BLOGSCHU

Towle’s Hill Tour Post Script

The challenge with the life we lead here is that two weeks home from the national bus tour and it seems it could have been last year instead of last month that we did our tour. We are facing vines well through their early stages well on the way to verasion, 07 base blends are basically together and put back to bed for bottling early next year. We are trying to align our grape supply with the demand. And we are readying for our leadership offsite, where the leadership of our little winery tries to set the course for the next year. We do it pre-harvest (late July/Early August), and this year the theme is growth opportunities. We have more fruit than we need at the moment, which is a real opportunity. As an estate winery, that means in the short term we have fruit to sell, but in the long term, more wine we can potentially make.

We have also been scrambling to follow up on the tour. The follow up comes in two forms, some times in the same correspondence: ‘Thankyous’ and ‘Calls to Action’. The thankyous are really to everyone who came, with extra notice for people who helped to stage the performance in each market. The calls to action are for the people who represent our wines to anyone who sells it to wine drinkers, and they made up about half of all the people who have seen the play to date. We expect them to use the enhanced connection with the family and winery as a means to build our brand in their markets, and I like to gently remind them of that.

Tour Index
3495: Miles driven in bus
8: Performance stops on tour
1165: Play attendees throughout country
1030: Budgeted play attendees
6: Nights spent on bus
3: Truckstop Showers
0: Books read, magazines browsed
>5: Cinnamon roll haikus written
0: Groupies
68/10%: Average temp/humidity inside bus
103/199% Average temp/humidity ouside bus
25: Percentage of truckstops that will have fitness machines to rent by 2011. Bet me.

Other Comments:
Writing blog entries is hard. Just like someone’s grandfather used to say, 50% of it is just showing up to write something, and it is hard enough to do that. But the other 50% on a trip like that (and maybe even beyond) is trying to do basic reporting and situational descriptions in a compelling way. Editorializing, moralizing, philosophizing, waxing, dreaming, and capturing feelings are all the things I hoped to use this blog as an excuse to do. But by the time I got through describing what we were doing I was too tired to pontificate.

More....
Austin is a great city. I am not sure it is a muse of a city, but it is a great one.
NY and LA are both great muses.
I love to say the word Brooklyn, and am happy to have been there again.
The furniture in the Cannon congressional office building is very cool.
Waffle House’s reputation is better than reality, except for the people watching.
90% of fun is the attitude you bring to it.
My dad is super cool. So is the rest of my family.

And a very few comments from the guest book…

Dear Bundschus,
What a wonderful opportunity to see the inner workings of a wonderful family. The fact that your wines are world class is secondary to the wonderful family history you shared with us tonight. – Paul Lonis, Judge & Dolph

Which is more charming…the GB wine or the story? We love both! – Dave Batt & Alixe Lischett, Cabernet & Co, Glen Ellyn, IL

Crikey! Was that a play or what…Thanks Aunie Gigi and young blighter Jeff, you all rock and roll. Austin is changed for the better, love the performance, keep on rolling!
– Jerome, RND Austin

Wonderful story, wonderful wines. – Ted & Jackie, Room 39, KC

Never stop what you’re doing – Ryan, JP Wine Bar, KC

Thank you truly for the awesome performance, the best wine we have ever had in our lives. Good luck and best wishes. Bridget Banks, Mama Fus restaurant, Charlotte, NC

Jim, Jeff & Gang – Thanks for sharing this amazing gift with all of us. What a treat. Your family has so much to be proud of, past and present. It’s a privilege to represent and a joy to know you. – Doug Cohen, Tryon

Towle’s Hill was amazing! What a fabulous tribute to your family and its heritage. Thank you for making Charlotte part of your 150th celebration. – Angie Packer

Can’t wait to share this play in the home town in Sonoma……

Where There's Smoke.....

A week ago today was my first full day back in the saddle after the Towle's Hill road tour was done and put to bed.  I finally have 15 minutes to reflect on the grandness of this tour, and I'd better get to it.  BTW, Cali's on fire.  Tour top of mind today:

-My Aunt Gigi.  She is the bomb, the bomb and the bomb!  Such a pleasure to have on the trip, for so many reasons.  Mostly because she has the most wide open mind in America, loves adventure, and can find the fun in any situation.

-All the people with some sort of Agriculture, family business, or both in their family history.  In every city (even NYC) at least one person felt compelled to come up to me to tell me their own family story.

