Dancing Crow
Tony grew up in Hampstead, London England and is the offspring of an anarchist orphaned father and a German-Jewish, refugee, artist mother. His father, Derrick, abandoned on the steps of a London orphanage as a baby, was a suitably Dickensian figure of great warmth and wit, with a spectacular distain for authority. Barbara, his mother, was a leading jewelry designer and gallery owner in London.
During his early years, Tony attended a free expression school called Burgess Hill. After
leaving school at 16 he worked in Paris, North Africa, and the Soviet Union before a brief sojourn at the Architectural Association in London. Turning west, more particularly northwest, he came to America with somewhat typical immigrant aspirations. He worked in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska driving logging trucks and cement mixers.
A chance gift of a wine book led him 750 miles south in search of an opening in the alluring wine renaissance happening in Napa County.
After a flurry of cold calling, fate led him to Helen Niemi, who provided him with a hat-trick of lucky introductions leading to a job as a guide at Rutherford Hill winery, then to Glenn Browne who became his partner in the Cartlidge & Browne Winery, and thirdly to his wife Sarah, Helen’s daughter. All these events contributed to Tony setting down roots in the Napa Valley. Tony grew Cartlidge & Browne into a 120,000 case winery – sourcing fruit for a single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc from the Dancing Crow property – before selling the company in 2011. Fortuitously, the opportunity to buy the Dancing Crow vineyard presented itself and Tony could not pass up the opportunity to bring his family together in this new and exciting wine endeavor.
Philosophy
Dancing Crow Vineyards is the culmination of multiple generations of wine experience and the collective energies of the Cartlidge-Forni clan. Husband and wife winemakers, David and Katharine DeSante contribute their unique collaboration.
Biography
Tony grew up in Hampstead, London England and is the offspring of an anarchist orphaned father and a German-Jewish, refugee, artist mother. His father, Derrick, abandoned on the steps of a London orphanage as a baby, was a suitably Dickensian figure of great warmth and wit, with a spectacular distain for authority. Barbara, his mother, was a leading jewelry designer and gallery owner in London.
During his early years, Tony attended a free expression school called Burgess Hill. After
leaving school at 16 he worked in Paris, North Africa, and the Soviet Union before a brief sojourn at the Architectural Association in London. Turning west, more particularly northwest, he came to America with somewhat typical immigrant aspirations. He worked in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska driving logging trucks and cement mixers.
A chance gift of a wine book led him 750 miles south in search of an opening in the alluring wine renaissance happening in Napa County.
After a flurry of cold calling, fate led him to Helen Niemi, who provided him with a hat-trick of lucky introductions leading to a job as a guide at Rutherford Hill winery, then to Glenn Browne who became his partner in the Cartlidge & Browne Winery, and thirdly to his wife Sarah, Helen’s daughter. All these events contributed to Tony setting down roots in the Napa Valley. Tony grew Cartlidge & Browne into a 120,000 case winery – sourcing fruit for a single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc from the Dancing Crow property – before selling the company in 2011. Fortuitously, the opportunity to buy the Dancing Crow vineyard presented itself and Tony could not pass up the opportunity to bring his family together in this new and exciting wine endeavor.
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