The Grapevine
Summer 2021
From the Host
The summer season is rapidly upon us and, here in the Northeast, there has been barely enough time to buckle up and prepare for the season ahead. As I’m sure is the case for many of you, activity levels have gone from 0 to 60 with member utilization and expectations now at unprecedented levels. Along with supply chain constraints, acute labor shortages, and revenge spending, the year has presented a unique set of challenges. Fortunately, we are a strong and resilient group, and I am confident that we will successfully meet these challenges head on and continue to provide our members with a consistently superior experience.
In the meantime, your Wine Society Board of Managers continue to work behind the scenes to keep improving the value of your WS membership, with some of these initiatives outlined below:
Friends of the Wine Society – We are continuing to work on updating the Friends of the Wine Society, who are listed on the Wine Society page of the CMAA website and thank you to David Voorhees, CCM, CCE, for coordinating this task. Please continue to check the WS website page as it has been recently updated by Sara Thom and now has an abundance of information available.
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Treasury Wine Estates is our newest “Friend,” and they recently made a presentation to the WS Board highlighting the benefits of what they could offer to the WS. Treasury owns some of the industry's top rated luxury wine brands including Penfolds, Beaulieu Vineyards, Beringer Vineyards, and Stags' Leap Winery. Vault Collective, Treasury's dedicated luxury team, has partnered with the WS help to increase the awareness of these beautiful brands by creating unique educational experiences for WS members and their consumers. Vault team creates extraordinary blind tasting events, wine & cheese education as well as traditional wine and food pairing sessions. Their goal is to partner with clubs who share their vision for luxury wine experiences, provide access to exclusive small production wines and to facilitate education through trial. Please join me in welcoming Tim Irwin and Sarah Bakx from TWE as our newest Friends!
2022 World Conference – Plans are well underway for the 2022 World Conference and Club Business Expo in San Diego, CA. Jack Grehan and Blaine Burgess, CCM, CCE, are planning what will no doubt be a fantastic wine dinner. Sarah Kuhl, CCM, is working on the Pre-Conference Workshop; Wendy Anglin, CCM, on the Business Meeting; David Voorhees, CCM, CCE, and Bret Coad, CCM, CCE, on the Membership Reception and Live Auction; and Kelvin Mauldin on the Wine Auction. In 2021, the auction was held virtually for the first time, and due to its success, the Board is hoping to conduct the Auction virtually again in 2022.
Chapter Representatives – Ryan Brennan, CCM, hosted a zoom call for the Chapter Representatives on April 30. We are looking to continue these calls on a regular basis to receive feedback at the chapter level and learn about ways that the WS can assist the chapters and their WS members. Eventually, we would like to have each chapter represented by a WS Chapter Representative. Thank you, Ryan, for all your work on this critical initiative.
Wine Program Awards – Matthew Kurtas, CCM, CS, continues to work on the awards program and encouraging managers to submit entries to receive recognition for your clubs while improving your wine program.
Education Webinars – Bret Coad, CCM, CCE, has been working to with our industry partners to develop a series of informative and educational wine webinars.
2021 Strategic Plan – Colin Mack-Allen, CCM, CCE, Paul Smith, and I will be collaborating with the CMAA National team on the WS Strategic Plan, and we are planning a one-day retreat in September following the Leadership/Legislative Conference to focus on our mission and vision statements and to establish WS goals and objectives for the next three years.
Nominating Committee – Interested in serving on the WS Board? Please notify the Nominating Committee with a letter of interest by August 31 or contact Colin Mack-Allen. More information may be found on the Wine Society’s webpage (insert link here).
Please feel free to reach out at any time with your thoughts, suggestions, or any contacts that you think would be beneficial to your peers and to the Society. Your continued support and interest in the Wine Society is very much appreciated!
Sante!
Karl Habib, CCM
2021 Host
Society Happenings
New Membership Benefit: Gallo University
The CMAA Wine Society is very excited to offer access to Gallo University, which is an online Certified Specialist of Wine Study Site, presented by E & J Gallo Winery. Wine Society members are invited to log on to the demo site (username: demo@earthlink.net password: gallowine) to see what Gallo University has to offer. Once you are ready to create an account and start accessing the curriculum, please follow these instructions for registering on the Gallo U site. Take a look at the courses offered in this program:
| Gallo University Wine Academy Modules |
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Wine Sales & Service Learning Plan
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| Gallo University Spirits Academy Modules |
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Distillation Learning Plan
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| Gallo University Waitstaff Training Modules |
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Welcome Our Newest Members!
This quarter the Wine Society welcomed three new members:
- Eric Wadlund, CEC, The Lakes Country Club
- Lindsay McCluskey, Commonwealth National Golf Club
- James T. Carnahan, III, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, Sailfish Point Country Club
Do you know someone who might be interested in joining the CMAA Wine Society, but they’re not a CMAA member? They’re in luck with the Wine Society’s Associate Membership!
Associate Membership in the Wine Society shall be open to individuals who are 21 years of age or older and are not members of CMAA. These individuals must be from a club that has a CMAA and Wine Society member to sponsor them. The membership is nontransferable and nonrefundable if the individual leaves employment at the club and moves to a property that is without a CMAA and Wine Society member. They shall be admitted to membership following the receipt of a completed application, a sponsor endorsement, and payment of dues.
