Andy Erickson

Full Transcript

Doug Shafer:
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Taste. This is Doug Shafer from Napa Valley, California. We've got a special guest today. Uh, a guy named Andy Erickson. And I gotta tell you, I've known this guy for a long time, but it's always like, "Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing?" I didn't really know him. And uh, and he didn't know me. But then we, uh, in the last year or two we've been serving together on the Board of the Napa Valley Vintners. We've worked together with Premier Napa Valley, we've gotten to know each other and, uh, you know, I'm... Andy, I think we've done some good work together and we've, we've had some fun.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, it's been fun. It's been, uh, meaningful. I mean, there's a lot of things happening in the Valley all the time, so it's been great to, uh, to work together and to get to know you a little bit better. And it's been, it's been fun. The, uh, past couple months I've been finally listening to your podcast, and I have to say it's really cool to listen to some of these of people I thought I knew and to end up getting to know them just on a deeper level. It's pretty fun.

Doug Shafer:
Well, that's... And, and that's what we're gonna do to you today. So, we're gonna put you in the hot seat. No, not really, but, um-

Andy Erickson:
I love it.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs) So but, welcome. Thanks for taking the time. We could spend the next hour or so just talking about all the incredible people and properties in the wine business you've worked with, Harlan, Staglin, Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Mayacamas, but before we get to that, I wanna go all the way back and find out, uh, what was, uh, pre-Napa Valley Andy Erickson up to. So, where were you born? Where'd you grow up?

Andy Erickson:
Well, I grew up in the Midwest, but to go back, uh, I was born in New Jersey, which is great. I have the fame of being, uh, born in New Jersey, although I... We lived there for just a couple of months after I was born. My father was finishing his PhD, uh, at Rutgers in New Jersey. So, he did his postdoctorate work down in La Jolla, um, at Scripps. He, he had a PhD in molecular biology, kind of a brainiac guy. And so we moved to Southern California when I was, you know, an infant.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
And, and just for a few years, then moved to Indiana. And I grew up on a lake in Indiana, very idyllic life. You know, like, shoveled a hockey rink in the winter and then water skiing, fishing in the summer. Uh, but then my dad, he was a professor at Notre Dame University, but was also involved in some early biotech stuff. We moved to Massachusetts when I was in high school and he, uh, started a company there.

But um, it was funny being from a small town in Indiana, I moved to New England and, and outside of Boston and just realized there was a whole world out there, which was pretty cool. I ended up going to Tufts University, which is just outside of Boston. And it's funny, the reason I went there is because in high school, my orthodontist, who I thought was one of the coolest guys I'd ever met, he, he lived in Nantucket and he would fly to Framingham, Massachusetts three days a week and have his practice.

And I... He told me he went to Tufts and I went home one day and I told my mom, I was like, "Tell me about this Tufts University." Anyway, I ended up going there and starting off, uh, starting off premed, just thinking that... I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but my dad was a science guy, so I kind of grew up in the lab. And uh, got quickly weeded out. You know, you hear about the-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... weeding out process. Well, that was me. I got weeded out, but I also, uh... it was the mid-'80s, there was a lot of interest things going on internationally. I, I played rugby, so I had a bunch of international friends. And I got into-

Doug Shafer:
All right, I gotta-

Andy Erickson:
... studying-

Doug Shafer:
I, I gotta stop you, 'cause there's too much... You've, you've gone... You've, you've covered your young life too fast, man. So, you're... I wanna talk about Indiana.

Andy Erickson:
(laughs)

Doug Shafer:
'Cause I grew up in Chicago. I'm a Midwestern boy. I didn't know that about you. So we... That's why we get along.

Andy Erickson:
Oh, that's right.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, so my, my parents are both from Chicago. Well, Hinsdale, my dad, and my mom from La Grange Park-

Doug Shafer:
No, no-

Andy Erickson:
... so just outside of Chicago.

Doug Shafer:
No. Have we had this chat before?

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. No.

Doug Shafer:
I grew up in Hinsdale.

Andy Erickson:
Oh, you're kidding me.

Doug Shafer:
Uh-uh.

Andy Erickson:
So my dad (laughs), my dad, uh, is a Hinsdale boy.

Doug Shafer:
Me, too.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, it's, uh... This is crazy.

Doug Shafer:
For 17 years. And La-

Andy Erickson:
So, this is funny. And, and-

Doug Shafer:
And La Grange, La Grange was the next town over. They were the big rival to Hinsdale. Your dad knows that, and so does your mom.

Andy Erickson:
Oh yeah, of course.

Doug Shafer:
Oh, how funny.

Andy Erickson:
Oh, my God. This is so funny, 'cause, you know, listening to these podcasts, I- I've always thought, like, you know, "Yeah, there's six degrees of separation, but really in the wine business, there's, like, two, maximum."

Doug Shafer:
Well, well, listen-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
... and you mentioned growing up in Indiana, Elkhart, right? Some small town?

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
And-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, yeah.

Doug Shafer:
... playing hockey on the lake. That's what we used to do in Hinsdale. There's, uh, the lake. There was a couple lakes that froze over in the winter and we'd go out and shovel them off and play hockey. And uh-

Andy Erickson:
Oh yeah, totally.

Doug Shafer:
Oh, oh, so this is crazy.

Andy Erickson:
So cool.

Doug Shafer:
This is crazy. So, and then you ended up... Um, but you moved to Massachusetts, and how old were you when that happened?

Andy Erickson:
Uh, so I was just starting my sophomore year of high school. So, that was a big change.

Doug Shafer:
Oh.

Andy Erickson:
And it's funny. I would say that, that's when I learned that hockey was actually a contact sport (laughs), which was pretty hilarious, because I, you know, I ended up not making the high school team. We had a pretty serious high school hockey team, but I played youth hockey and I wrestled and I, I played tennis. I played tennis my whole life, but, um, yeah, just, uh-

Doug Shafer:
But how-

Andy Erickson:
... high school for... Yeah?

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, but you went... So, you went from, uh... I've got another one for you. So, you went from a small town high school to a big town high school as a sophomore, and what you also don't know about me... God, we... Can we get this virus out of here so we can go have dinner or lunch? Anyway-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah (laughs).

Doug Shafer:
... um, I went from a big high school in Hinsdale, 2,500 kids, to St. Helena High, 500 kids, when I was a junior in high school. So, we got similar-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, that's a different, that's a different kind of change right there.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, mine I think was easier than yours. I bet you yours was tougher.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, it was, it was a little bit of a struggle at first, but I ended up making friends with a guy from Ohio who was new to town as well, and it was pretty funny. We became great friends. He was on the wrestling team and he was also a bodybuilder, so he was pretty fun to go around with. My, my buddy Ben, and, uh, we ended up having a great time in high school.

And, and then probably my, you know, my favorite years from my, you know, my younger years are my years at Tufts. I still have great friends from those years, and we keep in touch. We're all over the world, but we still keep in touch and get together once in awhile. We actually have, you know, quite a few people from those years in Bay Area too. We all moved out here, um, uh, in... You know, I graduated in '89, so we ended up moving to San Francisco together and no one was from here. And we had probably a posse of about eight or 10 of us and, uh, just getting started, not knowing what we wanted to do. But to back up a little bit-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... so I did get weeded out of the premed thing and I ended up studying political science and international relations. So-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... um, finished that at Tufts and then wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. So, uh, but, but funny thing was, they have a... So Tufts has this graduate school called the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
And if you're kind of a state department type or whatever, it's, it's a, it's a great school. So I did a summer program in France when I was in... So, between my junior and senior years, and it's up in The Alps. It's in the Haute-Savoie. It's this beautiful area on Lake Annecy. It's part of the Tour de France, you know, that-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... grueling Alps-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... part. So, I lived with a family and just studied at the UN in Geneva par- part of the week and then just kind of studied art and French and all sorts of fun stuff. And, but the family I lived with had this incredible wine cellar, and it wasn't, like, first growths or, you know, Grand Cru kind of things, but it was village wines and shiners. They had this kind of bunker wine cellar underneath the backyard that had about 3,000 bottles of wine in it. You know, and I was-

Doug Shafer:
Oh, man.

Andy Erickson:
... 19 years old. So, I was 19 years old. We would go down there and pick out a few bottles and then cook outside and just, you know, eat dinner. And then my French got better as the night went on and, uh-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... I just remember coming back from that summer thinking, uh... Well, so at that point, I wanted to be a diplomat. I had, you know-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... I had this vision that I would go back to grad school-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... and then do something internationally. But you know, this was the Reagan years, so everyone, everyone working at the UN sort of felt a little deflated and it just... That part of it wasn't really that fun. But I just remember coming back thinking, "I don't know what I wanna do, but I wanna live like that." You know, thinking-

Doug Shafer:
Huh.

