Full Transcript
Doug Shafer:
Welcome back, everybody, Doug Shafer with another episode of The Taste. We've got a long-time fellow winemaker, vintner friend, we never see each other enough, Bo Barrett, welcome.
Bo Barrett:
Hi, Doug. Great to be back, man. Great to see you again.
Doug Shafer:
Great to see you. Yeah, you're at Calistoga. I'm Stags Leap. It's like it's only 25, 25 miles, but it seems like a million years away sometimes.
Bo Barrett:
It is, you know, because we have the vineyards in southern Napa Valley, and I drive by, I should drop in and see Doug. But it's just, if you drag - and stuff like that, it's like s- yeah. We're just-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, too busy.
Bo Barrett:
It's, uh, you know, that's pretty typical, 'cause this is a busy business. (laughs). Ha-
Doug Shafer:
We are busy.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And, uh, but, we usually when we do see each other, it's usually not in Napa Valley. It's on the road. We cross paths out selling wines. And, I don't know, if Bo remembers it, I think he does. 'Cause we've talked about it before. But we had the great, the best time together, years ago, on a road trip. You remember what, you know what I'm talking about?
Bo Barrett:
I absolutely do.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
I know exactly was, I think it was about 50 miles an hour and 50 feet in the air. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Something like that.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
We were at the Taste of Vail. It's first weekend in April. They had, they do it to get everybody up to the hill. And we were out, it's a two or three day thing, and we were out the night before at some big tasting. We were, we were tasting, a lot.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
As I recall.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And I think you said, “Shafer, the best run, it's Avanti. You gotta go tomorrow.” I said, “Bo, I gotta do a seminar at, at noon.” He said, “See yeah there at, you know, 9:00, 9:30 sharp. We'll get a few runs in and we can split.” So, sure enough, I showed up, and you showed up. I was really hurting. I was hurting. (laughs). And so we went up the chair lift, and we're going down this, it's a groomer run where you go like 40 or 50 miles an hour, and-
Bo Barrett:
And it's blue, black, blue again.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Gorgeous day. Nobody on the hill. And we're just screaming, side by side. And all of a sudden, I was in mid-air. And it's like, “Oh my God. I just went off a cliff.” (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
And, uh, Bo hit this lip at the same time. We were fine. We landed it fine. But we both got down, we were like ... I think we looked at each other, the, it's like, “That was cool. Let's- "
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
" - do it again." (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
It was awesome. But then, we knew it was coming, and we never got as much air as we-
Doug Shafer:
Never.
Bo Barrett:
... did at the first time. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Not as much fun. That was, uh, this-
Bo Barrett:
That was a great day.
Doug Shafer:
That was a beautiful day. Didn't last long enough. But anyway, we've got, you know, Bo, you've got, I figure, three main stories. You got Chateau Montelena, you've got your dad's story, you've got your story. I think throughout some of your stories, you and I have a lot in common with working with our dads, which might be kind of fun. But, start with Chateau Montelena. What's the history?
Bo Barrett:
Well, Montelena, by, oh, well, it was ... Let's, just start at the beginning. So, as we see, now, with the earliest success of Napa Valley, 1845 to 1860-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
By 1880, some money was starting to flow in. Because we've gotta remember, Napa Valley was started by the farmers, like Krug for example.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Started, started the Charles Krug Winery. And, um, you know, with the Trefethens, and all those old, wooden structures. But then, along came people like Alfred Tubbs, Senator Alfred Tubbs, or you know, the guys that started Far Niente. So, when, like we see today, some people with money saw what was happening and the potential to make great wine in Napa Valley. So, some of the wealthier people came in, and provided the capital that really started California where we started getting, you know, winning gold medals in Paris in the pre-Prohibition, it was by 1888 to-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... 1890.
Doug Shafer:
Late 1800's.
Bo Barrett:
So Montelena was real successful. Alfred Tubbs, our founder, built the winery, named it the A.L. Tubbs Winery.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
Uh, built, it was, the winery was, the vineyards were planted in 1882. And the winery was built in 1886.
Doug Shafer:
That's-
Bo Barrett:
And it was state of the art.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
It was a stone winery, 'cause you gotta remember, like, Krug, for example, the wineries here were made out of redwood. So they froze in the winter and baked in the summer.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, when he went to France, because he had this whaling fleet, so Tubbs had a cordage company. And as-
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
... a result, he had ships that sailed all around the world. So, he hired a European architect. And still, we do know the original one.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
The winery was credited to the Napa Valley architect, Hamden McIntyre. But it is not one of his buildings.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Because now we're on the National Registry of Historic Places. So we know it is not a McIntyre building, like Far Niente, for example.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
It's very different. So, anyway, the winery's successful. By about 1890, it's the fourth largest winery in Napa Valley. It's bigger than Beringer.
Doug Shafer:
I didn't know that.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Really?
Bo Barrett:
It was. And he also started the Napa Valley Co-op, which is w- at that time, 'cause it, and again, going in the time machine in the history of Napa Valley, they would put the wine in barrels, and then put it on barges and take it to the city.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And the merchants in the city would then, you know, step on it, and to use a drug colloquial term -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
(laughs). They would cut it with stuff from like Lodi or wherever. And so, then, and they had a, there was only two wine merchants in California. And they definitely were conspiring to drive the prices down. So A.L. Tubbs being a very savvy businessman from San Francisco, he basically founded the co-op, where that the growers up here then had the fighting power to go against this monopoly.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
And keep the prices up. So, he was a, he was a very active guy in the early days of-
Doug Shafer:
How neat.
Bo Barrett:
Napa Valley. And his winery, it was quite large. Um, in his first year in 1886-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... they did 137,000 gallons of wine.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
And that is actually the agreed stipulated agreement. What we produce today at Montelena, we actually don't make that much. But in year one, day one, year one, first harvest-
Doug Shafer:
They did that much.