-Truck stops. The $10 dollar truck stop shower, the truck stop video arcades, movie theaters, Laundromat, cell phone vendors, insurance vendors, and of course the restaurants with phones in every booth.  They are like mini resorts without the beds.  I predict that the top tier truck stops will have fitness centers by 2013.  Mark my words....

-Driver Jim's ability to sleep on command.  Wish I could do that.

-How little of the country I actually saw, given that we drove 3495 miles

-How the mood of the audience directly drove the tenor of each night's performance, not the other way around.

- Regular Blogging.  Who'd of thunk it would be difficult to find the time to write up some perspective?   

Los Angeles

Funny thing happened on the way to the theater for the first time, the first show in the post-bus era: I got a parking ticket.  Another funny thing happened on the way back to theater later that afternoon: I got a moving violation ticket.  Thousands of miles with not so much as a funny look from a policeperson, and only 2 hours and 20 miles behind the wheel of a rental car and I am popped twice.  I was clearly missing the bus, and Jim the driver.  But, alas, if after all this I am any thing, it is resilient.   So despite my run in with johnny law, I was as twinkly as ever in greeting the LA crowd, welcoming them enthusiastically to this last performance on the tour and the last until late August/September.  The theater rocked.  A classic example of early 20th century LA architecture, the Hayworth was indeed named after Rita, whose movies premiered there in the 40s when it was a leading movie house.  Our reception was upstairs in the ball room, complete with chandeliers and bay window views of MacArthur Park and downtown.  It was a small but vibrant crowd that consisted of most of the Estates group LA sales team, a number of people from their offices down the road, a few great accounts, some friends and family and Wommers.  Mike and Sue Faria came up from Orange county and sat in the first row, representing.   We had designated LA as the place to do a multi-camera filming of the play for the follow up DVD and the archives, and so we met Bryan's (the cinematographer on the bus) partner James for the first time.  He is an awesome fellow from Napa who goes on his own tours with his band Vengince and he did a great job of setting the place up for maximum cinematic effect.  Mark delivered a touching, funny and intimate performance that as usual left the crowd appreciative and thirsty.   We retired that night to the burger bar at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood for what would blessedly be the last midnight road dinner for very long time.  Indeed I have thoughts on this whole escapade and they are soon to follow.

 

NOLA- Almost No More

Twas a surreal shocker to pull into New Orleans and unpack the bus for the last time.  Despite its short comings, (mostly lack of shower and closet space), it had become home.  Or, kind of a cross between a home and a pet.  Like a home, it had everything we needed right there at all times: Bed, bathroom, kitchen, all our stuff, music, Internet, A/C etc., and like a pet it came every where with us.  Rural traditional theater in Charlotte or funk fest in Manhattan, DriverJim had managed to keep that bus within 50 yards of us at all times.   I had let it go a little too much the night before in Charlotte, so I was prone for out of body kind of experiences, and going from the bus of the last 2 weeks to my own hotel room was just that.  Adding to it all was that New Orleans was the coolest place temperature-wise that we had seen on the whole trip, save our first evening in NYC.  How strange is that?   Knowing that I would have a 6.30 wake up call the next morning, my afternoon was devoted to packing everything up.  That meant dis-assembling my bike, doing some laundry and getting used to the idea that the bus portion of this performance, hence the largest part of it, was about to be over.

I suppose it was good to have a few hours to put the mindset homeward.  But there was one more show, at Le Chat Noir that night.  The mood was very festive, and like it seems most all did, the place filled to the brim with all sorts of nice and noteworthy people.  It was great to see such a vibrant turnout.  Again it was a reunion of sorts when Tom Cole of Republic National showed up, and a bunch of other people whom we have known for many years.   Like Brad Johnston, Tom is younger than Dad by a decade or so, and has grown to great responsibility in the years since they first met.  Mark delivered another mind-blowing performance, and the crowd was fully engaged and enthralled.  Performances and venues change, but the reaction has become consistent.  People are touched, moved, impressed, occasionally surprised, and ready to drink wine afterward.

NOLA street art-human statue. Note the beer belly on this guy.