Andy Erickson:
... just being outdoors and wine and food and, and it was amazing. So moving to San Francisco, we would start coming up to Healdsburg or Napa or wherever and, you know, ride our bikes and taste wines, and I just fell in love with the whole idea. And not only that, I, I got a job at an advertising agency, so I kind of... I would say that that's what you do when you don't know what you wanna do.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
You start doing something like that.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
I just sort of fell into it.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And, uh-

Doug Shafer:
So at this point you're out of, you're out of college at this point, right?

Andy Erickson:
Yes.

Doug Shafer:
Your graduated... Okay.

Andy Erickson:
So, I graduated college and my first three, four years, I was living in San Francisco. And, and, you know, it was a fun agency and one of our clients was Heublein. Which, at that time, you know, they owned, uh, BV-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... and I don't know if they still owned Christian Brothers, but anyway, my job was I was a media planner. So that's... You have a budget of, you know, X million dollars, you're gonna spend it all over the, you know, country promoting whatever brand and you decide where it's gonna be spent.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
So we would come up and have these meetings in Rutherford, and Dick Maher at that time was running the show-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... for them. And we would, we'd have these meetings in Rutherford. My eyes would be glazing over, looking at these budgets and I'd be looking out the window, just looking at guys, you know, pruning and digging, digging holes. And I just remember thinking, like, "I could dig a hole."

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
You know, "I should be out there." And uh, kind of put a bunch of ideas together and decided I was gonna, I was gonna quit what I was doing and travel through South America, which I had made some friends down there and, and just thought, "I'll go down there and I'll work in a vineyard and winery. I'll learn Spanish and then I'll come back and see what I can do." So, I, I... That's what I did.

Doug Shafer:
You're kidding. So, you're like how old? 23, four? Something like that?

Andy Erickson:
20- 25.

Doug Shafer:
Man, that's, that's-

Andy Erickson:
So, uh-

Doug Shafer:
... that's... You know, good for you. That's just crazy. Yeah, so like, "Go, man." You just did it. South America. I mean-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, it was funny, 'cause nobody was going to South America back then.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
Except a guy named Paul Hobbs, which is a small part of the story coming up, but, um, yeah, it- it's funny. I, I left town and, uh, everyone's like, "What? Are you going in Peace Corps?"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
And I, I called it the Andy Corps.

Doug Shafer:
Andy-

Andy Erickson:
No, I'm going into the Andy Corps. So, I actually traveled-

Doug Shafer:
'Cause you did... Did you, did you really have a plan or were you just kind of winging it?

Andy Erickson:
No, I was totally winging it. I had-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
So, I had, uh, you know, graduating in '89, I had a bunch of friends in San Francisco and we had... So, some inter- uh, sort of some interconnected circles of friends. Um, I met Agustin Huneeus, so Agustin, uh, Francisco Junior.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
Um, he lived down the street from me, and he was just getting started in the family business. They had put him in charge of selling the Chilean wines, right? So-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... you know, we'd be out partying, whatever, and everyone would go back to our apartments. And I remember in Agustin's apartment, he always had the, uh, the collateral material spread all over his house, you know, and cases of wine and stuff. And I'm like, "What are you doing?" He said, "Oh, I'm just... You know, I gotta go on the road and sell this wine." And I just-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
I remember later on telling him, "Hey, I wanna get in the wine business." And, and he's funny. He- he'll, he'll tell you that he, he considers himself the guy that tried to convince me not to go into the wine business-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... because he said, "Well, that sounds fun, but it's a terrible idea. But I'll give you a couple of phone numbers." So, I just had a couple of phone numbers of guys in Chile who were winemakers. So, you know, this- there was no email, no cellphones.

Doug Shafer:
Sure.

Andy Erickson:
I just, I just headed down there. I traveled for about six months. I started in Central America and made my way all the way through Brazil, mostly by bus or boat or-

Doug Shafer:
Hey, how-

Andy Erickson:
... hitchhiking or whatever.

Doug Shafer:
I gotta, I-

Andy Erickson:
I was with one other friend.

Doug Shafer:
You know, that time period... I'm interrupting. Just um, yeah, you're 25, you're, you know, a rugby player, you're in good shape, all that stuff, but still, wasn't it... Any, any dangerous, uh, you know-

Andy Erickson:
Oh, yeah. I mean, we were just kind of stupid. I mean, we... When I think of it now, like... So, I, I studied-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... Spanish in Guatemala for, like, six weeks. But during that time, they signed the Peace Treaty in El Salvador, which is right, you know, right down the road.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
So what did we do? We got on a bus and just went to El Salvador to see, you know, what... There must be a party going on. That was our (laughs), that was our thinking. You know, and we went there. And then, uh, uh, ended up flying to, uh, Cartagena, Columbia. And from there, making our way down... All the way pretty much to Buenos Aires-

Doug Shafer:
And you're traveling-

Andy Erickson:
... with only a couple of flights. I mean, it was like, I took a boat through the Amazon for, like, 10 days.

Doug Shafer:
How cool-

Andy Erickson:
I ended up meeting a bunch of interesting people.

Doug Shafer:
And you're by yourself or were you traveling with somebody?

Andy Erickson:
No, no, I was with one other friend-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... a female friend. Um, we weren't a couple, but we were really good friends.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And-

Doug Shafer:
That's good to have-

Andy Erickson:
... we had talked about doing something like this for a while. But yeah, I remember, uh, crossing the border on a bus between Columbia and Venezuela, which at that time was one of the most dangerous parts of the world.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And we were, you know... Every couple hours you'd have to get off the bus and spread eagle against the side of the bus and they'd search everybody for weapons and whatnot.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
And we just didn't even think anything of it. It's so stupid now that I think about it. I mean, we were like... We got to this point where we were like, we were trying to figure out how little money we could spend in a day. So you'd find a place where you could, like, hang your hammock for two bucks or whatever. And like-

Doug Shafer:
What were you, what were-

Andy Erickson:
... eat a bowl of rice and have a beer.

Doug Shafer:
You know, even though you're 25, you're out of the house, you know, your parents are still your parents. What did they think about this?

Andy Erickson:
Oh, I don't even know. They, they had no idea. I mean, it was the kind of thing where you'd... I would write letters on the old, like, airmail rice paper stuff-

Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... and, like, send them home. And then at each ci- city I got to, I'd go to the American Express office and there'd be some stuff waiting for me.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
Letters and whatever-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... friends or my parents would send, you know, some money sometimes. But uh, yeah, I mean, very different world, right?

Doug Shafer:
No doubt.

Andy Erickson:
I mean, it's, like, my kids now, if... We're in constant contact pretty much every day. They're texting or-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... or phones. I mean, I remember (laughs)... You talk about growing up going skiing. My girls are on the ski team at Sugar Bowl and I remember once I dropped off my daughter at ski team. She didn't have her phone and I said, "Well, we'll just meet here at 3:30." And she's like, "Wait a minute. What are you talking about? Like, what if you're not here?"

Doug Shafer:
Yeah (laughs).

Andy Erickson:
I'm like, "Well, then you just wait."

Doug Shafer:
Then you just wait, right, like we used to do.

Andy Erickson:
(laughs)

Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.

Andy Erickson:
Anyway, so-

Doug Shafer:
That's true.

Andy Erickson:
... but it was a-

Doug Shafer:
But it was... Yeah, yeah, I remember being that age. I never talked to my folks. Or being in college, like, my dad called me once and said, "You need to call every Sunday night and talk to your mom." I said, "Yes, Dad." You know, it was kind of like, that was the deal, you know, on the-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
... the phone in the hallway at the dorm. Funny.

Andy Erickson:
So funny.

Doug Shafer:
All right, so you survived obviously, which is great. But uh, so after you traveled around, what... Then what happened?