Bo Barrett:
They made 100,000, 130,000 gallons.
Doug Shafer:
Which is how many cases? That's, uh-
Bo Barrett:
Like 70, 80.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. 70, 80,000 cases.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But-
Bo Barrett:
But remember they didn't use cases.
Doug Shafer:
That's right. That's right. That's because they were making, basically, bulk. Selling, selling, so they didn't really bottle it right here, they sold it bulk, and merchants bottled it. Is that-
Bo Barrett:
That's correct-
Doug Shafer:
... how it was? Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... in San Francisco. It was the Uncle Sam Company, and the, the name is still lasts through today, not quite as big as it was during our life, but Groezinger's Wine Company-
Doug Shafer:
Right, right.
Bo Barrett:
So the two merchants in San Francisco were Uncle Sam Wine Company-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... which I still think that's a great one. And Groezinger's. So those are the two merchants in San Francisco that controlled the market.
Doug Shafer:
And you -
Bo Barrett:
Kind of like the Gallo and Bronco of the day.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. And so-
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... you've done the research. What were they, what were they making? Do you know what grapes would, or varietals they were making? Or was it just kind of red, kind of white?
Bo Barrett:
Oddly enough, we, we've only, so far, most of the bottles we've ever found for, for from the post-Prohibition periods. 'Cause his grandson, Chapin Tubbs restarted the winery. So, the winery is very successful, of course, over time.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
A.L. Tubbs dies. Prohibition comes along. The winery goes out of business. His grandson had a stop-start through 1932 through '36. But by-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
...really by the beginning of World War II, Montelena was closed up for good. And, uh-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
You know, happily, so. You know, Prohibition, it's quite interesting. The, at the Bank of America foreclosure sale-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
The brands went with it. You know, when they say, “Lock, stock, and barrel.” There's a, there's a ... armaments, you know, reference to that, but also in prohibition, lock, stock, and barrel is, you know, the barrel, the stock inside, and the lock on the door. So during Prohibition years when they sold off a winery, it was lock, stock, and barrel.
Doug Shafer:
Lock, stock, and barrel.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So, and-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Strangely, yeah. So, Montelena goes long, sleepy. It's been abandoned, the roof's collapsed, the vineyards are down. And I'll circle back, here. To-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... what the original plans-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And just let me finish the history.
Doug Shafer:
No, no, I love it. Don't worry about it.
Bo Barrett:
So, what happened was, they go belly up in about '38, '39. And they sell the brand, Chateau Montelena gets picked up by a guy, that is where Freemark Abbey is now. I think it was called Martini, or something like that.
Doug Shafer:
I'm gonna jump in. It was called Chateau Montelena then? Or was this-
Bo Barrett:
No, that was in the '30s.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, that so, during prohibition, they operated as Montelena Orchards and Montelena Vineyards.
Doug Shafer:
Okay, okay.
Bo Barrett:
So some of the vineyards actually did survive prohibition. Yes, most, a lot of it was planted to prunes-
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
... during that period of time. So, and we got the- when we got there in '72, there was still some prunes.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
But, so, then, they operate as Montelena Vineyards. So his grandson, Chapin Tubbs, is the one who came up with the name Chateau Montelena.
Doug Shafer:
So he came up with that. 'Cause that was one of my questions-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, and so that's the prohibition.
Doug Shafer:
... later, it's like where did that come from? Cool.
Bo Barrett:
Exactly. So, yeah. So, they came from Montelena Orchards.
Doug Shafer:
Montelena Orchards, that was the-
Bo Barrett:
That was a Prohibition farming company name.
Doug Shafer:
... origin. Got it.
Bo Barrett:
And obviously, Mount Saint Helena, you know, being at the foot of Mount Saint Helena-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
You know, happy for those, who, those of us who drink once in a while, it's like, did ...
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
It's not Chateau Mount Saint Helena, it's, you know, Chateau Montelena.
Doug Shafer:
Montelena.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Or, my dad used to call it, Chateau Monteleoni.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But, anyway.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Back to the history that, yesterday that, so, really a story about Napa Valley in the early days, in the '72 when we're gonna restart the winery.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So they had sold to, to the guys over at Freemark Abbey, and then the brand later got sold to Bob Trinchero's dad. So, Sutter Home has it.
Doug Shafer:
Sutter Home had the Chateau Montelena brand name.
Bo Barrett:
That's correct.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
He had the trademark, the TTB brand name. And for free, for $0, because it needed to go back, Bob Trinchero gave us the name back.
Doug Shafer:
He did?
Bo Barrett:
That's what kind of, that's the kind of welcome we got to Napa Valley, when we got here, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Well, the Trinchero family is still great.
Bo Barrett:
Yes. They're just the best. And he's still one of my good buddies, as you know, so-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
But, yeah, it was just, just very welcoming when we got here.
Doug Shafer:
How cool.
Bo Barrett:
But what they had planted when I got there ... So, now, we had the prohibition varieties, when I got there.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So, we had, I don't know if you ever talked to the podcast before about, you know, Bergers or Sauvignon Vert?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Okay those-
Doug Shafer:
We have some of that planted here.
