September 16, 2024 – The Santa Cruz Mountains wine community is mourning the sudden and unexpected loss of Barry Jackson of Equinox Wine Cellars, the self-proclaimed “Fizz Wizard” who made some of the region’s most remarkable sparkling wines. He passed away September 13, of apparent heart failure, at the age of 72. He leaves behind his wife Jennifer, daughter Ashley and son Jeremy. (Not to mention a great deal of sparkling wine en tirage for several local wineries.)
Jackson, who was born in Fresno County, attended Fresno State with the intention of majoring in geology, but a class in oenology literally rocked his world. His path was made clear: he would become a winemaker. He told me it was a surefire way to be the life of the party in college.
Jackson made sparkling wine for wineries of all sizes throughout the Central Coast, including Scheid and Wente, Kathryn Kennedy, La Rochelle, Odonata, Ser and Bonny Doon. If you wanted it sparkled, he was the Baron of Bubbles.
After graduating from Fresno State, Jackson worked at several wineries in Fresno County where he met fellow winemaker Michael Martella. Although they never worked together, both eventually came to forge their careers in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA.
Jackson came to the Bay area courtesy of Paul Masson in Madera, which transferred him to the historic facility in Saratoga. After witnessing the dismantling of the business, he and his wife Jennifer decided to create their own brand, Equinox Sparkling Cellars. The first vintage of Equinox was made in 1989, at Pam and Steve Storrs’ winery in Santa Cruz. The Loma Prieta Earthquake resulted in the loss of half the vintage, but enough base wine survived to get them started. They opened their own facility in Santa Cruz in 2006.
Marty Mathis of Kathryn Kennedy met Jackson in 1982 and considers him his mentor in making sparkling wines.
“I remember attending an early Santa Cruz Mountains winegrowers meeting at Obester in Half Moon Bay and Barry was headlining a tech session. As a trained enologist, he had such a high level of expertise, and he taught me so much as a sparkling winemaker.”
Mathis recalls that when the Mirassou’s were auctioning off their sparkling wine equipment, he and Jackson partnered up to outbid 50 other parties for the bottling line, which they then loaded on a flatbed belonging to Mathis and into Jackson’s pickup, only to have a piece go airborne like a flying saucer. Jackson nudged it safely to the side of the freeway. Mathis made Kathryn Kennedy sparkling under Jackson’s tutelage through vintage 2005.
Steven Mirassou has counted on Jackson to make sparkling wines for his La Rochelle and Steven Kent brands for years, and was recently working with him on a sparkling Barbera.
Jackson has left a lasting legacy, not just with and for his sparkling wines, but with the many winemakers he tutored, mentored and assisted over the years. Yet, he will long be remembered and appreciated for the consulting work he did in establishing and securing official TTB recognition for the San Ysidro, Santa Lucia Highlands and Hames Valley AVAs.
Besides being the go-to man for methode champenoise, Jackson was always the go-to guy to help with whatever you needed: equipment, bottling or simply a friendly chat. His heart was as big as his frame and he was always there with a warm smile and a helping hand.
Grab some Equinox sparkling from store shelves while you can. There will never be another Fizz Wizard.
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
