by Heidi Trilling

Oded Shakked, owner and Big Kahuna of Longboard Vineyards in Healdsburg. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

October, 2011—Oded Shakked is the most patient man in the world.

Propping his surfboard against his car, he walks through narrow rows of young zinfandel grapevines, gently pinching off leaves to expose more fruit to the sun. Shakked takes a green cluster of grapes in his large, capable hands. “See?” he asks. “They’re late this year, but that’s OK. … You can’t rush the growing season … or wine … and I can wait.”

Whether he’s waiting for the perfect wave or for his seven varieties of grapes to mature, Shakked — long-time surfer and owner of Longboard Vineyards in Healdsburg — is all about taking his time and allowing Mother Nature to do the same.

“One of the quotable things that I always say about surfing and winemaking is that you constantly have to pay attention. No two waves are the same and no two seasons are the same. You want to take the time to get to know each unique growing season or each unique wave … so you have to be patient.”

Shakked’s patience pays off at harvest time; his 11 acres of idyllic Sonoma vineyards consistently produce what Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and Decanter magazines recognize as excellent, award-winning wines.

So, where does this deep acceptance of nature’s rhythms come from?

“From surfing,” Shakked says. “It’s my spirituality, my religion.”

That’s where Mavericks — the fierce surfbreak in Half Moon Bay — comes in.

Oded Shakked’s corner of paradise: lush, 11-acre vineyards and a vintage “woodie” surfmobile — a 1951 Ford Country Squire wagon. Photo: Heidi Trilling.

This November, Longboard Vineyards is hosting Mavericks: Everest of the Seas, a month-long photography and surf memorabilia exhibit. The event coincides with the Longboard release of a Mavericks Limited Edition 2008 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Guest vintner is Zach Wormhoudt, a Santa Cruz big wave surfer and annual Mavericks Surf Contest invitee. Wormhoudt is featured on the label besting a monster wave at Mavericks — a thrilling shot by venerable surf photographer Don Montgomery.

“That image of Zach,” Montgomery says, “is easily one of the top five images I’ve ever captured in over two decades that I’ve been covering Mavericks.” Surfer Magazine agreed, running it as a two-page spread in 2010. “As for Zach,” Montgomery adds, “he’s not only a great surfer, he’s a great family man … down to earth, just a nice guy to be around. … I’m so honored that they chose my image of him.”

Wormhoudt considers both surfing and winemaking art forms. “And they are both super competitive,” Wormhoudt says. “To be recognized in either of those realms is a feat. … Being honored in this way is really special. I’m stoked to be a part of it.”

As is Shakked.

Young zinfandel grapes at Longboard Vineyards.

“For me, personally,” Shakked says, “bringing wine and Mavericks together gives me a way to close the circle, since it was surfing, in a round-about way, that brought me to winemaking.”

A native of Israel, and one of the earliest chargers in Israel’s surfing history, Shakked is a self-described “embassy brat, who grew up on three continents,” and speaks Hebrew, English, French, Spanish, some German, plus “just the swear words” in Russian.

“After my military service, I built surfboards for a living,” Shakked says. “I’d work for nine to 10 months, then travel and surf in Europe or wherever … and that’s when I fell in love with wine. I knew about wine before, of course — it’s part of the culture growing up in Israel. But I didn’t know you could study it!”

Traveling across the world to earn a bachelor’s degree in enology and viticulture at the University of California at Davis, Shakked later served as assistant winemaker at Jordan Winery and winemaker at J Vineyards & Winery, both in Sonoma County. Something about the gentle arrangement of the Sonoma landscape reminded him of Galilee. And Healdsburg’s small-town friendliness felt like home.

In 1998, Shakked founded Longboard, realizing his dream of owning a California vineyard and being a winemaker.

“Actually, I call myself a winegrower, not a winemaker.” Shakked says. “Nature makes wine. We — people — we’re “vinegar stoppers.” Because if it were up to nature, there would be no wine, there would be vinegar. We stop it from being vinegar.” Shakked laughs. “I’m still learning how to do that!”

Save the Waves founder Will Henry, who is vice president of business development at The Henry Wine Group and Longboard’s distributor, says: “Winemaking is not like making chocolate or granola, where you achieve a recipe and then just repeat it. Wine is an eternal learning curve. … Oded works with that. He has a surfer’s mentality; he’s so dialed in to the weather and the seasons. … He’s an artisan, uniquely connected to the forces of nature that help him create what goes into the bottle.”

Longboard Vineyards limited edition cabernet sauvignon, honoring big wave surfer Zach Wormhoudt. Photo credit: Don Montgomery; label courtesy of Longboard Vineyards.

And what goes into the bottle, according to eminent surf photographer Doug Acton, is sheer magic: “I consider Oded one of the best winemakers in Sonoma Valley. He’s a Renaissance guy, a ‘quality’ instead of a ‘quantity’ person. The wines he produces not only get high awards … but they are truly phenomenal. And believe me, I’ve tried them all! And the tasting room — the atmosphere — is great, too.”

Longboard Vineyards hosts get-togethers, music concerts, and events like kayaking trips. Devotees are like an extended family, a village of like-minded, soulful wine enthusiasts. Many speak of Shakked as a profoundly kind, fascinating man who’s also a rockstar winemaker.

Winegrower.

“I never describe myself as a big surfer or a famous winegrower,” Shakked says, “I just do what I like to do. … For me, it’s the creative process. Doing something and tasting the result … really using all five senses. … and sharing this with family and friends. Really, what could be better?”

“In surfing,’ Shakked continues, “we put ourselves in a place for a wave to catch us. To carry us. We take the positioning of that wave and the energy from it and we translate that into motion. In the same way, I’m trying to translate the growing season into a bottle of wine that somebody will open up — hopefully on a good occasion — and taste and say: ‘I taste blackberries here!’ or ‘There’s a little mocha aftertaste to this wine!’

“It’s that discovery, that excitement, that keeps me doing this.”