Andy Erickson:
Well, so we ended up in Buenos Aires and my, my goal was to make it to Chile and then stay for a year and work in a winery and vineyard and just see what was going on.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
So I get to Buenos Aires and one of my best friends, he ended up being my best man in my wedding, he lives in, uh, BA and he introduced me to his buddy, Ernesto Catena, who's part of the Catena Family, which I had never heard of. And I told him my plan and he said basically, "You're not going to Chile. That's ridiculous. I'm taking you out to Mendoza-

... I'm gonna introduce you to some people and you're gonna stay there." So, that's what I did. I went out there and ended up, uh, meeting Nicolás Catena. That's Ernesto's dad. He's-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
I mean, I would say he's, like, the Robert Mondavi of-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... of Argentina, right? And uh, kind of explained to him my idea of just kind of seeing all facets of what was going on. And you know, didn't really need to be paid, but if they had a place for me to stay or whatever, I'd do that. And they totally hooked me up, and I would sort of move around a couple months here pruning, and a couple months there working on the bottling line, 'cause they have a bunch of properties-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... in Mendoza. And uh, so ended up, uh... The most I spent was, during the summer, I, I basically had 12 acres under my purview, if you will, as a laborer. And I trained a vineyard from two buds to the ground all the way up to two canes on a trellis. If, I mean, if-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... you know anything about viticulture, that's a thing. But I did the whole thing myself, 12 acres. So-

Doug Shafer:
12 acres. Now, wait a minute. And you've got no background, no training. They just... So, you learned on the job, it sounds like.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. I mean, the foreman took me out and he said, "Look, you got-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... you're gonna have these shoots coming up. You thin it down to two chutes and you move on, and you do that to every vine. And then you... When you come back, they're kind of a foot tall. You take one of them, you tie it to the-

Doug Shafer:
Right, the stake.

Andy Erickson:
... stake, and you take everything else off. And by the time you're done with that, you come back and you, you do the next thing (laughs)." You know, and it's like-

Doug Shafer:
You said, so-

Andy Erickson:
I think I was there for three months-

Doug Shafer:
... Andy, you did-

Andy Erickson:
... laboring everyday.

Doug Shafer:
So, you did, you did 12 acres by yourself, no help?

Andy Erickson:
Uh, yeah. I did.

Doug Shafer:
Wow.

Andy Erickson:
I'm... I don't think I'm exaggerating. And uh-

Doug Shafer:
No, I believe, I believe you.

Andy Erickson:
... it was a brand new vineyard, and uh, the guys that I lived with during the week, like, some of them were the guys that were putting in the stakes, you know, and-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... or the end posts. And these guys, like, they were so into just making sure they were perfectly straight. So their whole day was, like, putting in the straight end posts. You know-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... and then they would go home to a different town on the weekends and I was there by myself, just reading and growing my hair long and walking into town to see what was going on. And I could tell you, there was nothing going on.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
This was in a little village called Tupungato, which is probably 45 minutes up into the Andes from the city of Mendoza. And at that time, that was sort of, uh, an outpost for wine.

Doug Shafer:
Oh.

Andy Erickson:
I mean, this was when Paul Hobbs was just starting to help these guys out. And he was saying, "Well, if you wanna make really interesting wines, you gotta go up to where, like, you're growing the apples and the cherries and stuff." And so, there were orchards all over this area, but Catena was planting these vineyards and, uh, beautiful cobbly soils and you look up behind you and there's the, uh, Tupungato Volcano that's 22,000 feet up.

Doug Shafer:
Wow.

Andy Erickson:
I mean, it's just a stunning place. And-

Doug Shafer:
Well-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, and then on the weekends I would take the bus into Buenos Aires and see my buddies. You know-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... take a long weekend and whatnot. But I was there for 10 solid months, just manual labor. And it was pretty-

Doug Shafer:
Great exp-

Andy Erickson:
... pretty skillful.

Doug Shafer:
Great experience. Did you ever meet, you, Laura Catena when you were down there?

Andy Erickson:
You know, I met her after-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... and I, I see her fairly often and she's great. And uh-

Doug Shafer:
She's super... She was on the sh- uh, our podcasts a few- a couple months ago.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, I haven't listened to that yet.

Doug Shafer:
And we got the whole story, all the, the fascinating history. What a, what a cool family they have.

Andy Erickson:
The whole family-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... is just great. And so, meanwhile everywhere I went down there, people would say, "Oh, you know Paul Hobbs?"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
And I was like, "Uh, no, I, I have no idea who that guy is. I..." And everywhere in Mendoza, "Oh, you know Paul Hobbs?" "No, don't know Paul Hobbs." But one day on the crush pad, harvest starts and who shows up but Paul Hobbs-

Doug Shafer:
Paul Hobbs.

Andy Erickson:
... to the crush pad. And I said, "Oh, my God. You're Paul Hobbs (laughs)." And uh, ended up connecting with him and he said, "Hey, you know, when you get back to California, just give me a ring. I'll help you, you know, get set up." And so, I-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... I went back and, uh, I did the summer program at UC Davis. So you know, harvest in Argentina is in-

Doug Shafer:
It's-

Andy Erickson:
... February through April. So, I got back in the spring, signed up for this UC Davis OIV course-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... which is their international, uh, sort of wine marketing course. But it gives you a whole overview of the industry. I did that.

Doug Shafer:
Hey, well, I got- I gotta interrupt-

Andy Erickson:
And then-

Doug Shafer:
... real fast, Andy, 'cause I, I got a... Had, had the button been pushed? Was it like, "Hey, I- I'm doing this. I'm all about wine now," or were you still kind of-

Andy Erickson:
Oh, yeah. Totally.

Doug Shafer:
... not sure what to do? So-

Andy Erickson:
But I didn't even exactly know what that meant.

Doug Shafer:
Huh.

Andy Erickson:
You know, I wanted, I wanted to be, I wanted to be in production, but I also had this marketing background. So I just didn't really know exactly-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... where I was gonna fit in. But I, um, so I did this Davis course. And funny side note, um, it might have been Paul, but somebody else said, "Oh, you're gonna be up in Davis for a couple months. You should call these guys. I think they have a couch you could sleep on."

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
It ended up being Hugh Davies and Matt Novak, so I-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs) No, you gotta be kidding me.

Andy Erickson:
... basically couch surfed.

Doug Shafer:
So-

Andy Erickson:
Isn't that funny?

Doug Shafer:
So Hugh Davies is... Uh, runs Schramsberg, uh, winery. Um, great, famous sparkling wine producer here in Napa. And then Matt Novak is, uh, one of the Novaks in the Novak Family that owns Spottswoode Winery here in St. Helena. So, how funny. 

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, and it's... You know, I, I can't say I really got to know them well. I mean, I was, I was doing a summer program. I don't even know what they were doing, but I didn't see them that often. But it was just a funny-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... connection. But I did that program, then, uh, Paul helped me get a job, a harvest job at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. So, harvest 1994, I did two harvests, one in Argentina and then I, you know, showed up in Napa and did a, a harvest at, uh, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. And that was, that was a great introduction to the Valley. You know, I- I've-

Doug Shafer:
You bet.

Andy Erickson:
A lot of people have gone through there. I got to know Warren fairly well. They were sort of in between winemakers at that time. Um, and I can't remember who the previous winemaker was, but Paul was consulting for them. So anyway, I was just an intern. So intern, harvest 1994, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and, um, you know, I got to meet Warren. Very interesting guy. I would be the guy on Sundays doing pump overs-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... and the only other person in the winery was Warren tasting the tanks. And so, that was pretty interesting. And then, um, that, that was a great experience, but then that ends pretty quickly, you know, if you're just a harvest intern. So, then-

Doug Shafer:
Right. Couple, couple months, yeah.

Andy Erickson:
I got very lucky that someone said, uh, "Oh, you should go up to Newton Vineyards and talk to the winemaker there, John Kongsgaard. He has one of his, you know, cellar guys that's going back to Europe." So I had never heard of John or Newton Vineyard or anything, but I called and arranged an interview. I drove up there and, uh, met with John. And I'm sure you know John. I mean, John's the-

Doug Shafer:
Yep.

Andy Erickson:
... ultimate renaissance man. I mean, what an incredible guy. I mean, he's just-

Doug Shafer:
Well, they're-

Andy Erickson:
... you know-

Doug Shafer:
... they're a wonderful family. Um, I'll just jump in here. The Kongsgaards, John Kongsgaard is a fantastic winemaker and Andy's gonna tell you more about that in a minute, but his, uh, his father was a judge, a NAPA Su- Superior Court judge and was known by the whole Valley. Judge Kongsgaard, he was the guy. And my parents became good friends with Judge Kongsgaard and his wife. And so, as I was growing up and going to- back and forth to college, you know, we'd meet him on... We'd get together with the family for Christmas and The Fourth of July once in awhile, that type of thing.

Doug Shafer:
But really, really cool family. He's got some- a couple great sisters and, and, uh, John's dynamite. But, but, uh, yeah, and hi- their, their, uh, I think their heritage is Norwegian. He's, he's kind of like the biggest man I've ever met in my life.

Andy Erickson:
(laughs) Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
You know what I mean?

