He was the Indiana Jones of his day: As Davy Crockett, he was the star of our favorite adventure films of the 1950s. He was a hero to an entire generation of goofy kids. He was the calm center of a media and merch blitz. Very few people have worn that mantle with such grace.

Fess Parker died on March 18th at his home in the Santa Ynez Valley, California. He was 85. In his story on our Web site, Steve Heimoff did a fine job in sketching the biographical details. Steve noted that the man who played Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett was also a pioneer in Santa Barbara County wine country; he and his son Eli purchased 700 acres there in 1987.

If you want to toast Parker’s memory properly, Heimoff has plenty of suggestions. He gave Fess Parker 2005 Ashley’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 94 points, his 2007 Clone 115 Pinot Noir 93 points and his 2007 Ashley’s Chardonnay 93 points. The list goes on. Scores have been consistently high, prices are quite reasonable. What you see reflected there is an unrelenting concern for quality, good community and grower relations, and close ties with family: the abovementioned Ashley is his daughter; she works at the winery in public relations and marketing, and son Eli is director of winemaking.

I had the pleasure of meeting Fess Parker six or so years ago. Tasting director Joe Czerwinski and I joined Fess and Eli for dinner in New York. I’m sure many people who meet their heroes are disappointed, but not me. There was much to admire: Fess was modest, thoughtful, unfailingly polite, curious, quick to laughter. He knew his wines, winemaking and viticulture, but was happy to let his son take that stage. What I most vividly recall, though, is having that voice in my ear: the velvet Texas timbre that, to this day, evokes decency, directness.

Some of the Crockett movies are on DVD, but if you want to hear that voice and experience his presence, I recommend Hell is For Heroes, the 1962 WWII film. Parker has a small part as Sergeant Pike, who is saddled with the sad task of trying to rein in the film’s anti-hero, played by Steve McQueen. No doubt I’m not alone in my evolution: McQueen was the hero of my later youth. The antihero. From McQueen all the way up to, yes, Indiana Jones: heroes are no longer people you purely admire for their qualities of decency. There is now a permanent edge, on screen and in the audience. (I really loved what Charles McGrath, writing in the New York Times, observed about the typhoon of merchandising that accompanied Davy Crockett in the 1950s, particularly the omnipresent coonskin cap: “We actually wore these little ratty-looking toupees with no irony or embarrassment at all.”)

Fess Parker: military veteran, actor, real-estate executive, winegrower, husband, father, grandfather and great American: you are missed. No irony intended.

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