Bo Barrett:
Right. Those were the Thompson seedless of the day.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
So they were just bulk, cheap, high producers, you know, probably dry farm, doing like eight, ten tons an acre-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... you know, so, eight by eight, or ten by ten vineyards. So, Sauvignon Vert. Then we had some Alicante Bouschet-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Which, that was, we actually crushed some of that. And, uh, we had Mondeuse.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And we had Petite Sirah and quite a bit of Zinfandel. So, when we got there in '72, my dad's idea was to make a great Cabernet vineyard. Because of the elevation, and the soil, and our, you know, we're on the Napa River, so we have a-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Montelena's on the alluvial fan of the Napa River. So if you know about Napa, historically, a lot of the great vineyards, here, on the alluvial fan is whether it's Araujo, Caymus-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
The To-Kalon.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And so, our alluvial fan is of the Napa River itself. So, you know, as you go down, you know, the Three Palms -
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
They're all ... So we got that. So, and everybody said, “Okay, Cabernet's gonna be the future.” And my dad had really wanted to make Cabernet. So as we replanted, we took out everything except the Zin, and the Mondeuse, and the Pets. And so-
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
When I started working in the cellar in '73, we were still crushing a little bit of, Zinfandel, Mondeuse, and Petite Sirah.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
So, and, but those went away in our '74 plantings, that's when we really, uh, swept over most. And so the only original vineyards we have from that period are some, we have two acres of Zinfandel left. From-
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
... uh, 1968, I think.
Doug Shafer:
Nice.
Bo Barrett:
And we have about five left of the 1970, no, seven left of the 1974 Cab.
Doug Shafer:
Cool.
Bo Barrett:
So, our legacy stuff.
Doug Shafer:
Cool. Coming back to the history, because I've gotta bring this up. You know, there's this ... You guys have a, a lake on the property, right by the Chateau. And the reason (laughs) I bring it up is 'cause, I remember a couple of toga parties -
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. But, um, a little side note, Bo used to host toga parties after harvest.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
After we were all beat, and so, uh, it was always a great-
Bo Barrett:
It was actually at like-
Doug Shafer:
... get together.
Bo Barrett:
80% through harvest when everybody would be-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. You know. Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
It's kind of like the cowboys riding into town and really cutting loose.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs). And still -
Bo Barrett:
And the people like Doug would ask me, “What should I bring” I said, “Bring a wheelbarrow for your wife to cart you home in.” (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs). Um-
Bo Barrett:
But, yeah, the toga parties, there's nothing like a bunch of people in sheets -
Doug Shafer:
Uh.
Bo Barrett:
... paddling around a lake in the Chinese junk.
Doug Shafer:
But the lake. So, so tell me, Jade Lake. Where'd that, where'd that come from? Was that your dad?
Bo Barrett:
No, not at all. So, we actually have the ad. So, the heirs and descendants of Alfred Tubbs -
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
...were land rich and cash poor. So, over the years, the properties got sold and broken up. And the 16 acres that the winery sits upon was sold in the early '60s to a Chinese guy named Yort Frank Wing.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
Yort Frank Wing's family had fled the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. But he grew up in Los Angeles -
Doug Shafer:
Oh, wow.
Bo Barrett:
...so, he had had to leave China when he was an infant, or a very young man. So, when he got Chateau Montelena, he had just the winery and the grounds -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), Uh-huh (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... right in front of it, right by the Napa River, there.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
So, he decided to build a lake -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... and build a Chinese garden. So, Yort Frank Wang. So he only owns the 16 acres, and he's not operating the winery, clearly.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And we still have, if you come to our tasting room and visit, on the, you know, the displays, you can see the advertisement from about 1965 in the Chronicle. And -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... it says, you know, “Old Chateau Available for Retreats, Spa, Hotel, Restaurant.” Not one single mention of wine. That's how sleepy the wine world was.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
You know, because before your dad and my dad got here, there is no question. Even as late as 1976, they're saying, “Napa Valley used to be the center of American wine making.”
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
"But now it's clearly Modesto.” And that was as late as '76. So -
Doug Shafer:
We've gotta compare those stories in a second -
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So, but, so, anyways, Yort Frank built a Chinese lake. And then, as crazy as it might -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... seem, over where the Araujo’s are now.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Uh, that was the Eisele Vineyard.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Right?
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Okay. So, Eisele... Yort Frank has a Caterpillar that he used to build the lake, right? And old D-4, six-
Doug Shafer:
Right, right, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
You know, the one with the cables -
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... on the front. So he's got this Cat. And Eisele wants to build a pond.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And he's got, guess what? A 26-foot Chinese junk that he bought in Seattle. So they (laughs), so Yort Frank trades the Caterpillar for the Chinese junk and puts it on Jade Lake. So that's why we had that junk-
Doug Shafer:
That, it, we ...
Bo Barrett:
... that we used to party on.
Doug Shafer:
Is it still there? No.
Bo Barrett:
No.
Doug Shafer:
It's long gone.
Bo Barrett:
It'd be-
Doug Shafer:
Did it sink?
Bo Barrett:
If the insurance company called it I, wha- (laughs)
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
When you were out there, it sank all the time.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
So what we decided to do was fill up with that Formula two part foam, kind of how great stuff is, now?
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
There was this foam. So we filled the bilge s-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... with this foam -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... so it wouldn't sink.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
But-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
We were young and stupid. We didn't understand ballas t-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... all that well-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
...that the boat's not supposed to float that high. So that's why it was-
Doug Shafer:
Well, you just, you-
Bo Barrett:
... so tippy, and when we had the party, everybody fell (laughs) in the pond.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, it's not young and stupid. It's just-
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... we didn't have the nautical background. That's all. It's just, you know-
Bo Barrett:
We had this-
Doug Shafer:
It's all about experience.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. But, the lake ... And then, so, over the years, and he had built the plywood pavilions and stuff, and then-
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
When I went to China, probably ten years ago, and I was giving a talk on, actually, the history of American Chardonnay in Beijing.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
Right before the Americans started it, you know, trying to import into the PRC. I saw, at the summer palace, what Jade Lake was supposed to look like.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And subsequently bought all the Chinese tiles. And that's where the upgrade, now. So, now it really is a, is a very good American version of the, uh, summer palace in Beijing.