Andy Erickson:
He's a, he's a towering guy-

Doug Shafer:
Yes.

Andy Erickson:
... but he's just such a classic man. I mean, you know, he's... I know him now through the Chamber Music Society. You know, he's very into classical music.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
And he got me and Annie into classical music, but, um, you know, he... Yeah, he's, he's towering, but he wears his bow tie and he's always smiling-

Doug Shafer:
Yes.

Andy Erickson:
... and he's just a great guy. But um, so back then I showed up and I just instantly just sort of fell for this whole philosophy and, and style of winemaking. John back then had really pioneered this style of Chardonnay that he's known for. But not only that, he was just very tapped into the vineyards and, you know, native fermentations and just doing things very naturally and being connected to the land.

And the place up there, Newton Vineyard is just stunning, too. I mean, it's, it's owned by LVMH now and they're about to do a big renovation which is due, but, you know, these incredible terraced vineyards and it's up above St. Helena on Spring Mountain. So I just... I fell in love with the whole idea. And here I am about to... I'm, you know, putting all my eggs in this basket. It's a job to work in the cave basically, making, like, $11 an hour.

And it was so funny, because this was just after Thanksgiving. I was living up on Atlas Peak on this little sort of granny unit on somebody's property, with no insulation and a wood burning stove, and my mom came to visit.

And we're there, uh, and I'm explaining to her about how great it would be to work at this place and learn from this guy. And I had been waiting to hear back for a couple weeks and I was really nervous. And my mom is like (laughs), "What the hell are you doing with your life?"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
And it was this great moment, because, you know, a couple weeks later I got the job and I'm working for John. And you know, it was just great. We were making wines in a pretty, pretty low-tech way. You know, I mean, with all the tools you need, but we were racking the wines every quarter, no fining, no filtration.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
The wines... The white wines are these big, bold, you know, unfiltered Chardonnays. And it was just fun and it just... You know, we'd have lunch together with the crew. It was just me and one other guy in the cellar, and then we had two assistant winemakers from New Zealand, who are still good friends. Um, I was actually able to go visit them both last year, which was really fun. Um, and John, and we just... You know, we'd have wine with lunch and we'd, you know, talk about viticulture and wine making. I just... I was super lucky to have that early in my career, that connection. So that-

Doug Shafer:
Well, and you were the-

Andy Erickson:
... that solidified that.

Doug Shafer:
Ye- yeah, and you were there right when... 'Cause John and Newton, his whole unfiltered Chardonnay was, um, incredibly revolutionary at that time. No one was doing anything like that. And he did it and it came out and it just was, um... The wine was just adored by everyone. It was so cool. And so, he, he became... You know, the, the... He became pretty famous really fast. Uh, Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay was the wine you had to have. And, and you're sitting there in the cellar doing it right when that's happening. That must have been kind of cool.

Andy Erickson:
Oh, it was very cool. And it was fun too, because, you know, he would make us taste every single barrel before we wrapped the blends together. And you know, sometimes I would come across a barrel and I'd think, "Wow, that's kind of funky." And I'd go to John and say, "Hey, you need to come and taste this barrel." And sure enough it was pretty funky and he said, "You know what? It's gonna add to the wine. Just put it in there."

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
And so, we would... You know, it's just a different kind of, uh, philosophy that when you put it all back together again, it creates this really complex experience for whoever's having the wine. It was, it was a pretty cool way to, to, uh, come into the industry. So-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, great start.

Andy Erickson:
... did that-

Doug Shafer:
Great start.

Andy Erickson:
... did that for about a year. Unfortunately it was only a year and John announced right at the end of my year that he was leaving.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
Um, but that's not why I left. I, I ended up... And this is kind of a- it's kind of a funny little, uh, detour, but so, somehow someone had, uh, gotten word to a guy named Alain Fouquet. Do you... You know Alain Fouquet? He-

Doug Shafer:
Yes, yes.

Andy Erickson:
He was the Master Cooper at Seguin Moreau, which was a very successful French cooperage and a barrel company, uh, in Cognac. And Alain had come over here, I think in the late '70s or early '80s. He was, he was second or third generation Master Cooper. No, no English really, but they sent him over here to see what was going on in California, right? And he ended up building this incredible business.

And anyway, he found out that I had been in South America, and he had this idea that he wanted to start a cooperage in Chile. So he through some people, got in touch with me, and we ended up talking about this idea that I'd come and start working for him. And then in a year, I would go down to Chile and help his start this small cooperage. And I was like, "Wow, that sounds pretty fun. You know-

I have a good sense of adventure." And so, I, I signed up for that and, um, you'll probably remember this, but not my experience, but you'll remember that Alain had a stroke, um, or maybe you don't know, but I-

Doug Shafer:
I didn't, I didn't.

Andy Erickson:
So, I started working for him in about 1996, I think. And uh, so we had- I had this plan. I was gonna work, you know, in the cooperage, in the office, learn everything, and then, you know, go down South and do something cool. And then a few months into it, he ended up having a stroke. So the-

Doug Shafer:
Oh.

Andy Erickson:
... French, French flew over, put everything on hold, and, uh, I became... You know, they were like, "Oh, you have some marketing experience. You should be the guy that goes and promotes the barrels." So, I had this job all of a sudden of, my job was to go anywhere except Napa Valley and find out what people were doing with (laughs), with wine barrels. So, I was-

Doug Shafer:
So, you were selling-

Andy Erickson:
... in-

Doug Shafer:
So, you went from working in the cellar at Newton to selling barrels, marketing barrels?

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. And the funny this is, at that point they were all "sold out". So I was... My job was to show up and meet with the winemaker and taste the wines and just sort of talk about what they were doing. And then, we would expect...

Andy Erickson:
... to an allocation later. Alain was awesome. He said, "Look, the best thing is, to do is never ask for the sale. Just go out there and start a relationship." And so, you know, it was great. I was in Russian River. I was going down to the Central Coast. I even went to Texas and upstate New York, and I went to South America and I-

Doug Shafer:
But you couldn't go ... Why couldn't-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
... you ... Why couldn't you go to Napa?

Andy Erickson:
Well, they had somebody in Napa.

Doug Shafer:
Ah.

Andy Erickson:
I mean, we did a bunch of things in Napa together. But, um, anyway, it was a great experience. Because, I, my job was, I was a full-time taster, you know, of young wines. I would be tasting wines out of barrel with people and talk to them about it and-

Doug Shafer:
Wha-

Andy Erickson:
... pretty interesting, but-

Doug Shafer:
And plus y-

Andy Erickson:
... I did that for about a ye-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah. And plus, I'm interrupting. But plus, you knew enough after working for a year or so with a Kongsgaard of how to make wine. So every wine maker you're talking to, you're getting different takes on how they do this or how they do that. I mean, that would be pretty cool. I mean, uh-

Andy Erickson:
It was pretty cool.

Doug Shafer:
A- And j-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. And then, uh-

Doug Shafer:
What an education.

Andy Erickson:
So it was almost two years I did that. And uh, in the meantime I met Annie, who's now my wife of, uh-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, how-

Andy Erickson:
... 22 ... We just celebrated 22 years.

Doug Shafer:
Con-

Andy Erickson:
So that's pretty cool.

Doug Shafer:
Congratulations. And I know Annie well. But I don't know how you two met. So what's that story?

Andy Erickson:
Well, it's, it's pretty funny. Because when I went up for my interview, uh, at Newton Vineyard, all the young guys I knew were like, "Hey, there's this really cute young blonde girl who works up there. You know, you need to check that out."

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
(laughs). So I, I went up there. And, there was no cute blonde girl that I saw, but I ended up, you know, really loving what was going on, and taking the job anyway. But, uh, apparently Annie had worked there for a couple of years. And, uh, she had left to go do some other things. But so I missed her by just a few months. But, um, anyway.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
A couple years later we met at, uh, at someone's barbecue in St. Helena we met. So, uh, that's just sort of how it was. And, uh-

Doug Shafer:
All right.

Andy Erickson:
... apparently it was mutual, 'cause that was almost exactly 25 years ago. So, uh-

Doug Shafer:
Wow.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, pretty cool. So back to, so it was about 1997, '98. I've been doing this, this barrel thing for a while. And-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... you know, I was with now with Annie, who we're getting kind of serious. And we were trying to figure out what our next move was. She was getting very into viticulture. So she came back to Napa and started working for Cathy Corison. So that was a really great-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... uh, place for her to land. 'Cause she really connected with Cathy. And she worked a couple of harvests for Cathy. But really fell in love with the vineyard. I mean, loved being outside in the open air and with the vines. I mean, if you know Annie, she's, uh, the ultimate green thumb. I mean-

Doug Shafer:
Yes.

