
Carl Doumani, Napa Valley icon, dies at 92
Carl Kheir Doumani, a mid-century Los Angeles developer-turned-wine-country icon, died April 22 in his sleep at his home in the Napa Valley, according to his family. The former owner of Stags' Leap Winery, once at the center of a wine-country legal battle called the Apostrophe War, was 92.
Doumani moved to the Napa Valley in the late 1960s, founded three wineries, sold two of them, and lived the life of a bon vivant and raconteur that amounts to a fading breed in the Valley.
Winemaker Stu Smith said he knew Doumani was slowing down when he'd missed a couple of lunch dates with his pals, a standing monthly commitment that he and 11 other friends had kept since the late 1970s. In his later years Doumani showed signs of dementia, a reminder that all of them were getting old. 'There weren't a lot of us left,' says Smith, who with his brother founded Smith-Madrone winery in 1971.
Doumani was born in Los Angeles to Lebanese parents and raised in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, according to his daughter, Kayne. She says that her father's uncle homesteaded property in Palm Springs, and as a youth Doumani was hired to build 'dingbats,' rapid-construction apartment dwellings that soon filled with California newcomers.
He began attending college at UCLA, but early in his studies was offered the chance to purchase a bar and restaurant in Westwood Village called Dudes — despite being a few years shy of legal age. So began a lifetime of development, property management and entrepreneurship. Eventually this took him to the Napa Valley in 1969.
'I think he was looking to buy about five acres,' says Aaron Pott, a longtime friend who made wines for Doumani for decades, 'but the broker was offering about 400.' Those acres were in the heart of the Stags Leap District, one of Napa's most esteemed grape-growing regions.
He pulled together investors and struck a deal, intending to build a hotel and restaurant. But in 1971 he revitalized Stags' Leap Winery, founded in 1893, making wine from the property's existing mature vineyards. The name immediately earned him the ire of Warren Winiarski, the founder and proprietor of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Winiarski sued over the name, and Doumani did not back down.
The matter wasn't resolved until 1986, when the California Supreme Court affirmed Doumani could use the name Stags' with an apostrophe after the 's,' thus ending what came to be known as the Apostrophe War. (The two resolved their differences sufficiently to bottle a joint effort, called Accord, after the settlement.)
Doumani's general obstreperousness — he would routinely clash with the Valley's vintner's association and conservation organizations or anyone who told him what he could and could not do with his land — attracted like-minded winery owners who took it upon themselves to vent at monthly lunches. The group of 12 came to be known as the GONADS, or, the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory [sic] Society. The GONADS met monthly at one another's wineries for over 50 years, sharing bottles, cigars and endless stories.
'We were all quite strong in our opinions,' says Smith, 'and Doumani was no shrinking violet.' Lunches routinely ran into the dinner hour; the only forbidden topic was politics and, needless to say, the wine flowed freely — so freely that Doumani eventually bought an Airporter-style van so that all of the 'NADS could get home safely.
Doumani sold Stags' Leap Winery to Beringer Vineyards, then California's longest continually operating vineyard, in 1997. Soon after he founded a winery called Quixote, named for another character prone to tilting at windmills. An avid, lifelong art collector, Doumani persuaded the renowned Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser to design the winery, which is one of the most fanciful and unique structures in Napa Valley.
Doumani himself was never a winemaker; in 2008, he hired Pott to make the Quixote wines. 'He made me a deal,' says Pott. 'He said, 'You can make your wine here, and I'll give you fruit from one-and-a-half acres.'' As monthly payment, Pott received a piece of art from Doumani's collection. Pott has artworks from Robert Motherwell, Cartier Bresson, Calder and Cocteau, which speaks not only to Doumani's largesse, but to the depth of his collection.
Pott also lunched with Doumani weekly for more than a decade and heard stories of a well-lived life. In the mid-1970s family commitments obliged Doumani to take over the management of the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, decades before that city's family-oriented, G-rated years. 'This was the height of the mob era,' says Pott. 'He had stories that could have been right out of Scorsese's 'Casino.'' Doumani sold Quixote in 2014, and he started a third winery, ¿Como No?, which ceased production in 2018, as he was approaching the age of 90.
I got to know Doumani because of his love of Petite Sirah (on his labels he always spelled it Petite Syrah), a gruff, age-worthy red grape variety well-represented among the older plantings on his original property. My book about Rhône varieties on American soil titled 'American Rhône' included an entire chapter on Petite Sirah for which I interviewed Doumani, the grape's fiercest advocate. He always took the contrarian position that Petite Syrah was better suited to the Napa Valley than Cabernet Sauvignon, especially when it had some bottle age — and in this he may be right. 'He never understood why others didn't love it like he did,' says Pott. 'If you get to try an old wine, from the '70s, you'd know.'
Doumani is survived by three children, Lissa, Kayne and Jared. With her husband, Hiro Sone, Lissa ran Terra restaurant in St. Helena, which hosted many a Carl Doumani dinner until it closed in 2018. He also is survived by two brothers, Michael and Peter; two grandchildren, Gianna Lussier and Imogen Doumani; and his sister-in-law, Carol.