Sister Katie who came in from Texas and Driver Jim

Karen Stone and Greg Lucia, Two NOLA rockstars

Grandpa Towle with grand daughter Katie

Charlotte, NC

Once upon a long time ago, Jim Bundschu was convinced to stop off in Charlotte to visit a new distributor while heading to NYC from Florida.  The distributor, called Tryon, was run by two 26 year olds who had no offices, few employees and lots of ambition.   Soon Brad Johnston and Steve Hedberg, and their friend Angie Packer had Gundlach Bundschu everywhere in the city, and for years Charlotte was GB's number two market outside of California.  Over the years things evolved and Steve left the company, and as our portfolio changed other markets begin to overtake Charlotte in sales.  With Brad Johnston now running the company, and many of the same people still there, Tryon remains a sentimental favorite.  This is especially true for dad, who hadn't been there in many years.  I got a call early Wed. morning, just after emerging from the truckstop shower, that Brad wanted us to come down from the theater and speak to his managers meeting.  Dad, Nancy, and I arrived there about 2 pm, and dad was immediately overwhelmed. He hadn't t been there in years, and was blown away that the little shack of a warehouse that he remembered had grown to become one of the largest and most state of the art in the city.  It was great to watch dad take pride in Brad's achievements with Tryon.  The company is a great success story, and that Brad the founder is still running it with the same fun loving spirit in which he founded is a clear case of a good guy winning.

The performance that night was to another sold out crowd, and Mark brought the house down.  The crowd included some old friends of the winery, lots of restaurateurs and retailers, and an enthusiastic group of Tryon sales people.  Also old friends.  Skip Ciforest and his wife came, from a neighboring town.  Skip is 5 days younger than aunt Gigi and grew up on the turkey farm next door.  He remembers Towle well and his flowing tears during the performance (he was in front of me) let on that he had very fond memories.

Some Pics:

Anxious Crowd Awaits

Gigi, Brad Johnston, Randy Packer and Nancy

Angie Packer and her two boys.  Very nice to see some kids for a change. 

Vance and family from Lotus.  Word has it that the restaurant is off the hook good.

Stephanie rocking the nice group of politicos.

On the Shoulders of Kings, or at Least democrats

We pulled out of NYC at 2.15 am Tuesday morning.  After a sleep and a truck-stop shower, we arrived in DC about 2 pm.  Too hot and tired to do much else, we watched Spain spank Russia in the Eurocup on the bus and waited until we could get into the capital office building.  Long ago, when we set up the tour, we left Tuesday btw. NYC and Charlotte open, in case something worthwhile came up in DC that we could do.  Something did.  Congressman Mike Thompson, co-chair of the congressional wine caucus, with the support of the Wine Institute, hosted a reception on capital hill to honor our 150th anniversary.  We were met at the base of the Hill by Jenna and Wes, fresh faced young staffers and ushered up to the Cannon Building office where we were to host.  Our room was a classically furnished like a hearing room with beautiful portraits and antique furniture.  Our historical displays fit well.  With the room set up, again we found ourselves wondering who if anyone was going to show up.   Representative Earl Pomeroy from North Dakota was the first to stop in.  Generous and interested, it was a great foreshadowing of what was to come.  Congressman Thompson and the co-chair of the caucus George Radonvich soon arrived, along with a great selection of other representatives and their staffs.  It was an absolute honor for us meet and share our story with them all.  What a trip this has been!!!!!   Pictures to follow.

Total Roster of Member Attendees:

Rep. Kathy Castor – FL

Rep. Jackie Speier – CA

Rep. Lois Capps – CA

Rep. Bart Gordon –TN

Rep. Jim Matheson – UT

Rep. Earl Pomeroy – ND

Rep. George Radanovich – CA

Rep. Mike Thompson – CA

Rep Charlie Melancon – LA

Rep. Brian Bilbray – CA

Rep. Charlie Wilson – OH

Rep. Loretta Sanchez – CA

Rep. Peter DeFazio – OR

Drive by Monument

After one quick wipe of my brow. 105/100%

Bundschu People's Court

New York Performance

Once upon a time, long ago, when the days were longer and the task lists  shorter, I was not afraid to tackle big novels.  If the book looked like it would fit my mindset at the time and the reading docket was clear, nothing would scare me.  Eight hundred, 900, 1000 pages, I'd say bring it.  One such opus was the library of congress reissuing of John Dos Passos' 'The USA Trilogy.  It was originally published in three novels in the 1930s, and relates the lives of multiple characters as they struggle to find a place in American society during the tumultuous early decades of the twentieth century.  In it, NYC takes on a role of global proportions in industry, art and intellectual pursuits.  The book set the stage for what is sure to be my life long love and admiration for the city.   Some years later I was in the city for a Wine Brat event, at Windows on the World, god bless them all, and sat there looking out at the city and had an epiphany of sorts, whereby I fully embraced the notion that to make it in that city was by default to make it anywhere else.  Since then, I have set my sights on ensuring that whatever we as a family winery do in that city, we kick ass doing it.  I am happy to report that Towle's Hill, by my standards (which are much higher than I let on), did just that.