Andy Erickson:
... she's growing everything on our property. It's pretty awesome. Um, but back then we, we came up with this idea that we would take turns going back to school. And uh, she would study viticulture and I would study enology. And, and so that's what we did.

Doug Shafer:
Oh.

Andy Erickson:
So I applied to UC Davis. And, um, she went back and took the, uh, viticulture program at Napa Valley College with, uh, Steve Krebs. Which was a great program. And they, they still keep in touch. I mean, Steve said that she's the only person that ever got like a 100% on everything, 'cause she just loves it.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
And uh, so I went back to Davis. So I s- I started in '98. I went back to UC Davis to get a Master's degree. And I was, um, just very lucky to do that. I just sorta got to the point where I knew that I needed to go back to school. You know, I couldn't go from my, from the cellar to a barrel job. And then into some wine making position. There was just a lot of things I didn't know. So I went back to ... school. And, and uh, studied ... I was in Roger Bolton's lab. So we-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... did, uh, studying phenolics and wine color, and tannin and how they interact and all that. And it was pretty interesting stuff. And it was cool because I, you know, I grew up with a lab nerd as a dad. And so, you know-

Doug Shafer:
That's true. Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... I was totally into the lab stuff. And even got to do my, uh, my research, uh, at the Oakville Research station, which nobody in Davis seemed even know about. And this is a, a little lab right in the middle of a To Kalon vineyard, looking out at the monastery. And it's part of UC Davis. So I did that. And I worked a harvest at Spottswoode, 1999. It was the first year they, uh, had the new winery. And Rosemary -

Doug Shafer:
Oh, you worked-

Andy Erickson:
- was the-

Doug Shafer:
... oh, you worked with Rosemary. That's great.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. So, uh, that was cool. 'Cause it was a brand new winery. And uh, Rosemary's very meticulous and organized. And so it was a pretty cool way to come back into it. You know, John's this very free-thinking, you know, philosopher type wine maker. And Mary, uh, Rosemary's a very, very rigid and very, uh, scientific. So that was-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... kinda cool.

Doug Shafer:
Right. She's very science. And a, and what you don't know is Rosemary and I were in viticulture classes together at UC Davis back many years ago.

Andy Erickson:
That's so cool.

Doug Shafer:
They, (laughs), ga- ...

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
It just goes on and on. Um, all right. So, um, so you went back.

Andy Erickson:
So f-

Doug Shafer:
... got your Master's what? A year, year and a half or two?

Andy Erickson:
So finished in 2000. And, uh, it's pretty funny. 'Cause, (laughs), Annie, Annie would say, you know ... We never moved away from Napa. So I was commuting up to Davis.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
I treated it like a job. You know, I'd go there in the morning and spend all day, and come back at night. And then I'd, you know, I'd go down in the basement on the computer, writing my thesis. And she would say like, "I didn't even know what the hell you were doing down there. And then all of a sudden you-"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
" ... you emerge one day with like a 150-page document." (laughs).

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
So I did that. I got that done. And meanwhile, it's funny. I was, I was, um, bef- before all this, like in the ... You know, I first arrived in Napa. I somehow ended up in this tasting group with a bunch of older, more experienced wine makers. And that was really cool, because about once a month, we'd get together and taste wines from all over the world. And, uh, um, I'm forgetting some of the names tha- of the guys that were in it. But, um, Bob Levy was in it. And, uh-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... he was a great guy to get to know. And at that point he said, "Oh, you're going back to school. You should call me when you're done, because we're working on this new winery project. And we might need some help." So 2000, I called Bob and I said, "Hey, remember when you said to call you? Well, I'm done." And, uh, they were just, uh ... And I didn't even know anything really about Harlan Estate. I mean, it's-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... kind of an understatement. But, uh, they were just working on Harlan Estate. And, uh, Bob told me to where to meet him in Oakville. And I went up there and they were, they were building this winery up in the hills. And it's now the Bond Winery. But anyway-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... I met with Bob. And he said, "Yeah, I, I need somebody to come on board." So I ended up coming on board as Bob's assistant uh, winemaker up there. 

Doug Shafer:
Right - Right at the beginning. Wow.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. Well, the beginning. But it wasn't the beginning. Right? So I just got out of Davis, but I had some experience. And I had known Bob-

Doug Shafer:
Sure.

Andy Erickson:
... from tasting wines. And so went up there and, you know, the, the ... We were calling it back then the West Winery, which is now the Bond Winery.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
And we were making all the wines there. And it was, you know, it was under construction. So, uh, it wasn't fancy by any means.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
But we, we had all the equipment we needed. The other, the other winery was under construction. So I wasn't really much involved with that. But that was ... You know, it was Bob and me, and a couple other guys, and we were just making the wines up there. And, um, you know, Bob's, talk about meticulous.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And connected to what he's doing. I mean, Bob is Mr. Precision. I mean, that was something to, uh, fall into. And so worked with him. And, uh, you know, it was not even a year when it was pretty clear that, um, it wasn't for me really. I mean-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... I, uh, it was kind of lonely up there, (laughs), because there weren't-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... a lot of other people up there. And, uh, you know, I wasn't going to be taking Bob's job.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
But, uh, it was a great opportunity. Um, but I ended up ... So Annie ... We'll rewind a little bit. Annie in the meantime, had gone from working for Cathy to going back to school, to then, uh, working for David Abreu. So Cathy at that point had been, uh, buying fruit from David.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
And Annie tasted the Cabernet Franc that had showed up on the crush pad one day and said, "Oh my God, where's this from? This is incredible." And Cathy said, "Oh, it's from this guy, David Abreu's vineyard." And David showed up one day at Cathy's winery. This was back when David would actually deliver the grapes. You know,I mean?

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
So he pulled up in the truck one day, and he and Annie started talking, and they hit it off. And she ended up working for him for 12 years as his viticulturist. But so 2000, um, I'm working at Harlan. Uh, Annie's working for David. There's a lot of new vineyards being planted and-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... things being developed. And, and, uh, the Staglin family was looking for somebody to come onboard and be their winemaker. Um, they had been, you know, custom crushing for years at Napa Wine Company. And they had a new winery that they were about to start.

Doug Shafer:
Right. And t-

Andy Erickson:
Or they had already started.

Doug Shafer:
And, and David grew their ... David took care of their grapes. Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
I think David -

Doug Shafer:
Or Annie probably did.

Andy Erickson:
... grapes.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Okay.

Andy Erickson:
And Annie was involved. So I went and talked to them, and ended up becoming their winemaker in 2001. So that was a ... pretty amazing. Um, they, I would say they, they took a chance on me, because I, you know, I wasn't young. You know, I mean, I was, I guess, close to 30 years or, ba- at this point, or somewhere around 30. But, um, they took a chance and I came on board. And helped them finish the winery. And, you know, 2001 and 2002 vintages we made in the new winery. And just pretty great experience.

Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.

Andy Erickson:
They're such good people too.

Doug Shafer:
They're great. And, and their, their wines were, you know, dynamite right out of the gate. So nice job, winemaker.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So, uh, you know, it was just ... Th- they gave me all the tools I needed. We had, I mean, David taking care of the vineyard. The vineyard's got great pedigree anyway. You know, it's got the old BV heritage. And so, uh, did that for two vintages, uh, 2001 in 2002. And they're such great people. I mean, they're still like family. You know, we see them. And, and Shannon actually, Shannon Staglin, who now runs the winery. She was just out of college, 2002. She was my harvest intern.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
Which is so funny. And I joke that, uh, I'm the reason that she went back to business school, because, (laughs)-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... she came in and I basically warned her like, "As long as you know this is mostly just cleaning things and moving liquid around."

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And she was like, "Oh yeah, that's fine." And, um, you know, being a harvest intern in a brand new winery, it was a lot of work. We had fun together.

Doug Shafer:
I, I think I had ... We had, uh, the two of them, Shari and Shannon in here on the podcast. And I think I remember her talking about that. I think she said something about-

Andy Erickson:
Oh, that's funny.

Doug Shafer:
I think she made the comment about, "Yeah. I realized cellar, the cellar angle wasn't the way for me. I wanted to go in the business marketing side." So I think she, I think I remember that. 

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, it's great. And we're still close. And, uh, wi- with the whole family. But in those two years, you know, Annie and I had two kids. And that's when you-

Doug Shafer:
Oh, wow.

Andy Erickson:
That's when you start thinking, "Okay, what are we really doing here?"

