John Sr., a 1934 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, served for twenty years in the Army Corps of Engineers, finishing his career as a member of General Macarthur's staff. Retiring from the military, John Sr. became a vice president of Bechtel Corporation, and managed the construction of hospitals, hotels, and hydroelectric plants. In 1971, after twenty years with Bechtel, John Sr. was looking forward to spending more time with his family.
While John Sr. was looking for a beautiful setting for retirement from his second career, his twenty-two year old son, John Jr., was looking to start his first. Having always been interested in agriculture, despite his liberal arts education, and having spent holidays at a relative's hillside vineyard and summers working at Charles Krug Winery, John's natural inclination was to become a grape grower.
John Sr. agreed to buy a property high above Napa Valley where John Jr. could plant a vineyard and John Sr. and his wife, Helen, could spend their retirement.By 1978, John Sr. and Helen had built a house with a spectacular view of the vineyards, Conn Valley, and Lake Hennessey. John had married Lisa, started a family and begun construction of his home.
The Buehlers were providing Cabernet and Zinfandel to wineries such as Cuvaison, Grgich Hills, and Burgess, and their valley floor customers were increasingly satisfied with the growing complexity of the Buehlers' hillside fruit. John decided that it was time to crush the first vintage of Buehler Vineyards wine.
