When I first arrived to Sonoma County back in 2001, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew the wine industry was a huge part of the area, but I didn’t know much about it. I quickly realized how integral wine, vineyards, and the business itself was to this county, and I wanted to be part of it.
My first wine industry job
Through a teacher in a wine tasting course I was taking, I got on an on-call wine staff list and started filling in as a wine server at various wineries around the County. I did this on weekends and nights. As I took on more and more gigs, I got more and more calls and then began getting on lists with the wineries themselves (first as an on-call special events wine server and later as a regular employee).
For about a year, I drove all around Sonoma County (and once and a while Napa) to pour wines at events like Sonoma Cutrer’s croquet invitational (benefiting Make a Wish Foundation), Kendall Jackson’s fencing tournament, and the Sonoma County Harvest Fair (at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds).
During this time, I really got to know Sonoma County, and all of it’s different vineyard areas. I drove many of the tiny, winding back roads through vineyard areas on my way to events at gorgeous estates, inside elegant homes (serving at winemaker’s homes like Joel Peterson from Ravenswood or for Francis Ford Coppola’s friends in the cellars below his Napa winery..), and often even out in the vineyards.
Falling in Love with Sonoma County
I fell in love with the area and threw myself 100% into learning everything I could, as quickly as I could, about wine, hospitality, local wineries, and the terroir of the different regions.
About a year into my time as an events server, I applied for full time work with a handful of wineries. I really wanted to get to be on site every day, and work directly with the wineries themselves, vs working for the catering co’s and staffing agencies. I soon got a full time gig serving wine at events at Simi winery in Healdsburg (in the Alexander Valley AVA).
Simi and Ravenswood
Simi Winery was a beautiful estate in Healdsburg that had a full time chef on staff who cooked for events at both Simi (in Alexander Valley) and nearby Ravenswood Winery. At this time Ravenswood had just been bought by a huge company called Constellation and was part of a family of wineries called ‘Franciscan Estates’ that included both Simi and Ravenswood.
Working with the chef, Eric Lee, and a small team of hospitality staff, was a wonderful experience. We worked hard, and there were a lot of late nights, but the pay-off was worth it.
Every evening after an event, the Chef would plate up the same meal for us, that we had just served to the guests and we would pair it with the evening’s wines. We would all sit down together and enjoy our meal, and talk about the wine and food pairings. We also always got to take a bottle home with us after each shift. Talk about perks! These were $20-$45/bottle wines. Before moving to Sonoma County, I hadn’t ever really drunk proper wine. Unless you count Boone’s Strawberry Hill.
My Awakening
The more time I spent around wine and food in beautiful surroundings, the more I became enthralled with food and wine pairing…. how a simple tweak to a dish to adjust it’s bitterness, saltiness, or richness changed the pairing completely. Soon, the Chef started offering beginner’s food and wine pairing courses for the staff, which we would come to on our days off. He would take the time to show us what prep work he was doing in the kitchen for the evening, and answer any questions we had about the dishes he served.
I learned an incredible amount about food, cooking, entertaining, and wine between these classes, the high end formal events we held at Simi, and the more casual grape grower luncheons we set up and served at Ravenswood winery.
Looking Back After 15+ Years in the Wine Industry
In all the years that have passed since that first job in the wine industry, I have no memories as fond as those I have of that time. It was a time during which I learned so much about the wine business: the relationship between grape farmers and vineyards, the intricacies of the wine making process, and the financial difficulties involved in making a decent profit as a winery.
I saw first-hand the pressures on independent owners to sell to guarantee financial solvency. I saw the growth of the trend of major companies and corporations buying up groups of wineries, and the changes these purchases had on winery’s business practices, wine quality, and personnel.
I learned that the wine industry was not only what it had first appeared to be to me: a culture of small businesses and passionate farmers and winemakers. Though that part of the business did still exist, and was the side that appealed to me most.
I ate my first rare steak, drank my first French champagne, ate my first caviar and oysters and did my first barrel tastings during these early years.
I fell in love with wine country and the wine industry.