Digging It!

by Rebecca Sherman | Modern Luxury Dallas magazine | November 23, 2011

Harrison Ford comparisons must get tiresome. “My life is pretty cool, actually. But it sometimes sounds better than it is,” says Michael Thomas. On a moment’s notice, “I have to switch off the winery side of my brain and do archaeology.” Thomas, 45, is co-owner of the boutique Monterey County winery, Wrath, where he spends his days thinking about terroir. He also holds a doctorate in archaeology and classical art from UT-Austin and spends summers at archaeological digs in Italy, unearthing artifacts at a villa destroyed by Vesuvius and at a sanctuary outside Florence, an SMU-sponsored dig which he co-directs. From his apartment in NYC, Thomas announces that he’s moving his family—wife Estelle, with a baby on the way, and their 3-year-old son Max—to Austin, where he’s just been made director of UT’s newly established Institute for the Study of Ancient Italy.

Growing up in football-crazed Dallas, swilling and spitting was an unlikely but inevitable sport of choice for St. Mark’s alum Thomas, who learned to taste wines at age 10 during a trip to Bordeaux with his mother and co-owner of Wrath, Barbara Lemmon. Wrath, named for the foggy and wind-ravaged Santa Lucia Highlands where its vineyards grow, produced its first wines in 2007. Wrath’s annual output of pinot noir, chardonnay, syrah and sauvignon blanc is purposely small—only about 3,000 cases total, to retain control.

Turns out, there’s way more besides dirt in common between wine-making and archaeology. “The Etruscans were all about luxury,” says Thomas. After learning about a cache of ancient wine amphorae discovered near the villa he’s excavating, Thomas’ twin passions dovetail elegantly. “The next step is to pursue a study of ancient Roman and Etruscan winemaking, I think.” We’ll drink to that.

Thomas’ Hots
Syrah, whole cluster fermentation, Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard project, a good margarita: “it’s the only thing I’m a snob about”

Thomas’ Nots
Unbalanced wines, House Resolution 1161 which severely restricts the ability to buy wines directly from wineries, overpriced wine lists, archaeological looters, margarita mixes