BLOGSCHU

Clock is Ticking

Hmmmmm , lets see.  It is Saturday morning and in 48 hours I will be en route to Houston for the beginning of the big tour.  That would be the growingly infamous Towle's Hill tour that has inspired, among many other things, this blog.   Of course, I am unpacked, unprepared, unscripted, undone, but I remain unworried.  Of course it was perfectly reasonable to spend the last hour reading a surf guide to nor cal book that Liz got me last week, about all the spots I know so well, and the many others in the 'hood that I don't.   And it is even more reasonable that starting an hour from now I will be on my bike for the subsequent six hours, and then to a great birthday party after that.  Alas, once again I rely on my mantra with respect to preparing for the upcoming voyage- There is always tomorrow.   

This week has been harrowing with a whirlwind of activity.  Some noteworthies:                                                         

1. Personally re inviting, informing, reminding  people all across the route of our impending arrival.
2. Tasting 20 spectator and parker high scorers as part of our benchmarking process
3. Saying goodbye to our 10+ year old grape receiving (from the picking bins) and delivery system (to the press/tanks)
4. Saying hello to our new state of the art receiving system.
5. Beginning to pray that our new state of the art delivery system gets here before harvest.
6. Final review of the script an route of our kick-arse Pinzgauer Tour, week which will launch next week. Think vineyard tour to end all vineyard tours by way of six-wheel-drive swiss army vehicle.

And that was by Wednesday.  But, now I must get ready to ride. 

This morning's departing thought is that one's station life at this particular moment in time is determined by how many times you have seen Alvin and the Chipmunks.    

GB Hospitality Party 2008

So Tuesday night was our annual big pre-season bash to celebrate the upcoming onslaught of excitement and exhaustion that is summer in the wine country.  We invite hospitality pros and their friends from hotels, restaurants, caterers and others from Sonoma and Napa to the winery for a throw down, to hang out and and learn about our summer activities.  It helps that our summer is full of all sorts of very cool things, from 'Dazed and Confused' to Mozart to an alt rock concert.  Not to mention our newly cool-as-s__t vineyard tour program featuring our six wheel Pinzgauer.  Most of all, we have the best event and tasting room staff around so we could be throwing a bingo party and it would be a blast.  Any way, lucky for the  for me, it was much more than bingo, with DJ Solomon from the city, Shiso Sushi from Sonoma, and Lux Productions for the decor, and of course delectable Gundlach Bundschu Wines.  I had a blast, and it seemed most everyone else did too.

More Towle's Hill Feedback

Dear Stephanie [Creative Director, the Marsh],

It was very nice meeting you as well. So often in the wine business, we are forced sheerly for practical purposes to rely on impersonal means of communication to try to tell our story. In today's wine market, we are surrounded by mega-corporate wineries that have strayed so far from the idea of the small, romantic, family winery that it is hard to feel a personal connection to them. They compete by means of cost reduction, economies of scale and massive budgets - it is impossible for the small, family winery to compete with them on any one of these measures. However, what small, family wineries can compete with is their heart and soul. The Marsh's performance of Towle's Hill, simply stated, was one of the finest examples I have seen of a winery making a personal connection with their partners. While large wineries can bury us in printed materials, price promotions, coupons, fancy labels and rock-bottom pricing, they cannot begin to compete with the passion, heritage, and story complete with comedy and even tragedy that was so clearly communicated in your excellent interpretation of Gundlach Bundschu's 150-year history as seen through the eyes of Towle Bundschu. Your ability to work with the family to capture all of this in a 40 minute play that remained riveting and kept the audience completely engaged is beyond commendable. My thanks and congratulations to you and your fine cast.

Best regards,

Paul

Paul J. Englert

Director of Marketing

Wilson Daniels, Ltd.

A Remembrance

Some time around around 7.00 am on last Friday morning, I descended into the Napa Valley on my bike from the western hills, having left my house in Sonoma an hour earlier.  The route is fairly common this time of year, for me and numerous others, and goes north from the Sonoma square to Trinity Road, east over Trinity Road into Napa and then back to Sonoma either through the hills or south through Carneros.  That time of day, when the sun is well over the eastern hills but still new in the sky, the descent into Napa is breathtakingly beautiful, and it never gets old.  Friday was no exception.  The valley, with it's  blankets of vineyards and tree lined creeks,  stark mountainsides and statuesque buildings, was warm and inviting. 

I got to the office a little later and read that sometime that morning Robert Mondavi had passed.   Most has been said about his life and his contributions to our industry.  He made a major impression on me at a Sonoma Valley Wine Auction in the early nineties, when I was just a few years into my tenure at Gundlach Bundschu (and adulthood for that matter).  This was in the heat of the 'Sonoma makes wine, Napa makes auto parts' days when Sonoma winemakers (including one right in our own building) took great pleasure in promoting Sonoma at the expense of Napa.  It was mostly tongue and cheek, and many a skit in our famously theatrical auction had Napa playing the dupe.  This particular year was playing out to be no exception, when a stretch limo pulled right up to the stage in the auction tent on the grounds of the Sonoma Mission Inn.  The auctioneer feigned indignance until the back door opened and none other than Robert Mondavi got out and walked on stage.  The dumbstruck audience, made up mostly of local Sonomans, applauded loudly.  He proceeded to give a great speech imploring unity among the valleys in the effort to bring wine and wine lifestyle to all Americans.  He was funny, charming, gracious, and most impressive of all, he stole the show by taking the high road.  It was an experience that I have never forgotten.  Since then I have had multiple occasions to interact with the company and family, either directly or through current or former employees, and was always aware of how the man's graciousness seemed to emanate through most aspects of his company culture.  Apparently, his family culture was another matter, and if what I have read is half true, I wouldn't want to be his son,  but that is another part of the story.  The part worth remembering is Mondavi's impact on an entire aspect of American living, and the burgeoning industry that supports it.

