Legh Knowles; Trumpeter, Winery Executive

Legh Knowles, a trumpeter with the Glenn Miller orchestra who went on to a more enduring career in the California wine industry, has died. He was 78.

Knowles died Friday in Napa, Calif., after a long illness.

He had retired Jan. 1, 1989, as chairman of Beaulieu Vineyards after 26 years with the company and previous experience with E & J Gallo. Knowles joined Beaulieu in 1962 as marketing manager and used his skills at touting his product throughout his tenure.

In the 1970s, when an international star asked for $50,000 to become Beaulieu’s spokesman in radio commercials, Knowles rejected the price as too high. He took the job himself and gave the more modest pay to charity.

While the nation embraced white wines, Knowles steadfastly touted Beaulieu Vineyards’ storied reds, particularly its cabernet sauvignon.

“Red wines have for 3,000 years been the classical dinner wines,� Knowles told The Times in 1979. “There may be a so-called white wine boom now, but Lafite-Rothschild and Romanee-Conti are selling every bottle they can make--and at tremendous prices.

“After all, the greatest part of our reputation has been built on cabernet--we’ve been experimenting with it for 78 years, and that’s longer than anyone else in the country,� he said. “But the biggest factor is that we are sitting in the middle of the greatest microclimate for producing cabernet in the nation. Why not stress that and capitalize on that?�

Knowles said repeatedly during his years at Beaulieu that the winery would produce only cabernet sauvignon if it were commercially feasible.

He recalled fondly his three years with Glenn Miller, from 1937 to 1940, and credited Miller with teaching him the precepts of business.

“The discipline I learned back then has come in handy in the wine business,� he said in 1979. “Music is discipline, and you couldn’t get much more disciplined than Glenn. I remember one year, it was 1939, we worked 359 nights. I don’t know what we did the other six nights that year.�

“It was a great training ground,� he said, “because it taught me that even if you were sick or tired or whatever, once you were out there and everybody had paid their money, you just had to produce.�

He made 123 records with the Miller band, including its well-known “In the Mood,� “Moonlight Serenade� and “Tuxedo Junction.�

Knowles left Miller to work with the Charlie Spivak band and then entered military service in 1942.

After World War II, Knowles answered an ad from the Wine Advisory Board in San Francisco, not because he knew anything about wine but because the board wanted someone who had appeared before great numbers of people and would be at ease in the spotlight.

Knowles was hired as a spokesman for the industry, charged with educating the public and turning around the disrepute in which wine was held after the war.