Act 1
Homeward bound now, 32,000 feet above somewhere USA, heading home, with no movie to distract me and the usual aversion to my next-seat neighbor. How did I get here? It all started around Oct. 1st, when I noticed on my calendar a mid-month trip to Charleston and Hilton Head that had been scheduled eons prior with nary another thought.
At that time we were well into harvest, quality was exceptional, and the weather was behaving perfectly. And we were picking heavy, meaning beyond expectations for the first time in years. I had already reached out to my long time acquaintance Glenn Proctor, a wine grape broker (the right kind of broker to be these days) to let him know that we might actually have fruit for sale. It was a good call. Soon word got out and we reentered a business we haven’t been in 20 years; selling grapes. I am happy to report that my brazen public suppositions all these years, the ones about world class winemakers jumping at the chance to work with our estate fruit if we ever gave them opportunity, came true. Chardonnay went to Flowers and Patz and Hall, and Cabernet and Merlot went to Pride and Robert Craig. Truth be told, not a one of them was laying in wait for me, as far as I know, trying to get fruit. But the vineyard’s reputation, our intense late season flavors, and their short harvests all worked in our favor. It is too early to see if any of them will want to be repeat customers, nor if we will even have fruit to sell next year, but it is a big honor to have the talented winemakers behind those brands validate the hard work we have been doing in our vineyard.
I was just back from Texas where Tommy Howard and I had gone on our first sales trip together. Tommy is new to our family here, but oh so important. He is responsible for managing the national sales of our brand. That means working with our distributor partners and national sales company to ensure our wines get to where they are supposed to be- in the glasses and on the tables of America’s most discerning, fun loving and adventurous wine consumers. Tommy knows and loves wine, the wine industry, has a passion for family, football and passion itself, and is very good at what he does. I know that because I saw him action on that trip and since!! He is a fourth generation Georgian, and appreciates history, including ours.
In Texas we went to Austin and stayed in the Austin Motel. Jerome, the fine wine manager picked us up there and promptly told us that he stayed there for 3 weeks in the 70’s, broke and fresh off the boat from Australia. In his (still) thick brogue he said that Three Dog Night lived next store and played regularly at the Continental Club across the street. My only memory of Three Dog is from the TV commercials during my youth that hawked compilation records featuring the hits of the time. Names of bands and their songs would scroll down the screen with every 6th one or so played as a feature. Three Dog Night was in a ton of those commercials and they must have been okay because they were always featured. Anyway, Jerome the Aussie is really the mayor of Austin disguised as a fine wine manager. He knows everyone, loves his company, loves Austin, worships everything Australian, loves bicycles and as one might expect of someone from Austin, has an encyclopedic knowledge of very cool music. We hit it off. He was gearing up for Austin City Limits, which was happening the weekend following my visit. He calls it the Mecca for his wife, two boys and himself, and I believe it. It might well be mine too if I lived there. We had a great day in Austin, saw lots of people, most all of whom were excited about the wines.
Worthy of a shoutout was Austin Wine Merchant. John Roenigk, the proprietor, is revered in Austin. Started out as a youngster with a precocious palate not that long ago and now enjoys legendary status whose influence, whether he knows it or not, extends well beyond Austin. I met him when I myself was a precocious youngster, and had run into him (or mention of him) over the years, but I hadn’t seen him or worked Austin in years. It was Tommy’s first call as a GunBunRunner. Tommy and John embarked on an academic dissection of GB, and its quality level, pricing and stature in the market. The consensus was good, right and respected when known, respectively. Very interesting and encouraging. The ‘when known’ theme would come up repeatedly throughout our trip. Not a lot of you out there seem to know much about us. As hard as that makes it some times, I kinda like it! Gundlach Bundschu- 150 years of Obscurity! That has such a ring! Rather have it that way than be known and forgotten or discarded. And I love to introduce the kid sommeliers to the coolness that is GB.
That night Tommy and I ended up at the Continental Club. My thumbphone journal from onsite reads, and I quote:
“Now at continenental club hearing john dee graham sing his hreart out after a near death experience. Special guest ephrains Owens of acid jazz fame.bass player is son volt drummer is platinum album. Landis Armstrong ended his set with a song about courage hope and god nlesss him. ‘Once or twice I have fallen from very great heights. Nut got back up dreaming of mo Ali’ Drummer from fastball.”
25 minutes and yet another 2 beers later, another direct quote:
“Now james McMurtry……….and sure enough he ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
We finished up Texas in Dallas, where we had a wine dinner and a chance to excite all our distributor’s sales staff at their monthly sales meeting. Managed to succeed across the board. Most importantly Tommy and I got to bond over guitar solos, kids and SEC football. I can now report that SEC means something more than the Securities and Exchange Commission, and that Auburn, Clemson, LSU and University of Georgia are all places I wish I’d visited during football season between the years 1985 and 1990.
Came home to anything but obscurity. First was the army of New Jersians Wine Salesmen (5 actually) who all came by on a Saturday morning and fell in love with our cows. See the pics. Then was the Vintage Festival, our town’s annual harvest party. It happens the last weekend in September, and we were the honorary chairs, given our anniversary and all. And to top it all off, we staged the last winery-sponsored performance of Towle’s Hill, our anniversary play, at a local theater to sponsor the Boys and Girls Club. It was very special to stage it for some of Towle’s contemporaries and our family. My work there, as they say, is done.
Kept picking and crushing and selling and juggling. All this with Chicken Little sreaming his head off from Wall Street. Scary and mountain moving, in imagination for sure, and very likely reality.
South Carolina, that blip on the calendar that I noticed 3 weeks ago, and entered therein months prior, was all on account of being the featured winery at a charity event on Hilton Head Island. I used the event as an excuse to visit restaurants in Charleston, and there were plenty to choose from. What a food town indeed... Where there is food there is appetite for good wine. Among the stand-outs were Muse, FIG, 23, and 82 Queen. I heard about the Oaks and SNOB, but didn’t visit. The history and culture of the low country is very compelling. So much so that we will be doing a wine club revel there this spring. Stay tuned for details. BTW, I hosted a wine dinner at the Country Club of Charleston and while there met a woman who was the lead singer of the house band for the Filmore East in San Francisco between 1967 and 1968. In those days the opening band stayed with the venue, instead of touring with the headliner. I got out of her (with a bit of effort) that she opened for Hendrix, Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and the Doors, among others. Said Hendrix was by far the most compelling of all those she came across and got to know.
Finally made it to Hilton Head, from where this plane departed, where I managed to engage the crowd for a few minutes for the benefit of the Honey House and its coastal discovery museum. Hilton Head, I can now tell you, is much more than golf courses. It has miles of beach, and waterways, great natural beauty and wildlife. I got a chance to paddle (and fish from) a kayak. Tried to chase a dolphin to no avail, and saw the ripples from a submerging leatherback turtle. No tiburones or bald eagles, both of which make their home around the place.
The dinner was terrific. It was a great display of citizens coming out to support an important component of their community. As the museum focuses on history and natural history, I had no problem relating. People were appreciative of our involvement.
Postscipt
I am home now, and we still have 60 or so tons of Cabernet left to pick. The 08 ripening season continues on its ideal course. Warm days and cool nights for endless days. We went through all the lots and the quality is high. Very high. The crew at the winery can see the light at the end of the tunnel and for them it will come none-to-soon. Having the luxury to let’em hang, though, is very nice.
Jerome the Crazy Austin Australian
John R, the venerable Austin Wine Merchant. And he is punk rock, too.
Continental Club as seen through beer goggles.
New Jersey Cowboys
Towle's Hill In Sonoma
And my raging beauties
