Digging Deep

During a recent trip to the San Francisco area, my family suggested we take a detour to explore the Napa Valley area. Having seen plenty of Midwest farmland, and plenty of mountains in the Rockies and the Smokies, I questioned the entertainment value in watching grapes grow on sunny hills. Couple this with the fact that the term “wine person” has never been used to describe me. (My wife might use the term whine person on occasion, but, trust me, it’s totally biased and inaccurate.) Not wanting my Amex card to continue to melt from San Fran sticker shock, I agreed to give it a go.

Prior to leaving San Francisco, my wife made friends with the concierge at our hotel. (Concierge friendship = nice tip.) She arranged for us to attend a class/seminar at the Culinary Institute of America (yup…the CIA) in St. Helena, right there in Napa Valley wine country. There went the Amex card again.

The class was on wine pairing, and was limited to 30 people. The instructor was a renowned chef and lecturer known by all (I had no clue), who was both informative and entertaining. He discussed the attributes of different wines, and gave us a packet of charts, graphs and bullet points that would objectively help pair them with foods based on complementary characteristics…and sometimes opposing ones. I was lost, and surrounded by food experts who took this very seriously. But by the end of the third hour – having consumed several ounces of “lab experiments” – I could identify at least some of the aromas and flavors by using a menacing-looking chart called an Aroma Wheel. This wine stuff was beginning to get somewhat interesting. (All kidding aside, the class and the CIA were great.)

Now also being able to at least visually differentiate red wine from white, we ventured out the next day for that famous Napa Valley rite of passage…the winery tours!

We connected with a tour guide by talking to some of the locals, and quickly realized that some of the more “interesting” wineries were not huge, and somewhat off the main roads. (And by the third tour, we also realized that another name for tour guide was designated driver.)

At one of the wineries, we were greeted by a fairly young man (late 20-ish) who had some sort of title like: Assistant General Vineyard Manager and Head of Social Media. During an introductory conversation, it came out that he was originally from the east coast, had a couple of degrees (Finance? Accounting?), and had a dad who was a very successful investment-type guy. Our greeter friend figured that if he was ever going to have a time in his working life where he could break out of the mold, this was it. (“So he loaded up the truck and moved to Bever…” Oops…wrong area. “…and moved to the Valleeeey. Swimmin’ holes, old movie stars…”)

Now this was getting good. “He’s willing to spill his guts,” I chuckled to myself. I was intensely curious as to what the wine business was really about…the inside scoop.

At this point, my family could see what I was up to, and eyes started to roll. I deftly turned my head, ignoring the gestures, and continue to ask questions. Here’s a few things that came out:

• Land in Napa Valley is really expensive
• The winery business is really expensive
• You don’t get as much wine out of a ton of grapes as you might expect
• Vines take about 5-6 years to grow and actually become useful, which is not guaranteed
• Some vines can be productive for over 20 years
• Grapevines, in general, are extremely hearty. Roots can run very deep (as much as 60 feet in some parts of the world), but commonly seek the most nutritious soil, regardless of depth
• Many vineyards are owned by people who attained financial success in other businesses. Many also consider the vineyard and/or winery business as kind of a hobby
• When you consider what it takes to produce a quality bottle of wine, it’s amazing how reasonable the costs are
• Many vineyards/wineries have a lot to learn about branding and marketing
• If, as a business owner, you absolutely NEED to be profitable, this probably isn’t the business for you

As my cleverly-disguised quest to get to the inner workings of the wine biz moved into a higher gear, my family’s eye rolls turned to direct glares and – get this – pacing. Even our designated tour guide was looking at his watch. I thanked our host, obtained his promise to talk at a future date, and proceeded to the next vineyard (after ordering umpteen bottles of wine to be shipped home). Secretly, my research had just begun.

More on vineyard marketing and branding in an upcoming blog. Cheers.