Upcoming Deadlines and Events
Take Five with Peter Mondavi
By Karl Habib, CCM
Peter Mondavi is the third generation Co-Proprietor of Charles Krug Winery in Napa Valley.
What is your management philosophy?
I believe the most important thing I can do as a third-generation proprietor is to lead by example. There is a legacy of honesty and integrity at the winery that was set by my parents and grandparents; these are fundamental qualities of a good leader and ones that I want to uphold
Were you in leadership roles when you were younger?
Yes, I was working in the Finance, Sales, and Marketing departments at our winery for many years as I grew into the role of leading the winery with my brother, Marc.
How have your parents influenced your leadership style?
They imbued in me the passion for wine and our winery, not to mention the hard work that is required. Having lived in Napa Valley and being engrossed in the industry since birth, I understand that this business is truly a labor of love.
Were there any expressions they would repeat around the dinner table?
In recent decades, when the big opulent (and high-alcohol) Napa Valley Cabs were in vogue, Dad would refer to them as “Cocktail Wines” – meaning you’re supposed to enjoy them as a cocktail before dinner, and then pour a more classic, balanced Cab with the meal.
What were some early lessons for you as a young manager?
I quickly learned that pride and dedication for the job at hand was an essential part of being an effective leader. Moreover, having the passion and commitment to the job makes you an overall happier person.
Where did you go to college?
Stanford
What’s the biggest challenge facing the wine industry today?
The most apparent one for me is climate change from a generational aspect—will Cabernet remain king in the Napa Valley when the next generation makes their planting decisions? Variations of this question exist all over the wine growing regions of the world right now, and we’re seeing that many of the most historical wine producers in the world are rethinking the ways in which they operate so that they can plan for the future. As a corollary of this, new wine growing regions will be discovered and created.
The proliferation of alternative adult beverages is another interesting new fold into the industry. We are competing for the same “adult beverages pie” that is being sliced up into smaller pieces, with each piece representing the growing number of alternative adult beverages. That said—many of them come and go, but fortunately for us, wine has been a staple beverage throughout the millennia.
Finally, the continual consolidation of the distribution networks is making it increasingly difficult for small to mid-size wine companies to compete in the traditional three-tier system. The pandemic has certainly helped invigorate the direct-to-consumer sector and moved it front and center now; there is an evolution happening here that we are heavily investing in for the future of wine sales.
Tell us about your family and children
Katie and I met at Stanford and we have been married a short 30+ years. Katie is a physician, volunteering at a free medical clinic.
Our son, Lucio, graduated from Stanford with an BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering. He has been working for the last four years in northern Italy as vehicle dynamics engineer for an Italian auto company. He will be off to business school this fall. He shares the family’s passion for wine and has taken the opportunity to enhance his knowledge of Italian wines during his stay there.
Our daughter, Lia, graduated from Harvard in Applied Mathematics. She pursued her love of food and has been working in London for a food tech startup company where she applies her math skills in analyzing sales and marketing data. Lia will also be our local wine ambassador as we open up the UK export market.
What don’t most people know about wines from your region?
Despite the international popularity of Napa Valley, only 4 percent of California’s wine grape harvest comes from Napa Valley.
Favorite bottle of wine?
The one open in front of me. Dining as a family or while traveling or entertaining, we always surround ourselves with fine wines. We love an eclectic selection of wines and seek out the local wines when travelling. Life is too short to have a small medley of wines to focus on. One could sample a new wine every day and still not sample all the world’s wines in a lifetime.
Favorite food?
Anything Italian – gnocchi has always been a favorite of mine. My grandmother, Rosa, was always in the kitchen making homemade pastas and sauces. As a small child, I would help her roll out the gnocchi, a tradition we are carrying on today.
Favorite vacation spot?
Northern Italy. The wine, food, and scenery are spectacular.
Favorite part of the job?
Experiencing the gratification of others enjoying our wines. A bottle of wine requires much effort by so many people over a long period of time to produce. It’s incredibly rewarding to see people reacting in such a great way to our wines.
Are you a golfer?
Tennis has always been my sport. My mom was an avid golfer and the summer (as a child) I was going to learn golf, I broke my hand. I just never picked it up after that.
Any final thoughts?
I am so grateful to my grandparents and parents for having the insight and perseverance to settle and stay in Napa Valley. When they moved here, this place was a very rural agrarian community. Grapes and wine were not the main agricultural product. “Animal, Dairy & Poultry” were the main agricultural products until grapes surpassed that category in 1977. As a child, fine dining did not exist here. All entertaining was done in the house. I’m not sure if they comprehended what would happen to Napa Valley over their lifespans.
Wine Industry Trends, News, & Stats
The Perfect Wine Pairing in Idaho Is Not Cheese
Wine enthusiasts often talk about which cheeses and other savory foods go best with a nice red, but in Idaho, the conversation has turned to soil and weather. As it turns out, small changes in weather patterns can have a big impact on a wine's taste. Of course, not all weather has an equally positive influence. Take a look at the importance of optimal soil conditions for winegrowing.
Winemakers Shift to Distilling
Many winemakers have switched to distilling products like grappa, marc and orujo as a way to minimize waste from wine production and increase profits. Modern winemakers are moving beyond seeing this as an afterthought, instead focusing on it as a primary purpose.
Sweet Wines Grow in Popularity
One in three new wine consumers are introduced to the industry through sweet wines, based on a recent study from E. & J. Gallo. Sweet wine sales increased by more than 40% percent during COVID-19, the study also notes.