Learn more about the man behind the name and inspiration for R. Degen Wines.
Adam Goldsmith
Richard Degen | Immigrant, Grandfather, Husband, Survivor
Before R. Degen was ever a name on a bottle, it was the name of a man. It was the name of my grandfather, a man I call Papa.
Papa was born Israel Degenszajn in Poland, into a Jewish world that would be changed forever by the German invasion. As a boy, he escaped the horrors that overtook so much of Jewish life in Europe, eventually making his way out of Warsaw and finding refuge in an orphanage in London.
There is no easy way to summarize what it means for a child to leave behind the only world he knew and begin again. A new country, a new language, and the kind of loss that becomes part of a person even when they go on to build something beautiful.
When he arrived in England, he chose a new name. Israel Degenszajn became Richard Degen.
I think about that choice often, because it feels like one of those quiet moments in a family story that reveals more the longer you sit with it. It was a young man choosing how he would enter the future. It was a way of carrying the past without being buried by it. It was the beginning of a life that would be built slowly, bravely, and with the kind of determination that does not announce itself loudly, but shows up in the simple act of continuing.
In London, Richard met Rita, the woman he would marry, and together they built a family. They had three daughters, Sharon, Julia, and Marianne, and over time that family grew into something larger than anything he could have imagined when he first arrived in England as a boy seeking safety. Children became grandchildren, the table grew fuller, and the story that began in survival became a life filled with holidays, meals, laughter, travel, ordinary routines, and all the daily freedoms that only feel ordinary when we forget how precious they are.
Later in life, Richard split his time between London and Naples, Florida, enjoying the warmth, comfort, and ease of the world he had made for himself and for the people he loved. He is still alive today at 94 years old, and this December he will celebrate his 95th birthday. That matters deeply to me, because his story is not distant or abstract, and his name is not something pulled from history for the sake of sounding meaningful. He is here, his life is still unfolding, and the family he created is still carrying forward the blessings of the future he fought to reach.
That is why this wine carries his name.
When I think about R. Degen, I think about the long journey between loss and joy, between exile and belonging, between the life a person is forced to leave behind and the life they somehow find the strength to build afterward. I think about how Jewish life has always found beauty around the table, even after generations of hardship, and how wine has always been part of that beauty. Wine is there when we welcome Shabbat, when we gather for holidays, when we bless a marriage, when we remember those who came before us, and when we pause long enough to recognize that being together is itself a kind of miracle.
For me, kosher wine has never been only about what is permitted or traditional. It is about memory, pride, continuity, and the feeling of placing something on the table that speaks to who we are. R. Degen was born from the desire to make a wine that could hold that feeling with dignity, a wine that could honor Jewish tradition without shrinking from the broader world of beauty, craft, farming, and place.
Richard’s life is the inspiration behind that desire, because his story reminds me that survival was only the beginning. What came after was the family he built, the love he shared with Rita, the daughters they raised, the generations that followed, and the freedom to live with warmth, humor, dignity, and joy after a world had tried to take all of that away.
In every bottle of R. Degen, I hope there is some reflection of that same spirit. I hope there is patience, depth, and a sense of place. I hope there is reverence for the vineyard and for the hands that shaped the wine. More than anything, I hope there is a feeling of gratitude, because this wine exists because a young boy made it out, because he built a life, because he made a family, and because that family is still here, still gathering, still remembering, and still raising a glass.
R. Degen is named for Richard Degen, but it is also named for everything his life made possible.
It is named for the courage to begin again, for the beauty of Jewish continuity, for the quiet triumph of family, and for the belief that the most meaningful things we make should be rooted in love.
Explore R. Degen
Learn more about our wines, our philosophy, and our team