Doug Shafer:
Very cool.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Very cool. So, getting to your dad, 'cause I'm real curious about it. Because I don't know your dad's story, and how he got to Napa Valley. But, so where'd your dad grow up? Where'd, where'd he come from?
Bo Barrett:
Well, he was born in the south side of Chicago, in the Irish ghettos. My grandparents were Irish immigrants. I actually still have them, you know, EU-Irish Passport.
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Bo Barrett:
Yep. So I got that. But, so, I grew up, and his father was a fireman, and a railroad cop. And, and then he also worked for Sears Roebuck, during the day.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
So, he was a railroad cop at night, um, my grandparents had met in the U.S., didn't like it. Oh, they had gone back to Ireland, uh, one-
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
... of the brothers was either born or conceived there, the middle brother Vincent. And then he moved back to the U.S. for good, uh, I don't know the exact years.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But it was definitely after World War II. Uh, he got his citizenship in the U.S. working for the Navy in World War I. So, we have always been a hard-core Navy family. My dad served in the Navy -
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... submarines, my uncle's buried at Annapolis. He was a rear admiral.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So, a big time Navy family. But, anyway, my uncle got transferred to Los Angeles when my dad was eight. So, he grew up in Los Angeles.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
And, like the Irish trifecta, it was four kids, the, the youngest daughter passed away early. But, the first brother, Annapolis grad.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
Rear admiral. Next one, priest. Monsignor.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And the next one was an attorney. So -
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
My dad used to say it his mom was so proud, 'cause it was the Irish trifecta.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
You know?
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
But my father, uh-
Doug Shafer:
And he was, he was the attorney?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Your dad-
Bo Barrett:
He's the attorney.
Doug Shafer:
He got it.
Bo Barrett:
So, uh, he was an attorney in southern California. And his lead client was the, uh, a guy named Ernie Hahn and there's-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... two companies in the U.S. that say they invented the regional shopping center, aka mall, the Di Bartolos and the Hahn Companies. So, as the Hahn Company started building malls around the world, my father was his lead guy. And by the time he was getting ready to do something else, he did 30 years, he had had like 36 lawyers, and all these people, and all they did was real estate and tax development.
Doug Shafer:
He did 30 years as a lawyer?
Bo Barrett:
That's right. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
He didn't get to move, you know, we won the Paris Tasting in '76. But he didn't get to move to Napa Valley 'til about '85.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. That's what-
Bo Barrett:
He was a lawyer for a long time.
Doug Shafer:
That's what my question was. Because since he bought the property, '72 you said.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, late '71.
Doug Shafer:
Late '71. So, okay. Before we go any further, what was the, was he, was he a wine guy? Was he into wine?
Bo Barrett:
Not at all. What happened was, as his clientele got more and more sophisticated, you know, 'cause he'd come out of the Navy, and he still, you know, 'til the day he died, continued to drink Jack Daniels and stuff like that.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Jack and soda. And, um, so, what happened was, as his clientele became more and more sophisticated, he had to go to these, you know ... fancy dinners-
Doug Shafer:
The dinners.
Bo Barrett:
... at like the Brown Derby, and all these, you know-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... what was Piero Selvaggio's restaurant in L.A.?
Doug Shafer:
Valentino's?
Bo Barrett:
Valentino, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So he's down in L.A.
Bo Barrett:
So he's in L.A. So he just-
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
He decides that he has to learn about wine.
Doug Shafer:
Uh-huh (affirmative). Funny.
Bo Barrett:
So to learn about wine, he goes up to the UCLA extension.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So the night class at UCLA, Chroman, Nathan Chroman, famous name in the business. So, old Chroman's teaching the UCLA Appreciation of Wine extension class. And my dad learns four things.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Well, really, one thing. That the great wines of the world are German Riesling,
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... Burgundy, Chardonnay, and Pinot. And so that's just one. We'll just call it, Chardonnay and Pinot the same thing.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
That's, you know-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Burgundy, basically-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... as one. The Rhone wines, and-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... the Grand Cru of Bordeaux.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So that's what he did, so that's how my father learned about wine. And I was in high school at this time and I'm sitting there at the dinner table, and, you know, my dad's got this bottle of wine. And I, you know, my dad has not been drinking wine. Like, seriously, my brothers and I are his-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... bartenders. And we're making Tom Collins, and-
Doug Shafer:
Sure.
Bo Barrett:
... gin and tonics, and-
Doug Shafer:
Gin, gin and tonics.
Bo Barrett:
I cannot remember pulling any glasses of wine at all these big parties that they would have, you know-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... at my house in Palos Verdes. My dad would have big parties. And we were the bartenders, and seriously, I can remember learning how to make a Tom Collins, and a gin and tonic-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... and all this kind of stuff. But nobody ever asked for wine. So I see my dad with a bottle of Chardonnay as it's the Bouchard Père & Fils, the real one? You gotta little Amon Rouche . And he goes, “Gol, man, this is amazing. You gotta taste this.” I was probably 15. And it was pretty amazing.
Doug Shafer:
Well, this, okay, I gotta, I gotta stop you quick. Don't don't lose your train of thought. But, we're tracking the same way. So I'm in Chicago. Dad, Mom, they're, you know, cocktails. Bourbon and beer. There was never wine in the house. Same thing. My brothers and I would bartend parties. (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
And so I remember this lady teaching me how to shoot gin and tonics. So, like I had a shot glass, Dad said, you just pour a shot of gin, and then fill it up with tonic, and so I did. The lady looks at me, she goes, “Honey, let me show you how to make a real drink.” (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
She basically did a, a shot glass full of tonic and filled it with gin instead.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
But, how funny. So that's, uh, because dad, you know, a lot of people I run into and say, “Oh, how cool that your dad was into wine and did this.” It's like, No. He did it because he heard it as a good investment. Like he came out, it was the, the wine boom was coming. So that's where he came from.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, when-
Doug Shafer:
So how, so did your, but now, but yours started getting into wine. So is that what triggered it to come up to here?
