[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 155 (Friday, November 5, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO JOHN MORAMARCO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEN CALVERT

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 4, 1999

  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I take the floor today to recognize the 
outstanding career of John Moramarco, who is retiring as Senior Vice 
President and General Manager at Callaway Vineyard and Winery in 
Temecula, California--after 30 years with the winery.
  John comes from a long history of vintners. In fact, he started his 
career at the family's Old Mission Winery in Los Angeles as a young 
boy, and continued the family tradition as an 11th generation 
viticulturalist.
  Years in the family business allowed John to learn the basics of the 
business, and the finer points and finesse of making great wine.
  It was his love of wine, and know how, that John applied to the 
Capistrano Winery and Vineyards in Fontana, California, which he and 
his brother, Mike, established. John became the vineyard's manager from 
1945 to 1967, and put into place the lessons learned from his youth--
grape growing, wine producing, marketing and sales techniques. He also 
continued to supervise the family's vines and those of several other 
wineries.
  In 1969, Ely Callaway hired John Moramarco to plant and supervise his 
new vineyard in the small, rural Riverside County town of Temecula. In 
this position, John was instrumental in Callaway's vineyard and wine 
development.
  Only recently have I had the privilege of working with John, and 
observing his talent, first hand. Wineries in Southern California are 
currently facing an unfortunate situation with a disease that kills 
grapevines and has no cure. But, John's life-time devotion to the 
industry has made the California Wine Industry better prepared than 
they may have been.
  John's progressive work with professors from both the Universities of 
California at Davis and Riverside, gives the wine industry a 
relationship that they can now draw upon to solve this crisis. The 
industry is indebted to John's work with the universities and his 
willingness to devote vineyard blocks to the universities for their 
experiments. Those experiments have resulted in improved rootstocks, 
fertilizers, herbicides, mildew resistance, grafting and pruning, 
techniques now standard practice in California, and will give the 
industry the greatest chance of surviving their current crisis.
  I know that I speak for everyone in the wine industry when I say, 
``John will be missed.''

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