The Zipper Factory  theater was as groovy as could be.  Absolute New York groovyness.  You enter through back door of a marble elevator lobby that in no way prepares you for the dark, dank, funked out lounge and theater space within.  We go there and everything was dark and red, left over from the burlesque show the night before.  The theater itself was surrounded by steep rows of seats, most of which seemed to have come from large American automobiles.  It was perfect empty, and all that was left was to fill it with people.   

I am no anthropologist, psychologist, demographer or cultural analyst, but I am a world class stereotypologist.  My take on New Yorkers, based on my five or so visits to the city and my knowledge of Susan Sueiro and her family, is that they can be extremely skeptical.  Kind of an urban "I have seen, heard, and eaten things that you could never possibly imagine, and much of it was complete junk. Hence I don't expect much kind of attitude.   That said, they have tons of energy, and often expend it checking completely new things out, even those they are completely skeptical about.    If I was from NYC and in a band and geekily self aware (if?), I might just name it The Skeptic Adventurers, or maybe the french translation of same if that sounded sexier.   Our audience was checker block full of such people, all up for an adventure, and most at least a little skeptical and not afraid to admit it.   Note I said full; We had over 170 people there, and it was packed.  There were great restaurateurs and retailers alike, Martin Scott (distributor)staffers, and many friends and family.  The energy was off the hook and it led Mark into an energized and touching performance, that culminated in a mutual father's day salute to our fathers who were both in attendance.  Lots of tears in the audience.  Even New Yorkers cry!   

Until recently, we put very little effort into selling wine into NYC.  Too big, too tiresome, and we were successful enough elsewhere.  I have had my sights set on changing that for the past three years, and every year we make further inroads.  It will take some time but we are getting there.  This play was a big step in the right direction.

Jim Bundschu with college friend John Berg, wife Susan and Jeff college friend Dave Burton.

Wine brat friend Stacy and pal from New Jersey

Zipper crowd ready to roll

Time Off- NYC

We arrived in NYC 1pm Friday afternoon, and managed to hit the ground running. And didn’t stop ‘til the bus pulled out from the theater very early Tuesday morning. We all for the most part went separate ways, but hooked up occasionally throughout. The weekend was full of fun, friends, and not a whole lot of rest. Here are the highlights:

Friday:
Seeing friend Ike Reilly perform solo @ Joe’s Pub. Ike lives in Chicago and is friends with some good friends in Sonoma. I had met him before, but never saw him play. It was great fun to go see somebody we know perform in Manhattan. He put on a great acoustic show. Check him out.

Sat:
Bike Ride 1: Yup, I suited up in full bike regalia in the hotel room, wheeled the bike out and down the elevator, and mounted right in midtown and pedaled to central park. Three hours and 6 + laps of the park later, I had a feel for it. Amazing to see the place from the back of the bike. Fully wooded and clean with seemingly hundreds of individual useful spaces, all full of people doing a myriad of activities, from kite flying to sunbathing to softball, soccer, rollerblading and more. It was extremely hot and the ride worked me. The route is much less flat than you’d think, with one legitimately little leg burning hill, and there are tons of other riders all around to pace with. Great ride.

Chilling with Liz: First, post ride feast on great Greek fare from a restaurant in midtown called Estiatorio Milos. Squid Salad, hummus, bread and some great tomatoes and feta.

Then, to Soho where we had a blast going from store to store looking at all sorts of stuff. Especially fun was drinking espresso in a storefront window watching all the people.

Dinner that night was at Raoul's in Soho, with much of our crowd. Raoul’s is a Soho institution, 35 years into its existence as a neighborhood staple. They carry GB and we were happy to relieve them of a few bottles. The meal was excellent, as was the company. Even a week into full togetherness, we were having fun. Highlight was when Jim and Nancy arrived directly from the airport.