Bo Barrett:
No. And so this is a ... that ... and you know that, that you've heard it in our business, the class of '72, or the class of '73?
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Where all the sudden 25 wineries start up all of a sudden. And-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
You might have been at that CEO conference where I talked about that.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
'Cause you gotta remember, in '72, the Vietnam war is raging.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
The combined tax rate, the federal tax rate's like 73 to 78% because they have the war surcharges. And so, so what happened was, we've got John Connelly as the Speaker of the House. And the, you know, the taxing and Richard Nixon's President. And they conspired to write a tax law signed, gotta remember, my dad's a tax and real estate attorney.
Doug Shafer:
It's his, right in his wheelhouse.
Bo Barrett:
Right. So, the, the, I, the Restoration Act, I'd actually have to look at my notes to find the exact name of it. But basically, there was a whole - and American agriculture was also dying at the same time. So we have this really crushing tax rates-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... uh, the Vietnam War, things are not going all that great in '72. So, to reinvigorate American agriculture, they pass a reinvestment tax credit where whole dollars. So if you make $1,000,000 on your shopping center development you can put that $1,000,000 into agriculture and not pay the 78 taxes, but you ... 78% tax. But you can put the whole dollars to work in American agriculture. And if you th- that's right.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
You're looking at me ... now-
Doug Shafer:
I'm looking, I'm looking-
Bo Barrett:
... this is passed for the Midwest. This is for Tannico, and all the giant agribusiness stuff.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But what happened, what Napa really needed was the money. 'Cause, you know, you own a winery, you know wineries run on two things, money and water.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
You know, this, this business is insane, how much money we have to invest, where you're growing grapes for five years. And then you get-
Doug Shafer:
Equipment.
Bo Barrett:
... to buy barrels, and you get to buy a bottling line, then you get to buy a warehouse, and a forklift, and more people, and-
Doug Shafer:
And then you get to sell wine.
Bo Barrett:
It's just insane.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs). I remember the first time my dad was bragging to his buddies, he goes, “We finally made a million bucks.” And he goes, “You did all that work, plant those-"
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
"... grapes, crush them, and what what? For a lousy million bucks?”
Doug Shafer:
Yeah and it took ya-
Bo Barrett:
It's like-
Doug Shafer:
...it took ya 15 years.
Bo Barrett:
Talk about getting your balloon popped. Oh, yeah. It took more than that. But, so, anyway, um-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
So, basically, my dad's job was to find an agricultural enterprise for his clients.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So they looked at cattle. And in those days, you know, nobody in the United States knew what an avocado was, much less a pomegranate. You know?
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
All this, and so the oranges, there's taxes and stuff. So my dad really went around, he was a pilot by that time. And he had his airplane. He flew all around California. Luckily I got to go with sometimes, and we'd go look at cattle operations. You know, I only went on a couple, but he went on a lot.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So we looked at some cows, we looked at some oranges. And the pomegranates and avocados, all that stuff. And none of were ha- were getting to any traction. So, they're up at like the Brown Derby, again, or Valentino in L.A.-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And they're drinking a bottle of Mondavi Cab. (laughs). And the way my dad always told the story, is he takes a sip of the wine, and all of the sudden, he just went, “What about this stuff?", as he points to the bottle.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And that's, so, that. And he's, the next, probably, day or two, he was up here, flew up to Santa Rosa. Started looking around-
Doug Shafer:
So he, he was on a search.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. He was on a search. He was looking for an agricultural investment.
Doug Shafer:
A product.
Bo Barrett:
And, I'm, and I am quite sure that, you know, I've told, you know, the Wetzels, and stuff like that, 'cause a lot of their dad's, because I was so involved with my dad, you know, that he thought I was gonna be a lawyer, too, so as we went along, he was, you know, keeping me a press, uh-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... apprised of all these, um, the complexities of life. Um, where, you know, people think of us that are successful in our business that we're just, you know, farmers, and grape growers, and I go to great lengths to say, “Oh, you know, aw shucks. I'm just a grape grower, and working hard.”
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But the fact of the matter is, is, you know, half the time, we have to be a lawyer, and a diplomat, and a politician, and, you know, fight hard for things like the direct to shipping thing.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Bo Barrett:
And all the things we've done in our careers, you know, a lot of it is making wine is the fun part. You know?
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
But some of the more heavy lifting that you and I have done of things like the direct shipping, and all these, all these things-
Doug Shafer:
Ah just-
Bo Barrett:
...that we've, that we've made the difference in. So, anyway. That's how we got into it, basically, a class at L.A. and looking for real estate investment.
Doug Shafer:
Came up here, and looked around, found, so he found this place. So he found, it was all, it was abandoned at that point.
Bo Barrett:
That's right, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
The Chateau.
Bo Barrett:
The roof had collapsed in two places, the vineyards were totally run down. Uh, the winery was actually on a separate parcel. It had to be reunited with 100 acres of-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... the vineyard. So that was the first thing. And, a guy had got here, Lee Passage our first partner, who had actually successfully done that. So, Lee Passage got the name back from Bob Trinchero.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
He didn't give it to Jim Barrett, he gave it to Lee Passaage, one of our first partners. And then, we started replanting the vineyard. But my father knew that he didn't know, really, anything about farming, seriously.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... to the day he died, you know, you see in the movies, he's in the winery, and stuff, no. You know.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
If you told him, “Hook up this disc and pull down that row, or we'll shoot your dog.” The dog would die.
Doug Shafer:
The dog would die.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs). Oh, no.
Bo Barrett:
You know, or hook up this pump and empty this barrel, or crush these grapes, the dog's gonna die.