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And, uh, you know, also there were all these really cool new projects happening. I mean, tho- those years, um, really from the late 90s through the whole 2000s, there were so many new wineries coming into Valley, new people planting vineyards-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... and starting small wineries. And I was starting to get phone calls from people and, "Hey, we're looking for a consulting winemaker." And ... so, you know, after many discussions with the Staglins, it, you know, we pretty much decided that, you know, if I was gonna do that, I was gonna do that. Because-

Doug Shafer:
Sure.

Andy Erickson:
... if I was gonna stay with them, I was gonna stay with them. So took a leap and, and started ... We started our own winery, uh, our own wine label then, Favia.

Doug Shafer:
Favia, which is-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. And also I started consulting. So I took on a few things. And-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... and yeah, never looked back. And, uh, it's been a pretty crazy ride in, uh, in a good way. It's been a lot of fun.

Doug Shafer:
So you've been ... So at that point you became ... Well, it's, you've got your own brand, and then you're consulting for others. So, so who were some of your, uh, first clients?

Andy Erickson:
Well, the first one that really kind of made me say, "Yes," was, uh, Ovid, so way up on Pritchard Hill.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
Um, and I remember going up there a couple years before, I met the owners and they were talking about a, building a winery. But so David Abreu developed this vineyard. So this is way up on the top of the plateau up there where you have Colgin, and now Continuum, and Ovid. And, and these were all brand new developments up there. But I remember going up when Annie was developing the vineyard. And it was, it was incredible. I mean, it's, it was like Mars. I mean this red dust and-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... giant rocks, and machinery just working this thing. And anyway, a couple of years later, um, I met, uh, Mark Nelson and Danna Johnson, who are the proprietors, or were the proprietors back then. And through the Kongsgaards actually, which is funny. So they're-

Doug Shafer:
Huh.

Andy Erickson:
... they're big classical music people. And they were involved in the Chamber of Music, uh, in Napa. And we started talking. And I drove up there. And at this point the vineyard was just, uh, you know, two buds to the ground-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... brand new, never produced anything. And, and I remember driving up there thinking, "Oh my gosh, I gotta do this. This is going to be incredible."

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
And so, just signed up. And, uh, that was my first consulting project. So you talk about people taking a chance. I mean, here I am. I was just the winemaker at Staglin for two years.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
And, uh, come on board. And so that, that was a lot of fun. I mean, I was there for 15 years. We, we built -

Doug Shafer:
Wow. I did, I didn't know you there for 15 years.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. I just, um ... You know, it changed hands. It's sold to the Duncan family.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
Another great family. Um, stayed on a short time. But then it was, you know, clear to just let them take it and run with it.

Doug Shafer:
Sure.

Andy Erickson:
Um, but yeah, 15 years from basically dirt to what you see now.

Doug Shafer:
To some-

Andy Erickson:
Which, uh-

Doug Shafer:
... fantastic wines.

Andy Erickson:
Great wines and great place. Beautiful. And so that was one. And then, um, Arietta Wines. So this is another, uh, kind of full circle thing. So Arietta, um, when I was at Newton, uh, we had 1800 barrels of red wine in the cellar at Newton. And we would rack all the barrels once a quarter. So that meant like-

Doug Shafer:
Oh.

Andy Erickson:
... one out of every three months, I was-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... just down in the cave, like racking barrel to barrel.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
And, uh, there were ... Of all those, there were five barrels of wine that I just thought, "Oh my God, what is this?"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
And, uh, it turned out it was the Cabernet Franc from Hudson Vineyards. Which is now, uh, the H Block, Hudson Vineyards, Arietta red wine. So when John left Newton, that's the one thing he said he wanted to go with him was that Cabernet Franc. And so that's how he started Arietta-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... back in 1996. So fast forward to 2004, and John, uh, was going to s- build his winery. And he and Fritz Hatton were partners in Arietta. So he was going to buy out Fritz. And they wanted a new winemaker, so they asked me. And I said, "Yes, I'm not stupid." So I took that-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... over in 2004. And then a new winery called Dancing Hare's Vineyard, which is up in St. Helena, a little project that Abreu was also doing. I also, uh, consulted for Hartwell Vineyards-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... for a few years, uh, in, in Stag's Leap. And then, uh, was introduced to, um ... It's pretty funny, a viteral- vi- viticultural consultant kept telling me others, "These guys in Santa Barbara that are doing something, you should, uh, you should meet with them." And I said, "Well, there's a lot of great things happening in Napa. I think I, I'm pretty busy here."

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
But they would say, "No, no, you got to meet these guys." So I finally went down there. Saw what they were doing. It was, uh, Charles Banks and some partners, including Stan Kroenke, who now owns Screaming Eagle. But, um, went down there, just sort of saw that these guys are really serious about what they were doing. Uh, and it's still uh, it's a great property. Jonata.

Doug Shafer:
Jonata. Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
Stan, Stan owns the property now outright. But, um, decided to help them out. We, we put a team together, and I consulted for them. And it was pretty-

Doug Shafer:
So-

Andy Erickson:
... crazy. Because at ... Go ahead.

Doug Shafer:
It sounds like Andy, I got interrupted. So it sounds like you're consulting with like, at the most, how many different wineries at the same time do you think? Four, five, six?

Andy Erickson:
At that time?

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
At that time pretty quickly it was four.

Doug Shafer:
Okay. All right. So it's not as much as I thought.

Andy Erickson:
And all-

Doug Shafer:
I see.

Andy Erickson:
... pretty small.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
And so I made a decision early on that I ... And this was, has created some interesting side, (laughs)-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... notes in my life, is that I wanted people who are committed to having an estate winery and an estate vineyard. And so a lot of these places have their own ... Well, everybody except for Arietta has their own winery and vineyard. So it's a lot of things to juggle. But I, you know, it's not like I wanna be making 20 different wines. That would be really difficult. (laughs).

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
So um-

Doug Shafer:
Well, the, at … if you're consulting with four or five different properties. And you know, you're working with me, and then you're also working with Jim down the road. You know, are you giving me this good a- as advice that you're giving Jim? Or, you know, does he get in a better deal? I mean, is there jealousy? "Someone's getting higher scores than I am," that type of thing? I mean, you ever run into that?

Andy Erickson:
Well, I think, uh, luckily not really. I mean-

Doug Shafer:
Good.

Andy Erickson:
... and especially because these are all estate properties, right? So everyone has their own story. Everyone has their own vision of what they want to do. Everyone has their own commitment. I mean, I'm not going to prioritize one client over the other. I mean, we're all committed to making, you know, the best wine we can, which is a year round endeavor. Right?

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
I mean, we're out there talking about the pruning. We're out there talking about the drainage and the soils. We're out there talking about whether we need to graft over this block, 'cause it's never made the blend. We, we're, you know, at every step, the thinning, the irrigation, the harvest, the fermentations, the blending. I mean-

Doug Shafer:
It's true.

Andy Erickson:
... we're, uh, we're-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... trying to make sure we're making the same ... The right decisions every single time. And, uh-

Doug Shafer:
Depending on-

Andy Erickson:
And that does-

Doug Shafer:
... the location. Yeah. I'm interrupting, because I'm just thinking about what we do here. It's like, you know, let's say we're both making wines, but your place is over there and my place is over here. What's, it's just, it's two different sets of, uh, ingredients and, and situations. So it's different from the get-go. And you s- you maximize what each place does. I th- that's wat it sounds like-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. That's right.

Doug Shafer:
... what you're doing. Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And, um-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
You know, if, if your neighbor has great Merlot for example, that doesn't mean that you're going to grow great Merlot.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
You know, I mean, e- you can learn a lot by what your neighbors are doing. But I don't think that, uh, I don't think there are many secrets out there. There's not a secret formula. You know? That's, when you have conversations with, with people early on. And you might think you're going to work together, it, it's pretty easy when you get into the conversations that it's more about a commitment than it is about any secret formula, right? I mean, it's-

Doug Shafer:
Well, I think, I think we all think we have secrets. But they're the same ones. We just haven't told each other.

Andy Erickson:
(laughs). Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
Right.

Doug Shafer:
So when we go out ... and have dinner, we have two or three bottles of wine, we can te- share our secrets, and they'll be the same thing probably.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. That's the-

Doug Shafer:
Um-

Andy Erickson:
... fun part about-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... harvest is as soon as the fruit starts coming in, everybody goes on blackout. Right? You-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
... can't get anybody on the phone, 'cause-

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And it's not like we're hiding secrets. It's just like, "I've got my thing going on."

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
"You got your thing going on."

Doug Shafer:
Yeah. We're all busy.

