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All About Sharing, Wine as Collaboration
Written By: Davis Picklesimer - Highlands Wine Shoppe | Issue: 2018/05 - May | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography
“In the late 1960’s and early’70s, when I was on the road two or three weeks at a time, promoting our wines, what was I doing? Talking and repeating myself over and over, at sales meetings, with customers, with anyone who would listen to what I had to say about fine wines and the Napa Valley.” – Robert Mondavi
Today, Robert Mondavi is remembered more for his family conflicts and the ousting of both him and his sons, Michael and Tim, from the winery that bears his name.
After Mondavi traveled to Europe in 1962, he believed Napa Valley could produce wine that could rival the best the world had to offer. While this seems feasible today, in the 1960’s, the majority of wine produced in California was “jug wine.” Mondavi made it his personal mission to change both Napa and California wine at the time: “I felt confident that Napa Valley and California could ultimately create wines that would stand shoulder to shoulder with the great wines in the world.”
Many wine lovers know of the “Judgment of Paris” in 1976. Two American wines, Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet, won the blind tasting against French wines. This tasting literally shocked the world wine industry.
Mondavi’s collaborative effort received the highest honor when Baron Philippe De Rothschild asked Mondavi to form a partnership “to make a great wine, a wine that would stand alone in spirit and quality…bottled poetry.” A European gentleman from an aristocratic family with a Premier Grand Cru winery extending the hand of friendship to an American winemaker! This would be the first wine to embrace both “New World and Old World” characteristics of wine making. The wine would be called Opus One.
With inspiration coming from Mondavi’s spirit of collaboration, the Highlands Wine Merchants Association was formed. Our goals will align with the early days of Napa in showcasing Highlands as a wine destination. We don’t make the wine; just offer the best the world produces. With restaurants and wine retail working together, we will highlight our nationally-recognized wine menus, offer education through food and wine experiences, feature exclusive wines and build a website to show all wine activities throughout the year. We believe it is our responsibility to share our wine industry friendships, experiences and knowledge with the people of Highlands. May our next glass of wine be together!