Doug Shafer:
The dog- (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
So, yet, but he was a v- excellent, excellent, along the lines of Ronald Reagan. A very laissez faire, a hard task master, and a very fair, what would you call it, not a dictator, but, benevolent monarch.
Doug Shafer:
No, he, he spoke his mind and it was by ... I, I adored your dad. He-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... was a g-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I loved seeing him, it was great.
Bo Barrett:
So, so, so he put together a team, and, uh, our first vineyard manager that was his first hire, his name was John Rolleri. John Rolleri had plowed grapes for Madame Du Pins with a mule. That's how long-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
... his experience was. And so-
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
Our first vineyard manager, the day he came to work, he was my age, now, 65. He was an old guy.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
'Cause in those days, 65 was actually pretty old.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Nowadays, it's like, bah, doesn't matter.
Doug Shafer:
No.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
No way.
Bo Barrett:
But, but, but anyway so he got that, and then, he hired this wine maker Mike Grgich, who had a pretty good, uh, track record.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, where'd, where'd Mike come from at that point?
Bo Barrett:
Mike, you probably read Dick Peterson's book.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
He was over there. He was a lab tech over at BV. And I believe he was a lab tech over at Mondavi, too. And then I think he was on the wine making team at Mondavi.
Doug Shafer:
That's right, I think you're right.
Bo Barrett:
But, uh, you know, it's, with all these wineries, that were starting in '72, it was, you know, a great opportunity for Mr. Grgich, and he did, he did a great job for us, you know. Clearly, he was-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, he was, so, that was, you know, if you look at me, I did my, uh, apprenticeship under Mike Grgich, you know.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
And then after we won the Paris Tasting course, you know, he took off to start Grgich Hills. So-
Doug Shafer:
Right but-
Bo Barrett:
... more power to him.
Doug Shafer:
I'm with you. So, I'm going back. So your dad buys it '71, '72, you get the vineyard go- so you had 100 acres of vineyard.
Bo Barrett:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Which was great. And then, uh, you're fixing up the winery to getting going. First crush was '72?
Bo Barrett:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
And, but your Dad's still, he lived in L.A. and he kept lawyering? So-
Bo Barrett:
Right, yeah. Because in '72, we had to replant the vineyard.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So we don't make the estate cabernet until 1978.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
Because we plant in ‘72 and '74. So we don't have enough grapes until we crush the '78. '78, at that time, we were on a four year cycle. So, the, I was like 30 months in barrels, not the typical 20, 24-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... we're using nowadays.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
So it was a four year cycle under capsule. We're not selling our first estate cabernet until 1982.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
And so, is that gonna work or not? We don't know. So, that's why he doesn't get to really wind down his law business 'til about '85.
Doug Shafer:
So he kept, he wanted to, he kept his day, day job.
Bo Barrett:
He kept it.
Doug Shafer:
Smart guy. Okay.
Bo Barrett:
He, yeah. Yeah, he-
Doug Shafer:
So he-
Bo Barrett:
He had to keep his day job.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. Okay. S- just for fun, we moved here in '73. Same type of, 30 acres of 60 year old vines, same varieties you mentioned. You know, Dad started to develop Hillside Cab. His first vintage they bottled was '78. Sold it in '81. He wanted to get going fast.
Bo Barrett:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Well, that, if you think about back to, you know, my dad had gone to that UCLA class.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And if you look at Chateau Montelena today, you know, 40 something years later-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
What do we make Riesling, German ... remember? The four wines from UCLA: Riesling-
Doug Shafer:
Riesling.
Bo Barrett:
... Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Cabernet. The Zinfandel, put an equal sign, equals our Rhone wine.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And so, that's what we make, and we still have some.
Doug Shafer:
You still make the four wines.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, we still make the four wines. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
You still make 'em.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. We still got Riesling, too. So, but basically, that was a cash flow deal. See, 'cause the Riesling's a one year wine. You crush it in-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... September, October, you can start selling it, basically, the following June. So it's, and the next year, you get to start selling Riesling. Chardonnay, at that time, was a two year wine.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
Zinfandel was a three year wine. And then the Cabernet -
Doug Shafer:
And Cabernet was a four.
Bo Barrett:
... was an eight to 10 year project.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So the Chardonnay and the Riesling, and the Zinfandel were all cash flow products to get the winery up and running, and to basically fund, uh, the-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... the Cabernet program.
Doug Shafer:
So-
Bo Barrett:
And it worked, you know.
Doug Shafer:
It worked.
Bo Barrett:
So, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So, circling back to you, you're growing up in Palos Verdes.
Bo Barrett:
Heh (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
You graduate from high school right around-
Bo Barrett:
'72.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Dad's bought the winery. And so-
Bo Barrett:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
What happened to you? Where'd you go to - well, wait. What was, what was high school like?
Bo Barrett:
Ha.
Doug Shafer:
I don't remember hearing about it. What'd you do?
Bo Barrett:
Well, I went, I was incarcerated-
Doug Shafer:
... in sports, what?
Bo Barrett:
... at Bishop Montgomery High School, the Catholic high school-
Doug Shafer:
... incarcerated.
Bo Barrett:
It was about-
Doug Shafer:
Incarcerated.
Bo Barrett:
It was all the way down in Torrance. We lived in Palos Verdes in a town called Lunada Bay. It's now called Rancho Palos Verdes.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
It's all the million dollar houses. When I grew up, out there, it was garbanzo beans and barley-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... and strawberries, of all things.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
No, seriously, it was. It was all farms out there. So I had a really good free-range childhood. You know, at the, going out into the ocean, uh, my Huck Finn days were completely at the ocean. Uh-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Ra- you know-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Uh, shooting fish, and roasting 'em on the beach kind of thing. Building forts out of driftwood, it was a very, um-
Doug Shafer:
Fun.