Andy Erickson:
But, yeah, the rest of the year, you, we share ideas. And-

Andy Erickson:
It's a, it's a great community as you know.

Doug Shafer:
It's fun. So tell me about, um, being a consulting winemaker, 'cause most of the consultants that you work with, do they have like a quote, "Winemaker," on-site doing the day-to-day? Is that how that works?

Andy Erickson:
Well, it kinda depends on the size of the winery and-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... the situation. I mean, and, and you know, a lot of the clients I've been with for many years. So like for example, at Dalla Valle Vineyards when I started there back in 2007, it was really just me and my assistant sort of doing everything. But now, you know, it's been, this is my 14th vintage with them. And-

Doug Shafer:
Wow.

Andy Erickson:
... Maya's come back and she's taken over the winery. And so I'm e- more in and out of there. A- but a bigger winery, you know, uh, we would have an on-site winemaker. And uh, you know, I'm more of a consultant. If it's a startup thing, it's more of a deep dive, you know? And, uh-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... you know, once you get things going, it's, it, it sort of becomes a well-oiled machine, right? If you have things in place.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
Um, so I'd say the relationship is, is different. But I'm involved in all the aspects of what's going on. So it's, it's really fun. And it's, it's, it's funny, because, you know, I've always dreamed of having my own winery, and, and now we do. Um, and it's great. Uh, we have ... We bought the old, it's called the Antonio Carboni Winery and Italian Gardens back from the 1880s. It's a really cool piece of history in Coombsville. Um, and so we have our Favia wines here. We live here, make the wines here. And so in the back of my mind, I always thought, "Oh, I'll start to scale back on the consulting stuff." But the fact is, there's, there's so many cool things happening in the Valley. And I, you know, I love being a part of it. And I, I have fun with it. So-

Doug Shafer:
Well, it keeps you going. It keeps the juices going.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah. It does, and you, you get to see a lot of different things and work with different people. And it just, it, it makes it very rewarding. It's, it's, it's pretty cool.

Doug Shafer:
And I, and I'm with you. And I gotta ask you, 'cause you s- I think I interrupted your train of thought. You're talking about, uh, Santa Barbara and Jonata working with those guys. And that led to something else up here, I think, right?

Andy Erickson:
Yes. So the-

Doug Shafer:
A little, (laughs).

Andy Erickson:
The, the crazy thing was back then, the conversation was, "Well, if it works out, maybe we'll do something in Napa someday."

Doug Shafer:
(laughs). Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And so I thought, "Okay, great." And so, you know, I was once a month going down to Santa Barbara. And things were going well. And so that started in 2004. So I guess it didn't take long. I mean, it seemed like a long time at the time. But a- you know, about 18 months later, I get a phone call from Charles saying, "Hey, I need you to look at some numbers. 'Cause, uh, you know, maybe we'll buy Screaming Eagle." And I was like-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... "Yeah, whatever."

Doug Shafer:
Yeah. (laughs).

Andy Erickson:
You know, lo- ... And just, you know, you can't look at the numbers on something like that.

Doug Shafer:
No.

Andy Erickson:
It just doesn't really tell a story. So I just said, you know, "This doesn't make any sense, but that would be great." (laughs). So-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... um-

Doug Shafer:
As long as he's cutting the check at you.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And so, uh, I literally get a phone call. I think it was March of 2006. I get a phone call saying, "Hey, we closed escrow last night. It's incredible. I got the keys. We bought Screaming Eagle." And I just thought, "Oh my God, w- what?"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
And I was on the Silverado Trail. I just turned around in my car, drove straight there. I had never been on the property before. So, um, drove in. It was kind of a surreal moment. I'm there, it was me and Annie, uh, Charles, Stan, David Abreu showed up. Why not?

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, why ... (laughs).

Andy Erickson:
And uh, we got a thief out, and we started tasting some barrels and-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... walking through the vineyard. And-

Doug Shafer:
You just went right-

Andy Erickson:
Yeah.

Doug Shafer:
... at ... You went right after it right away. I ga- I love that.

Andy Erickson:
Well, I mean-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
But I tell you, at the time I said, "Look, you guys are crazy. You can't change anything here. You gotta, you gotta keep Heidi. You gotta, you gotta keep everything the same." It was just too much mojo.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
And, uh, and they said, "No, we want you to do it." And I just thought, "Oh my God, this is, this is going to kill me." (laughs). I mean-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... it was, it was pretty daunting. But yeah, I stepped in there in the spring of 2006. And we, we started doing it. I mean, what an incredible place. Um, most people think of it as a brand, right? But it's, it's this little hidden gem of a vineyard that people drive by every day. And-

Doug Shafer:
Yep.

Andy Erickson:
... don't realize it's there.

Doug Shafer:
It's beautiful. I drive by it ... twice a day. Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
Right in that sweet spot in Oakville. And you know, it was ... The vineyard, a lot of it had to be replanted. And, um, we had to keep the wine going. But it was a really cool project. I mean, we, we brought in ... We brought in a viticultural consultant. And, and we must have dug 75 soil pits with Bob Gallagher from Crop Care. I don't know if you've worked with Bob. But he's awesome.

Doug Shafer:
I do. And I, I actually do remember seeing those, (laughs), pits being dug. It's like every day, it's like, "What are they doing out there?" You know.

Andy Erickson:
Oh, and, and Jean. So Jean Phillips-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... was the, uh, original owner. And she had thought that there was this one little hillside that produced the best wines. And you know, the rest of it, she was selling the grapes. So we dug all these soil pits and did all this analysis. And Bob Gallagher said, "I think this is the first time in my career where I, where I could pretty much recommend not doing anything-"

Doug Shafer:
(laughs). Wow.

Andy Erickson:
" ... to the vineyard.

Doug Shafer:
Wow.

Andy Erickson:
And it turns out that most of that property is A to A plus. And so it was just really fun to, to help build a proper winery. There was never really a proper winery there.

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
Um, replanting the vineyards, and just sort of putting it on a footing as like a first growth estate sort of a thing, rather than just a, a brand.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
And that was amazing. You know, no one ever visits there. So it wasn't like there was any spotlight in that way. I mean, we were just there quietly doing our thing. And great crew. The whole crew is still there. Um, Nick Gislason who I hired straight out of Davis to be my assistant. He's still there as a winemaker. It's great. I have a great relationship with him. But, um, you know, the partnership fell apart. And-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... I decided to do something else. And it led me to some other things, which is great. Uh, I'm, um, it led me to Mayacamas, which -

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, what happened with ... Yeah. I remember that. What happened with Mayacamas. Great property-

Andy Erickson:
So-

Doug Shafer:
... up there on the-

Andy Erickson:
It's an incredible property. And, uh, so even when, uh, Charles was still involved in Screaming Eagle, Bob Travers was, you know, thinking of selling. He was getting older. And, um, the winery and vineyards really needed a redo up at Mayacamas. And so the conversation started with, with Bob Travers. And it was sort of on again, off again. He had some things going on in his life, and his wife passed away and some other things. So it sort of went quiet for a while that, um, I would be the guy to go up there and go through the vineyards with Bob. And talk to Bob and taste the wines.

And, you know, eventually that came together. And, and that is such a great iconic historic Napa property. And it's been an incredible thing to be a part of. I mean, this is, you know, a winery from the 1890s. And uh, I'm sorry, 1880s. 1889. And it's got such an incredible history. And it be- and it's also way on the top of Mount Veeder. I mean, the guy that showed up there and thought, "Oh, I'll just plant a vineyard here." I mean-

Doug Shafer:
"Here." Yeah. Back in-

Andy Erickson:
He was Swiss. So apparently the Swiss, you know, driving up to-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... 2,500 feet through the woods is no big deal for-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... a Swiss person.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
But, uh, you know, all the vineyards up there, even though it's hundreds of acres of property, there's only about 50 acres planted. And they're all great soils, faith- facing South and Southwest, which is what you want up there. So, you know, they've always done it right. And so ... it just-

Doug Shafer:
He- How fun to be a part of that. That's really neat.

Andy Erickson:
It's great. And it's also a style of wine that is different from what a lot of people are doing in Napa, in the la-

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
... especially the past 15, 20 years, including myself. And so it's been fun to, to just say, "We're not going to change the style. We're just going to improve on it." And you know, the wines are pretty rugged, you know, they're tannic, they're big.

Doug Shafer:
Yes.

Andy Erickson:
And they age a long time. And so we've kept that style. So that's been really fun. And it's just, it feels good to, to just sort of polish the old gem up there.

Doug Shafer:
I like it. I like it. You are, you are, you are a Renaissance man, my friend. And now under the category of the hits keep coming, it's 2015, you get a call from Constellation, who owns Robert Mondavi, what was that call all about?

