Four Hundred plus wineries packed into the Grand Pavilion at Fort Mason in San Francisco a week ago Sunday and Monday to pour wines for and connect with wine loving consumers, retailers & restaurateurs at the Family Winemakers tasting. I’ve poured at these events for I don’t know how many years now and ask myself why do we do this? How can anyone attending possibly remember anything they’ve tasted and does it really help Michel-Schlumberger get some recognition?
I took a break to mender around, mingle with people I know in the industry, and see what the other wineries were doing to break through the clutter. I was in awe. Of the 400+ wineries, there were at least 100 (200?) I’d never heard of before…and I’m sure they’d never heard of Michel-Schlumberger before either. But all of them were enthusiastically engaging the people, and the people were enthusiastically engaged. I was inspired.
But the real epiphony came in the ‘L’s’ (we were alphabetically placed). I looked up and saw none other than Heidi Peterson Barrett and her husband Bo Barrett pouring wines (both days by the way) at La Sirena. If you don’t know who these people are — Heidi is the ultimate ‘cult’ winemaker — producer of Screaming Eagle, Grace Family Vineyards, Paradigm and many other ’unobtainable’ wines. She is not a rock star by a long shot — very down to earth – but she is truly wine royalty. And her husband, Bo, is the owner & co-founder (with his Dad) of Chateau Montelena (recently sold to Chateau Cos d’Estournel & is the central figure in the new movie Bottle Shock). Bo maybe could be a rock star.
This is when it hit me – we are all in this business together, and together, we are all trying simply to connect with people to tell them our stories, taste our wines, and get them to like us. It doesn’t matter if we are ’stars’ in the industry or starving artists — when it comes right down to it, we’re all in this together – a family with a common mission to spread the good word of wine.
Collectively we’ve grown consumption in U.S. from 1.6 gallons or so per adult in the 60’s to right around 3 gallons per adult today. Collectively we’ve introduced varietal wine by the glass in restaurants of every level making it an accepted part of dining. Collectively we’ve changed the American culture! And collectively we are a family – we may have different names, and clearly have different personalities, but we are all related. And families stick together.
Ultimately, collectively, we are changing the world. And if it is by connecting with consumer one at a time at events like Family Winemakers, then so be it – it is our mission. That is why I’ll be back at the Family Winemaker event again next year, and the year after. And the family grows…and grows.
