The Legacy behind the Label - Passion for the Juice

For one who only enjoyed wine socially, to embracing wine buying as a career was a daunting but exceptionally inspiring journey. I had no idea about the depths of inspiration that my heart would find in the many powerful stories of the lives of generations of families dedicated to the craft of winemaking - the passion, respect, trust, art & science that makes this such a unique expertise.

I met a group of "wine buyers" in my first week, the team that I would lead in my new role. I walked into a conference mood where I saw emotions flying high and observed the passion behind the "juice" as buyers defended their wines to be featured in promotions. I came from a background in merchandising from the world of fashion, which was creative but had a "method" to its play. I was quick to learn that my objective voice of reasoning is what the business needed as they scaled to open over 200 stores which carried a few 1000 wine lables. But where and how would I begin?

I spent the next few months immersing myself in the category and also took classes with the Wine Science and Education Trust from Washington DC. I earned a diploma in Wine and tasted 5-10 wine samples daily with the team, learning to identify the notes in every sip and flavor profile. It took me a good 6 months before I developed my palette to be able to identify varietals and subtle notes embedded within different taste profiles. I led the category management for the Domestic premium portfolio and maged the red wine categories including Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Merlot & Zinfandel.

My desk at work - Many hours of studying and tasting wine

My work took me to different regions every day and I found myself more curious and inspired with every problem we looked to solve. Where can we source a $10 Cabernet with a deep fruit profile - when Napa is scarce and overpriced? I met with several different wine makers and suppliers - every one of them was unique and special in their legacy and story.

Veraison - "The onset of ripening" When the green grapes turn purple and change from growing to ripening - Napa Valley 2017

As we looked to source full bodied rich Cabernet for <$15, we found the wonderful new region of Paso Robles. The wines from here were delicous, with aromas of blackberries and ripe plums - rich and complex! We tasted samples from several wineries in the regio and created a sub category under Cabernet to expand this collection. One such launch was under the label Mina Mesa, wher the team and I worked on the final babel and the branding together with the winery!

The Mina Mesa launch - Paso Robles Cabernet