Following up on my column about Peju Winery and one of its founders, HB Peju:
Peju Winery, in the person of Tony Peju, had fought Napa County to run his winery the way he saw best. Consequently, the production facility and tasting room that now sits on Highway 29 came to fruition in the early 1990s.
At that point, Peju was still a small, boutique winery, reaching a production level of about 12,000 cases in the late ’90s.
Then, 2001 changed everything. Tony and HB Peju bought Persephone Vineyard in Pope Valley in 1996. Quite a gamble, considering that they were jumping from the 30 acres they had on Highway 29 to a walloping 350 acres at the new vineyard. Ultimately, they planted vines on 120 acres.
Then, in 2001, Peju harvested the grapes from the new vineyard, resulting in doubling their production to 24,000 cases.
HB describes this astonishing growth as being a “shock.” When I asked if she and Tony had envisioned growing to this size when they originally built their winery, HB said, “I didn’t envision anything. I was too busy paying bills.”
While she’s grateful for where Peju is now (50,000 cases), she’s concerned about the future of the wine industry in general. Sales for most wineries have declined.
But HB is sanguine. When they bought the property back in 1983, U.S. wine sales were not strong. Paying north of $100 for a bottle back then was a fantasy. But she and Tony went with the flow and created a sweet wine they called Carnival, composed of French Colombard grapes. It was a hit and continues to sell well today.
HB observed that some of the obstacles Napa wine in general faces today are unintended consequences of high-net-worth individuals deciding they need to own a winery, perhaps as part of their legacy. They are willing to pay extravagant prices for land and talent. This raises the cost of doing business for everyone.
Another escalating cost involves the tastings offered by the wineries. According to HB, wineries began charging for the tastings to reduce the crowds waiting for the free booze. But the simple tastings have transformed to elegant sit-down events with flights of wine and accompanying paired food offerings – all of which results in higher costs to the winery.
But HB believes there’s potential for the wine business to navigate around the challenges it faces today.
At Peju, one of the challenges was what to do about the aging ownership. The answer was simple.
She’s turned the winery over to her two daughters, Lisa and Ariana. Lisa does sales, and Ariana basically runs the day-to-day operations. While she fully trusts her daughters, she’s not reluctant to tell them if she disagrees with something they are doing. She sends them a note, “This is what we used to do. Now it’s going by the wayside.” But it’s up to Ariana and Lisa to make the final decisions.
One of Lisa’s and Ariana’s advantages is that they inherited a family-owned and operated winery, one where all of the family members are intimately involved in making the winery a success. This core strength will help them grapple with how they will differentiate Peju from the almost 600 Napa wineries.
Also, they continue to have the wisdom and experience of HB, who remains involved in the winery by signing the checks. As she likes to say, “If I sign the checks, I know how the money is being spent. But sometimes it’s too late.”
She smiles with the confidence that her daughters will succeed at least as well as she and Tony did.
Carl Kanowsky is an attorney, a fledgling baker, an enthusiastic cook and an expert wine drinker.