Bo Barrett:
... like I said, it was a very free-range childhood. Mostly, around the ocean and water, then in high school, I played water polo, swam-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... did not play football or baseball, that stuff. Yeah, I was always, always aquatic-based.
Doug Shafer:
Always was on the beach.
Bo Barrett:
Always on the beach. Um, but then, when I graduated from high school, um, Pa- Palos Verdes is quite famous for, there was a very tribal, surf zone wars. My beach, my wave, my girl. And it was being quite violent. And I didn't like that at all.
Doug Shafer:
Were you a surfer?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, definitely.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Early days. Like when they gave us the surf leash after Jack O'Neill invented the, uh, invented the lea- Do you know why Jack O'Neill had eye patch? You know, in the O'Neill wet suits? The eye patch?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why?
Bo Barrett:
'Cause he invented the surf leash. The first one was all shock cord.
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
And it broke and knocked his eye out.
Doug Shafer:
The, the thing he invented-
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, no.
Bo Barrett:
So, Jack O'Neill. He's one of the greats of the aqua, aquatic world.
Doug Shafer:
You know, I learned more s- things on this, this, doing this podcast. (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Okay. So, anyway, so, my dad ... So I graduated from high school-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... and my dad says, “What are you gonna do now?” I said-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
"I wanna surf.” He goes, "Where are you gonna live? I said, “Oh, well, right here.” He goes, “Great.” My dad's a successful lawyer, we've got a Mexican cook and she-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... makes tacos for me at lunch every day.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
He goes, “No. In this family.” Remember, the Irish immigrant parents. “In this family, you gotta be a full-time student or have a full-time job to live in this house.” That's the bad news-
Doug Shafer:
I just love your dad.
Bo Barrett:
That's the bad news.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
No, he, he was tough. And, but, tough in a good way. And, so, I said, “Okay, well ...” You know, and in high school, I was clearly one of the guys that just looked out the window the whole time. I-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
My brother got way, my brothers and sisters got way better grades than I did. I always maintained a B average. Because if I got a B average, I could go ski and take weeks off in the winter, and stuff like that.
Doug Shafer:
How, how many siblings?
Bo Barrett:
Five.
Doug Shafer:
Five.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So, I, I'm-
Doug Shafer:
So six kids.
Bo Barrett:
I'm the oldest boy.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, one ... oldest daughter, three boys in a row, and then, uh, a baby sister.
Doug Shafer:
Great.
Bo Barrett:
So, I was the oldest of the boys. And so, I had to always set the example- of
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... the oldest son, you know, that deal. So, anyway, um, he said, “I can get you a job at the construction company. And I can get you a job at the vineyard. I want you to try out both this year.” So I went down and poured concrete, building shopping centers with the Hahn company, for about $7.50 an hour in 1972. Really huge union money. Big money.
Doug Shafer:
Big money.
Bo Barrett:
I got to buy a motorcycle to commute to work in, and stuff like that. And we were building, I think that one was in, maybe Long Beach or Anaheim-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Kinda out there. So, I poured concrete for about a month and a half. And then, I decided, he goes, “Go try the winery, now.” And they-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... were making a dollar an hour.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs). And look what job I chose as a career. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
$1.00 an hour.
Bo Barrett:
$1.00, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So you come up through wineries. So, and Grgich is at the winery.
Bo Barrett:
Right. Though the winery's not really running yet. This-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... was '72. So, the 1968, uh, Zinfandel had to be watered with a bucket. So that was my job, was basically-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, my gosh.
Bo Barrett:
... pull the old grape gondolas and trailers, and a five gallon bucket-
Doug Shafer:
A buck- walking through the fields.
Bo Barrett:
... you dig a ditch around each vine-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... dump in the bucket. And then, pulling star-thistle by hand. And then, by '74, I was working summers, you know, putting in end posts and stuff.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But then, Grgich he liked my work product and he moved me to the cellar in '73. So the first harvest, I worked was '73.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. So, uh, and, and you've been there ever since.
Bo Barrett:
Well, meanwhile, so, I started working there, and I worked all summer long. And I said, “To hell with this. I want to go to college, too.”
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So-
Doug Shafer:
Okay. That's cool. All right good.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So I decided to go to college. And, uh-
Doug Shafer:
... hard, hard labor-
Bo Barrett:
You'll appreciate my dad.
Doug Shafer:
My-
Bo Barrett:
The first day, the Snowbird tram was open, he, the first lift, we were on the second lift. Not the first, the first day the Snowbird tram was open, he had me and my brothers out there to ski Snowbird.
Doug Shafer:
You dog.
Bo Barrett:
I know. The first-
Doug Shafer:
You dog.
Bo Barrett:
... that was 1971.
Doug Shafer:
1971.
Bo Barrett:
The winter of '71-'72, Snowbird opens. First day we're there.
Doug Shafer:
All right. Time out, time out, time out. You're a surfer. You're a beach boy. When did you get into skiing?
Bo Barrett:
My dad got us into that.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
He, no, my dad got me into all the fun stuff in the world. He dove, he skied.
Doug Shafer:
All right.
Bo Barrett:
He flew airplanes. Uh, so all the stuff that I still-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... do today-
Doug Shafer:
Another thing-
Bo Barrett:
And I told you I just came back from a dive-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... trip. My whole family dives-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... and skis. So, I grew up, like my dad, he was, he was, he liked the outdoors.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Don't lose your Snowbird. I'm gonna come back to it. But, gotta jump in. Same deal. Chicago, Illinois, Dad took up skiing at 20, 21. And turned us all on.
