Peter Leigh Newton (27 August 1926 – 4 February 2008) was an English-American vintner, the founder of Sterling Vineyards and

Newton Vineyard Newton Vineyard is a wine estate on Spring Mountain near St. Helena in California's Napa Valley. Founded in 1977 by Peter Newton and his wife, it is now part of the Estates & Wines division of LVMH, which acquired a controlling interest in the ...

Early life

Peter Leigh Newton was born in London on 27 August 1926, the son of racing driver Frank Newton (who won the Montagu Cup in 1908 at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

). He and his brother

Kenneth Kenneth is a given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

were educated at

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

. He earned a law degree from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, in 1949. Newton served in the British Army Rifle Corps during World War II.

Career

Newton became a journalist with the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' by chance, after writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper with "his views on the nationalisation of the UK iron and steel industry", and the newspaper offered him a job. In 1950, he was posted to San Francisco, California, as their West Coast correspondent. In 1951, he founded his first business, Sterling International, a San Francisco wholesale paper company specialising in tissue paper, at first importing British products into the US and later specialising in the trading of paper and pulp, manufacturing in Canada, Trinidad and Thailand, and later sold it. Newton founded Sterling Vineyards in 1964 and later,

. He was responsible for designing and building Sterling Vineyards in 1973, on a hill close to

Calistoga Calistoga may refer to: * Calistoga, California * Calistoga AVA, an American Viticultural Area that partly overlaps the town of Calistoga * Calistoga Water Company, bottled water brand sourced in Calistoga, California * Calistoga, code name for ...

, with access to the winery building via an aerial tramway.

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

visited from England in 1977, and was "delighted" by the winery and its wines. In 1979, Newton sold Sterling to

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

, and started a new more exclusive venture,

, a pioneer in Napa Valley Merlot, and best known for its "trademark" unfiltered

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

and

Merlot Merlot ( ) is a dark-blue-colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of , the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color ...

Personal life

In 1950, he met an American, Anne St. Aubyn, at a party at his home in Pelham Place,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, London. They married on 28 December 1951 at St Dominic's Church, San Francisco (her hometown), and had three children: Carol Boone of San Francisco; Gail Showley of St. Helena; and

Nigel Newton Nigel Newton (born 16 June 1955) is an American-born British publisher. He is the founder and chief executive (CEO) of Bloomsbury Publishing. Early life Nigel Newton was born on 16 June 1955 in San Francisco, California. He was born to an Ameri ...

of London. Anne Newton died in 1970. In 1979, Newton married Su Hua Lin, and they divorced in 2005. In later life, he was very proud that his granddaughter Alice, then eight, "discovered Harry Potter", after his son Nigel Newton, founder of

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, gave her in 1997 a chapter of a new manuscript by the then unknown J. K. Rowling, already rejected by many other publishers, and she loved it. At his home in

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

, California, Newton built 15 separate gardens, including Zen, rose, hanging and traditional English, even including a croquet lawn. Newton died on 4 February 2008, at his St. Helena home, aged 81, and was buried there at the Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Peter 1926 births 2008 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford American people in the wine industry English businesspeople Financial Times people Journalists from London People educated at Charterhouse School People from St. Helena, California