Ridge and continued through his early years building that chapter. The ZAP service followed, carrying his advocacy into a varietal organization whose work extends beyond one county and includes Mendocino producers in the wider Zinfandel conversation. Parducci’s George Zeni Award recognizes this outer ring of the craft: the hours spent advancing a region while still answering for a winery’s fermentations, blends and release calendar.

Mendocino Winegrowers, Inc. is a non-profit organization that promotes and supports the wine grape growers, vintners and wineries of Mendocino County, with work tied to education, marketing and sustainability.

The word advocacy can sound distant from the cellar, yet Parducci’s own quote brings it back to the vineyard: “People behind the vines.” Growers farm the fruit. Cellar teams receive it. Winemakers decide how to carry it. Regional organizations make sure the county is not reduced to a footnote in broader California wine talk. Parducci has spent time in each part of that chain.

What to Watch at the MWI Harvest Party

Rich Parducci will be formally honored at the annual MWI Harvest Party on Saturday, November 14 at BARRA of Mendocino. The event is open to the public, giving Mendocino drinkers, growers and visiting buyers a public moment around an award that points back to decades of private labor.

Parducci’s career binds Adolph Parducci’s 1932 Mendocino roots to McNab Ridge’s post-1999 chapter, John Parducci’s presence in the family line, and board work that ran across Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance and ZAP.

Awards pass quickly through the news cycle. A cellar career like this leaves a longer trail, in board minutes, bottling runs, grower relationships and the second glass.