As it was, the valley shone brilliant that Friday morning, in warm sunlight and legacy.  There will be lifetimes to come of beautiful vistas over the Napa Valley, most of which will contain some element of Robert Mondavi's great vision.

Diff btw boys and men

Just another day....

Now the test... No update on the play to speak of, except that we will be doing some version of it on capital hill for the Congressional wine caucus (yes there is such a thing!),  so I'll just have to write what I am actually doing (while watching AI).

Was in Marin Monday, the Peninsula Tuesday, and will be in SF tomorrow,  selling Gundlach Bundschu to mostly favorable wine buyers.  The job is one that on paper sounds pretty darn appealing, as work goes; sitting in fine restaurants, or interesting wine shops, pouring the buyers our wines (which tend, thankfully, to sell themselves) and then talking to them about the nuances of our family story and wine style, and anything else under the sun.  As the true selling falls to my companion from the distributor, my job is basically to be excited about my wines, which is easy.  As it is not a physical job at all, and not particularly mentally challenging, it shouldn't be that tough.   But for some reason the process is totally exhausting for me.  I can ride my bike 4 hours and have twice the energy afterwards than I do after the same amount of time calling on wine accounts.  Hence its Wednesday night, and I feel like it should be Friday....

Hung out today (a break in the sales schedule) to hang with a number of remarkable people, including a fellow named Carmen Policy, a bay area luminary who had much to do with the SF 49rs during its reign of superiority.  He was talking about leadership and success, and said that early on, he learned that 60% of any success that he achieved as an attorney, and then later as an executive, was based on his relationship with other parties involved..... 

Finally-Two kinds of people in the world-Archulettas and Cooks.   I am a Cook.

Oh, and above is some wisdom on boys from some girls from my daughter's 4th grade camping trip last weekend... (yes, one is my daughter Gracie).

Towle's Hill Premiere a Raging Success

Who'd have thunk a winery in Sonoma could commission a 40 minute play to tell 150 years of family and winery history then get the most skeptical of all audiences, wine sales people, to gush all all over it.  That is what happened Wednesday night when Towle's Hill premiered at the Marsh to a packed house of wine tradespeople, journalists, and family.  The night before we had shown it for employees and theater staffers in a preview, but Wednesday was the real deal- The first time true strangers were to see it.  I was nervous, of course, but managed to get together my talking points in time to deliver a meaningful introduction, and then Mark the actor took it away.   Of course no one is going to come up and tell me it sucked, but I can tell true enthusiasm when I see it, and there was plenty of it.  Turned out to be brilliant that the Sesquicentennial Bus Tour won't start for a few weeks so the buzz about the play will build.  We expect some more written reaction soon, but here is a snippet from a few playgoers:

From Alan Cohen of Wilson Daniels:

The inaugural evening of the 150th anniversary Gundlach Bundschu play tonight was a huge success.  It was a packed house, standing room only, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.  Attendance by almost the entire No Cal (Estates Group Sales Force), many with their significant others, and with some folks coming from as far away as Sacramento made the Bundschu Family thrilled with the partnership with their distributor and really allowed them to connect on a very personal level with each and every person.

The feeling from all who attended can be summed up by one comment from an Estates Group Rep..........."you could have taken a lot of this information about the family's history, and their feeling about their land, and made a glossy brochure or a press kit or come to a meeting and tell the story but it would have been like every other brand sales pitch.  This was an evening that we will never forget and really made us feel like we are a part of their legacy.  It made you laugh, it made you cry, it made you really understand the many generations of Bundschu's and their struggle to hold onto their land and pass their unwavering dedication on to future generations.  Fabulous!"
 

From Tom Fuller of Fuller PR

WOW

Congratulations on a fantastic kick-off to Towle's Hill!  The media/people I spoke with after the show were genuinely impressed and moved.  You could tell the extended ovation was not mere courtesy applause...it was the real deal...

The industry could use more families like the GunBuns!

And of course the real audience, the one that will treasure this endeavor long after I am gone, will be my family. Two of my cousins' reactions below....

Reaction To Towle's Hill Premiere in SF

Dark but cool reaction to play by two of Towle's own grand kids, Caspian and Towle(!)

Towle's Hill Prologue

This is absolutely it... My first weblog.   Appropriate that it is Cinco de Mayo.  Even more so that it is the eve before Towle's Hill.

This solo performance play, which we commissioned from the Marsh theater in SF, debuts for friends and family tomorrow night in SF, and for the public the next night.  Am I nervous? Not really.  I am in a zone that is not uncommon for me prior to the release/premiere/kick-off of some big idea.  When the time comes to envision, I am here and ready to rock, whether it be a play, a wine, or any scheme of sorts, but as the idea to go public, the shell comes up and I retreat internally.  No doubt you will see me pumped up tomorrow night and the next.  But between now and then I will be numb with obliviousness (and maybe undiagnosed sheer terror), depending completely on the true stars around here to pull the thing off.  I can say one thing for sure; this play is going to kick ass.  The love, sweat and tears that went into creating and staging a 40 minute story that captures 150 years of winery and family history with intimacy, emotion, and inspiration was monumental.   The effort came from a wide variety of people, most of whom had no idea what they were getting into when they signed on.   

BTW, the seeds of this inspiration were sewn way back when, I saw Danny Hoch do Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop solo at the Berkeley Rep in 1997.  Stay tuned...