Fritz was born in a small town in the Black Forest, in the German territory of Baden, one of the country’s biggest and most important wine regions. He went on to graduate from Geisenheim University, the leading enology school in Europe, and fell in love with wine. After Geisenheim, Fritz did his Army service for eighteen months. Twelve hours after his discharge, he was on a plane to Texas, where—on the referral of a friend—he’d landed a job at a small winery. “It was not a successful venture,” Fritz remembers. “Texas is a very difficult place to grow grapes.”
One thing led to another, and Fritz—again on the referral of his friend—got a job in the laboratory at Charles Krug Winery, in the Napa Valley, although it was just for the harvest. After the harvest, he met Mark Theis who then hired him as Assistant Winemaker at Husch.