On Being A Famous Winemaker

So you want to be a winemaker and live the lifestyle of a chic winery owner? Who wouldn’t want to saddle up his or her trusty steed on a crisp morning and ride through the vineyards to survey the vines? And then end the day by kicking back on your redwood deck with a chilled glass of your own pinot grigio as you watch the sun go down.

When I ask John Concannon, the fourth-generation vintner at Concannon Vineyard, why more college freshman aren’t going for winery owner degrees these days, he laughed and explained that I don’t exactly have the picture of what he does for a living quite right.

“For my people of my generation, they think we live the life of Falcon Crest, living on a vineyard with swept back, perfect hair, just like Lorenzo Llamas,” says the 47-year-old winemaker referring to the winery-themed TV drama from the 1980s.

On a typical day, Concannon is in the vineyards at 6 a.m., but he’s not exercising a horse, he’s collecting grape samples from his 200-acre vineyard in Livermore Valley, Calif., and bringing them back to the laboratory for analysis. The sun is not up yet during harvest, but he and his staff prepare to receive tons of grapes to be pressed that day. Noon finds Concannon back at the office for telephone calls, e-mail, marketing/sales meetings and, if possible, a sandwich. On the afternoon I talked to him, he was heading back to the grape crushing pad to oversee the first stages of the fermentation process. At 5 p.m., he might get more grape samples from the vineyard and then meet with the estate winemakers and vineyard managers to plan for the next day’s activities.

This day will repeat itself to greater or lesser degrees for six straight weeks during harvest.

“My dad told me a long time ago that in this business you’re free to work half days whenever you want. Just let me know which 12 hours you want to work,” Concannon says of his 78-year-old father, Jim, who still works every day and only recently stopped travelling on behalf of the winery.

“But surely, John, before and after the harvest, there’s not much for a winery owner to do, right?”

Making and bottling some 400,000 cases of wine a year certainly keeps John in constant motion, but the secret lives of winemakers is not one of luxury and glamour. In fact, you could sum up the life of a nationally distributed winemaker in one word: “airports.”

The younger Concannon spent 120 days on the road this past year. He currently is on a multi-month, multi-trip trek to visit the top 20 markets for Concannon. But if you’re in the winemaking business, travel is part of the job description. And if you think business travel for winemakers is all posh hotels and wine dinners, think again. Take, for example, John’s recent visit to Georgia (see Concannon’s Georgia itinerarybelow).

In the course of his 10 days in the Peach State, he dropped in on no fewer than 30 accounts, attended several early-morning sales meetings with National Distributing Company, Concannon’s wholesaler in Georgia, and had at least four late-night wine dinners.

“Thank goodness the winery back home practically runs itself, right, John?”

Concannon took off part of Friday, Aug. 7, to catch up on a week’s worth of paperwork and to ensure all departments and personnel were in place for the impending harvest, which, naturally, came early this year. Technology does allow Concannon to perform many office and winery tasks while on the road, such as monitoring fermentation temperatures from his laptop. Back in the day, these tasks might have kept his father closer to the winery, especially during and after the harvest.

“Dad always told me: ‘You live with the tanks’” the younger Concannon said. “During harvest, dad would have an army cot in the winery to check the tanks overnight and to manage the fermentations. He wouldn’t get any sleep for about five weeks. Now, you have heating pads and cooling jackets to make sure the fermentation doesn’t get out of control. Back in my dad’s day, they used to take a brick of dry ice to drop it in the fermenter to lower the temperature.”

All this technology frees up John to, unfortunately, travel more, which is a necessary evil in today’s wine market. Concannon estimates there are about 160,000 wine SKUs on the market. Concannon Vineyard accounts for about 30 of them, quite a lot for most wineries, but still just a teardrop in an ocean of wine selections. John will tell you that he loves seeing his customers around the country, but getting in front of them and the sales force is a must to keep the cash registers ringing.

“You get a little road weary after a while, but I do love to hear those stories when you’re doing a bottle signing or at a winemaker dinner, that makes me feel good,” Concannon said. This tall, affable man laughed out loud when it was pointed out that the more accurate depiction of a winemaker’s lifestyle does not have him on a porch swing drinking a chilled rosé. He wants this for his customers. “It’s true! We’re working hard so customers can create their own magic moments sitting on their deck with a chilled rosé.”

While totally posing for the camera here (check out that dress shirt!), John Concannon really is a hands-on winery owner.

A Week In The Life Of A Winemaker

In conjunction with Concannon Vineyard’s switch to a new distributor in Georgia, John Concannon spent some quality time in our state to introduce the new wholesaler staff, retail stores and restaurants to his wines. Here are highlights of his itinerary:

Mon., Aug. 3—Arrive in Atlanta .

Tues., Aug. 4—Coordinate with sales supervisor at National Distributing Company for sales meeting. Kickoff meeting to introduce Concannon Vineyard to 100-member sales staff. Tasting for sales team. Separate meetings with retail, grocery chain and restaurant divisions. Late evening wine dinner at Goldfish restaurant.

Wed., Aug. 5—Sales calls with account supervisors at eight retail stores and several restaurants.

Thurs., Aug. 6—Same as Aug. 5 plus a bottle signing 4-6 p.m., Kroger, Alpharetta.

Fri, Aug. 7—Office time to run his winery from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Bottle signing, 5-7 p.m., Kroger, Dunwoody.

Sat. and Sun., Aug. 8, 9—Rested at hotel; ate at several of Atlanta’s better restaurants, including Pricci.

Mon., Aug 10—Same as Aug. 5.

Tues., Aug. 11— Sales calls on several restaurants. Hosted a dinner at McKendrick's. Steak House for Kroger’s wine sales staff.

Wed., Aug. 12— Sales calls on six retail shops. Hosted a tasting for a local wine writer, then hosted a winemaker dinner at Repast restaurant.

Thurs., Aug. 13—Early flight to Tampa, Fla., for morning sales meeting with Florida distributor. Late afternoon flight (through Atlanta) to Jacksonville, Fla., for a sales meeting with more Florida distributors. Two-hour drive to Savannah, Ga.

Fri., Aug. 14—Repeat of kickoff meeting for 35 sales staff in eastern Georgian at 9 a.m. Hosted a tasting for Savannah wine writer. Drive back to Jacksonville. 4:30 p.m. flight to Atlanta to catch a connection to Sacramento, Calif. Two-hour drive to home. In bed, well after midnight.