Andy Erickson:
Oh, yeah. That, and that was-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
... completely unexpected.

Doug Shafer:
(laughs).

Andy Erickson:
And, uh, so yeah. That, that's a good segue, because I'm, I'm sort of a Napa history buff. I mean, I always think about how incredible it would be to be around Napa in the 1890s.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And when you think of some of the things that were happening back then, I mean the Greystone, and what's now Far Niente, and Mayacamas, and even our little winery. And -

Doug Shafer:
A lot of wineries. Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
And Krug, and all these cool properties. Um, you know, and then it went, all went to nothing with Prohibition.

Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andy Erickson:
But back in the 1870s through the early 1900s, To Kalon Vineyard was, was renowned all over the country as being, you know, some of the best wines in California. So everyone knows the recent history and-and how great those wines are, you know, and a lot of thanks goes to Andy Beckstoffer for really- for really, uh, doing a great job and having small producers and they are making great wines. But the vineyard itself which is, you know, close to 500 acres-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... uh, most of that's owned by Constellation, uh, through Mondavi and, uh, they called me, and thank God I returned the phone call. I-I actually-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... I didn't at first and someone called back and said, “Hey, come on, let's just talk.” So I ... it was- it only took about two minutes f-for me to say Yes because their-their concept was, "We want to take the To Kalon vineyard and we want to elevate it to its own status and make a, you know, a small production, very high-end wine from To Kalon and-and revive the old imagery and ephemera and stories from the 1890s." And I just ... I love that stuff.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
So I was all over it. So it's been incredible. Basically I have free rein in the vineyard. Uh, so they started in-in 2016 was the first vintage.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
So really, just taking the vineyard map and, uh, tasting all the wines that Genevieve had made the year before. So Genevieve is the winemaker from Mondavi.

Doug Shafer:
Yes.

Andy Erickson:
Has been there for years. And, uh, you know, it's a big vineyard so I just had all these glasses of wine, tasting the wine, saying, “Oh, where's this from?” And I'd circle it on the map and then, “Where's this from?” And I'd- And then go on around, touring around, and-

Doug Shafer:
Man, how come you get to do this stuff?

Andy Erickson:
... taking out these blocks.

Doug Shafer:
Why don't you ... would you- would you call me up next time you do that so I can just kind of hang out next time?

Andy Erickson:
Let's do it.

Doug Shafer:
Yes.

Andy Erickson:
Let's go for a ... well, we got to wait for a while.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
But let's go for a drive (laughs)

Doug Shafer:
(laughs) There we go.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, but when we started talking about this project, I just said, "Oh, my God. This is great." So, yeah, the idea is ... so the-the original property back in the day was the, uh, To Kalon Vineyard Company. And uh, and then the To Kalon Wine Company. And there was actually a big winery on the property of To Kalon that unfortunately like a lot of things in Napa burned down. Um, back in, I think, 1915 or something like that. And ... but before that, they had their own wine shops all over the country. They had To Kalon wine shops in D.C. and New Orleans and Chicago.

Doug Shafer:
Huh!

Andy Erickson:
And-And the branding and the this- just the look and feel of all the old labels and everything, it's so cool.

Doug Shafer:
Man, I didn't know that.

Andy Erickson:
So we've- We've revived that and, uh, and we started with just one wine and now we're going to have, with the ‘18 vintage, three different wines and I've got them, uh, planting more Cabernet Franc for me. That's my passion, it's Cabernet Franc, so we're going to be producing wine that's got a bunch of Cabernet Franc in it.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
So, yeah, that's been- that's been a good one.

Doug Shafer:
That's fun. So and then, coming back to-to the home ranch, you and Annie, what do you guys, uh, um ... so you got the Favia brand now. You've got Lev-Leviathan and Room. Tell me about those wines.

Andy Erickson:
So Leviathan, uh, started as a second wine to the Favia wines. Uh, and the Favia wines, as I said before, we love Cabernet Franc-

Doug Shafer:
Right.

Andy Erickson:
... and it's-it's funny when Annie worked for David Abreu, uh, so back in the late 90's, David had four rows of these Cabernet Franc vines in his vineyard in Madrona and it was propagated from cuttings he had brought back from Bordeaux over the years-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... which was pretty cool. And, uh, he said, "Oh, you guys should make this wine in your garage." So we- we made the wine in our garage 1998-99-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
2000 and I-I still have a few bottles of this but we, uh, we picked the clone that we liked the best and we created a block there in Madrona. We made the wine there for a few years. Uh, we make ... so we have two different Cabernet Franc-based wine. And then we made two Cabernet and Sauvignons. We have a Coombsville Cab and and Oakville cab.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
We've been down here in Coombsville for 15 years now, even before it had a name so, um, it's great now that it has an appellation name. Everybody thinks it's new and wants to know about it but-

Doug Shafer:
(laughs)

Andy Erickson:
... we've been here for a while. Um, Leviathan we spun off and, uh, actually partnered with, Huneeus Now, I sold them the brand and um, opened them, keep that going so that's a-

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
... that's a blended wine and that's got it's life going now. And then Rhone is an interesting project that we started which is really experimental wines that are not what we do for Favia. So we've done Riesling from the Marin Coast. We've done an Orange wine. We've done, you know, Grenache Rose. We've done all sorts of different wines and it's just kind of a fun thing. They're all one offs.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah, fun.

Andy Erickson:
And then we created a ... yes, it is fun. And then we created a-a brand called Carboni. So-So named after the family that built the winery that's now ours. They built it back in the 1880s. So that's now, we make a Coombsville Chardonnay from the vines right here behind the winery. And then a-a red wine which is now our second wine to Favia. So that's-that's been pretty fun and great to revive the old name, too, and history.

Doug Shafer:
What a lineup! And then on top of that, you've got ... uh, you and Annie, you've got a new project? You're making tea? Or is that your new baby.

Andy Erickson:
Yeah, I can't- I can't take much credit for that except being the guy who, like, fixes irrigation leaks and, uh, you know, Rototills once in a while. But yeah, Annie, as I said, has probably the greenest thumb that I have ever know and she, uh, she's always loved tea. And we tried for years, actually, to grow camellias sinensis. That's the, uh, the actual tea plant that makes all green tea-

Doug Shafer:
Huh!

Andy Erickson:
... black tea, oolong tea, but it just doesn't grow in Napa. I think it's too dry.

Doug Shafer:
Yeah.

Andy Erickson:
So sh-she created an herbal tea business so we’re growing all these organic herbs on the property and we have a-a drying room in the barn and-and it's just awesome stuff. So fresh organic herbs, we have lemon verbena, chamomile, mint, uh, shiso. She does all these different blends. We have a Greek mountain tea which is a really interesting tea that tastes just like green tea but has no caffeine. And this is something that Annie has always loved and we're-we're doing it.

Doug Shafer:
That's great.

Andy Erickson:
It's a business. She has a website. She's selling it.

Doug Shafer:
What's the website? How-How can people get ahold of that.

Andy Erickson:
It's ... so erdatea.com. E-R-D-A. Erda is the first known word for mother Earth.

Doug Shafer:
There you go.

Andy Erickson:
And a pretty cool concept. And it's all grown right here on the property and they're delicious.

Doug Shafer:
Good. That's the tea now. How do folks find your wine? Because they need ... because, you know, Favia wines are gorgeous. That's what we drink in my house. How do- How could people buy them?

Andy Erickson:
So, pretty easy. It's faviawines.com, and, uh, yeah, you could sign up on the list or with what's going on now, we actually have some wine available on the website. Uh, and then, normally take visitors in the winery as well, Monday to-through Friday.

Doug Shafer:
Are you open to visitors now or you're holding off for a while?

Andy Erickson:
Not yet. We're holding off for a little while.

Doug Shafer:
Okay.

Andy Erickson:
But at some point we will.

Doug Shafer:
Good, good. All right, man. Um, you are a sweetheart for taking so much time today. Thanks so much. And man, it's finally good to hear your story. And I- And, you know, good old Hinsdale, you got to something to tell them.

Andy Erickson:
No, it's great to-to hear the connections. I mean, like I said, almost zero degrees of separation, right?

Doug Shafer:
I love it.

Andy Erickson:
It's great. Thank you.

Doug Shafer:
All right, man. You take care. If you can say Hi to Annie, give her a hug and I will see you around.

Andy Erickson:
Absolutely.

Doug Shafer:
All right, thanks.

Andy Erickson:
Bye.

Doug Shafer:
Thanks, Andy. Bye, bye.