A fund has been set up in his memory at Providence Community Health Foundation. Funeral arrangements were private. A celebration of life is planned; more details at www.carl doumani.com.
Sign up for our Tasting Notes newsletter for restaurant reviews, Los Angeles food-related news and more.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Vestis Corporation (VSTS) Investors Who Lost Money – Contact Law Offices of Howard G. Smith About Securities Fraud Investigation
BENSALEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces an investigation on behalf of Vestis Corporation ('Vestis' or the 'Company') (NYSE: VSTS) investors concerning the Company's possible violations of federal securities laws. IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO SUFFERED A LOSS IN VESTIS CORPORATION (VSTS), CONTACT THE LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD G. SMITH ABOUT POTENTIALLY PURSUING CLAIMS TO RECOVER YOUR LOSS. Contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss your legal rights by email at howardsmith@ by telephone at (215) 638-4847 or visit our website at What Happened? On May 7, 2025, Vestis released its second quarter fiscal 2025 financial results and revised its prior growth and revenue guidance for 2025, providing guidance for the third quarter, falling significantly below market expectations. The Company explained that the poor results were partially due to 'lost business in excess of new business' but primarily on 'lower adds over stops, which is how [it] describe[s] volumes changes with [its] existing customers.' On this news, Vestis's stock price fell $3.27, or 37.5%, to close at $5.44 per share on May 7, 2025, thereby injuring investors. Contact Us To Participate or Learn More: If you purchased Vestis securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact us: Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020, Telephone: (215) 638-4847 Email: howardsmith@ Visit our website at: This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.


Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Sable Offshore Corp. (SOC) Investors Who Lost Money – Contact Law Offices of Howard G. Smith About Securities Fraud Investigation
BENSALEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces an investigation on behalf of Sable Offshore Corp. ('Sable' or the 'Company') (NYSE: SOC) investors concerning the Company's possible violations of federal securities laws. IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO SUFFERED A LOSS IN SABLE OFFSHORE CORP. (SOC), CONTACT THE LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD G. SMITH ABOUT POTENTIALLY PURSUING CLAIMS TO RECOVER YOUR LOSS. Contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss your legal rights by email at howardsmith@ by telephone at (215) 638-4847 or visit our website at What Happened? On May 19, 2025, Sable announced that it had resumed oil production from one of three offshore platforms related for its Las Flores pipelines ('Onshore Pipeline') in California. Then, on May 23, 2025, the California State Land Commission sent Sable a letter regarding its May 19th announcement, warning that it 'appears to mischaracterize the nature of recent activities, causing significant public confusion and raising questions regarding Sable's intentions,' and that Sable had conflated offshore well testing activities required by a federal regulatory agency with the restart of operations. Then, on May 28, 2025, the Santa Barbara County Superior Court approved a preliminary injunction from the California Coastal Commission regarding Sable's maintenance and repair work in the coastal zone related to the Onshore Pipeline. On this news, Sable's stock price fell $5.04, or 15.3%, to close at $27.89 per share on May 28, 2025, thereby injuring investors. Contact Us To Participate or Learn More: If you purchased Sable securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact us: Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020, Telephone: (215) 638-4847 Email: howardsmith@ Visit our website at: This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Alberta premier says province working on proposal for new crude oil pipeline to Port of Prince Rupert
By Amanda Stephenson CALGARY (Reuters) - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Wednesday the province is working to present Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with a proponent and route for a potential new crude pipeline from Alberta to the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia. Smith told reporters at an energy conference in Calgary that her government is in talks with Canada's major pipeline companies in the hope that a private sector proponent will take the lead on Alberta's vision of a new, 1-million-barrel-per-day crude oil conduit to B.C.'s northwest coast. She said Alberta aims to gauge private companies' interest in coming together as a consortium to build the pipeline. "Or if one (company) emerges as being a principal proponent, then we'll be interested in talking to them too," Smith said. Canada currently sends approximately 90 per cent of its oil exports to the U.S., but has been seeking to diversify due to trade tensions and tariff threats from President Donald Trump. Alberta, Canada's main oil-producing province, is keen to see construction of a new export pipeline, to give Canada's oil industry the ability to boost production long-term. No private company has publicly expressed interest in building such a project. Smith said she hopes Carney, who won a minority government in April, will make good on his pledge to speed permitting times for major infrastructure projects. Companies will not commit to building a pipeline, Smith said, without confidence in the federal government's intent to bring about regulatory reform. Alberta is proposing that a new oil pipeline be built in tandem with the Pathways Alliance's carbon capture and storage project, which has been proposed by a consortium of oil sands companies to reduce emissions from Canada's energy sector. The companies have not been successful in negotiating an agreement with both levels of government over funding support for the project. Smith said the Pathways project, which could cost between $10 billion and $20 billion to build, would be more likely to be green-lit by oil companies if they had the assurance of revenue growth that a new crude export pipeline would bring. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer. The country achieved record oil production last year as the opening of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in May 2024 tripled the country's oil export capacity off the B.C. west coast to 890,000 barrels per day. However, construction of that project was marred by regulatory delays and costs soaring to more than four times the pipeline's original budget. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data