Sunday
Another epic Central Park ride, highlights today were dodging hundreds of Puerto Rican parade goers, and riding by a guy just as he was pulling a good size fish right out of one of many lakes in the park.

Nap. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Dinner in Brooklyn with my friend Jimmy. He cooked us one hell of a meal which we enjoyed on his rooftop terrace. What a host and what a spot.

Monday early AM, Liz left and it was time to get back to it.

Come on Feel the Illinois

The Chopin Theater in Chicago, where we staged the play Thursday, was a location for the ages.  Owned, operated and lived in by Zigmund and Lela and their two children, the place was a labyrinthine collection of art, furniture and incredible performance spaces.  It just oozed character and creativity.  Easily the most Marsh-like space so far.   Thanks to the hospitality of the proprietors and the warmth of the place, the performance was a great one.   They welcomed us with a poster stuck to their front door saying ‘Welcome Gundlach Bundschu winery- the sexiest winery in the world’. How could we not love that?

The 80 member audience (smallest by far) was as always moved and impressed, and there was a great collection of wine club members.  (Jeff and Jamie rock!)  The trade that did come was appreciative, and the head of our distributor came from Indianapolis. 

 

KCMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having arrived in KC early enough to get the place set, I was able to get my bike together and ride down to a late lunch at the Classic Cup, with Stephen Malloy, JP Gilmore, Brian Lynch, and protégé Ryan.  Classic Cup on the plaza is home-away-from-home 1 in KC.  (More # 2 later) The Cup is run by Malloy, a long time friend of mine and the winery’s, and he sets the kind of afternoon table that I would feel envious of if I wasn’t one of the invited ones.   Familiar people raucously telling familiar jokes, over appetizers and delectable wines from Stephen’s cellar.  Thanks to Malloy, the Cup is comfortable to regulars and strangers alike .  And because it looks out onto the KC plaza, full of pedestrians and tourists in no particular hurry, there is nothing rushed about the atmosphere.  A table full of regulars in such a place is a beautiful thing, and I was lucky to be welcomed into it.  Told them about life on the bus, the tour so far, and then watched Malloy and Lynch rip each other apart while doing a world class array of impersonations.  JP Gilmore, a great guy who runs our distributor in the city, foretold of the crowd he expected, and all was good.

Kansas City has an incredibly tight wine community, and Gundlach Bundschu has been part of it since my dad started going there in the 80’s.   Though I have been going to KC regularly over the years, I wasn’t prepared for the crowd that turned up Wednesday night.  Thanks to JP, Ryan and their colleague Bernie, word of the play got around and the crowd that showed was stellar. Not just in size, which was capacity, but also depth.  Most any that I could have wanted to be there from the KC wine world was there.  It was an incredible compliment to our family and wines that they all came.  The theater was our most formal space yet, large and echo-y.  Unlike the Austin crowd, which was vocal in it’s engagement, the KC group sat in rapt silence during the performance.  A totally different animal for Mark.    The silence though, wasn’t a sign of boredom, though.  Afterwards, I got the most direct feedback yet as to how touching and meaningful the play was.  Person after person showed genuine appreciation for the story and the performance.

We ended up over at home-away-from-home #2, JJ’s, for dinner after the show.  Most of the play crowd was in the bar, as happens after any wine event in KC.  JJ’s is famous far beyond KC for its food, hospitality, and mind-boggling wine list.  Wine is everything in the place, yet it is as informal, fun and accessible as your own neighborhood bistro.  Except that this one happens to have 2000 wines on the list ranging in prices from $30-$15,000 per bottle.  The meal was suberb, and may end up being the best of the trip, thanks in large part to the hospitality ofJimmy the proprietor, a long time friend of the winery and KC wine pioneer, and Peter Maxwell, the GM of the restaurant and our host for the night.  I rode bikes with Peter last year in Sonoma, and we immediately hit it off.   Last time I had seen him, it was over a beer in the back of our local bike shop in Sonoma that had set his group up with bikes.  At that point he was single and staying put in KC.  This night he had his beautiful bride Molly with him, and they are running off to Crested Butte to open a restaurant in the fall.  He spoiled us with vintage Bordeauxfor the table, which was mind bogglingly  good and a wonderful treat.  It was a wonderful way to end the KC tour stop.  What a place, what a community.