Bo Barrett:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
From age nothing to, you know. And he used to, we used to ski these little, wimpy hills, and ... Well, not wimpy. There are hills in Wisconsin. But, but then he'd drag us out west. And went to Vail and all that stuff. And he and his buddies discovered Alta Utah, just a mile up the road from Snowbird. And so right about the same time, I'm like a sophomore in high school. He was dragging us out to Alta, Utah. Because I remember Snowbird was opening and we thought that was the new, cool thing. But it was a really cool thing. All right. So you're on the second tram up.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah well but it's also like this, we were from L.A. and my dad was a-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
...we were told a Alta Park City. My dad, like I said, if I got a 3.2 average, he'd let me and my brother take a week off of school during the middle of winter. And we would take the train, two boys, like, 13 and 12, we got to go with the local ski club from L.A. Path Ski Club. And he would let us go on the train, by ourselves, stay in the dorms at Park City or Alta Gold Miner's Daughter, you remember, that-
Doug Shafer:
Gold Miner's Daughter, yeah. (laughs). I know it well.
Bo Barrett:
And so, and he would let us. And we'd go out there, by ourselves, and ski. And then we'd get on the-
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
... train and come home. It was, like I said, it was a very free-range childhood. It was awesome. So our dads were the same. It was like-
Doug Shafer:
My father-
Bo Barrett:
... they were encouraging us to get into the good things of life. So-
Doug Shafer:
Very cool.
Bo Barrett:
Like I said, my, my neighborhood is getting into this very tribal ... There's actually book about it. The-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... tribes of Palos Verdes and stuff. And it became part of southern California surf lore for those-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
You know, those of us on the West Coast, they're into the surfing, and, you know, I still surf a little bit. Not ... In waves about waist-high, now.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
I'll only stand up, because of my back. But-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... the, um. So with that, I decided to go to the University of Utah. And my dad-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... said, “That's great. I'll pay for your tuition and your books.” And I said, “Well, what am I gonna eat?” He says, “Eat snow. I know where to go in Utah.” I said, “Where am I gonna live?” He goes, “Live on your skis. I know where you're gonna ... “ So I actually had to take my hard-earned money-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... from the winery, and then, be ... and so then ... And then, he was right. I went, I took classes at the University of Utah. So I, I'm a Ute. I went to the University of Utah.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
After 3:00 in the afternoon. So whatever they had: oceanography, chasseur whatever it was. 'Cause I, remember, I'm gonna be a lawyer, and his judge buddies have said, “It doesn't matter. Your BA or BS doesn't matter. The law school barely matters. It's just, pass the bar. And then work hard.” 'Cause the law business is a lot like ours, actually. Everybody gives Harvard all the credit, 'cause the rabbits get into Harvard. But, really, the snails or the tortoises are the ones who really are the best lawyers.
Doug Shafer:
Interesting. Interesting.
Bo Barrett:
But, anyway, so I s-
Doug Shafer:
So you're saying-
Bo Barrett:
... spent four years-
Doug Shafer:
You're, Y-You're skiing-
Bo Barrett:
... four whole years.
Doug Shafer:
You got four years?
Bo Barrett:
Four winters, skiing 100 days a year. So I had work at the winery, never had a car-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
... always had, always pick, choose your roommates carefully. Pick one with a good four-wheel drive car to drive you up skiing.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And, uh, so, then, the, by '76, I had found out there was, that's before Red Bull, or anything like that.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And we were into mountaineering. So, I decided to, uh, go to Fresno State. And so, I switched over to-
Doug Shafer:
But you did four years at Utah.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Did you get-
Bo Barrett:
With part-time. Only two semesters.
Doug Shafer:
... a degree, or just part-time?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
'Cause I never went up, 'cause I always worked, uh, summer and fall.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
So I would really leave the winery when things get slow after the harvest, just like-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... when you let cut your interns loose, basically, that was my job. I was the summer and fall-
Doug Shafer:
Summer and fall.
Bo Barrett:
... full-time intern, yeah. And, so then, I go to Utah, and when I ran out of money, I'd, uh, go up to Idaho Falls and fish for a while, and then when I really ran out of money-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
I'd come back and start working the cellar around May. So I usually did May through the end of November at the winery. And that is until I went to Fresno State in '76.
Doug Shafer:
So '76 Fresno State. Now, Fresno State, and what'd you study?
Bo Barrett:
Well, viticulture and enology. Again, you gotta get in your time machine. In 1976, UC Davis, enology is under fermentation science.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
It is not part of the, it's not part of the Ag school yet. I don't, I don't know, I didn't go to Davis, so I don't know when they combined 'em there. So I went to, was accepted to both the University of Davis and Fresno. So I go to uh, Davis, and I'm talking to 'em I said, “Well, um, I have a bit of work in a small winery, I need to do viticulture and enology.” They said, “Oh, that's perfect. You can get your bachelor's in one, and then your master's in the other.” And I said, “How long is that gonna take?” They said-
Doug Shafer:
Like six years.
Bo Barrett:
"Oh, six or seven years.”
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And this is '72. The wine business, or this is '76, the wine business is exploding, right?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
I go down to Fresno, and this is a true story. So I go to Fresno, same thing. Go in and start talking to the guys at the department, the, uh, counselor.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
I said, “Well, what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna be a winemaker, and I need to manage a small winery. So I need to do ... I don't need to do microbiology. I need to do the business management stuff.” 'Cause Fresno had a pretty good business school at the time. And that, and, and I'm not kidding, in one day, in four hours, I went from that counselor to see Vince Petrucci. Vince Petrucci walk me across the street to see the dean, and his name was King. And so I went from, so I got to, Petrucci was second, I talked to the enology next.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And then he got me in front of Vince, Vince Petrucci. The, you guys could look him up, he is just super famous in the California business.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And so-
Doug Shafer:
I've heard of him.
Bo Barrett:
... Vince, then, walks me across the street to talk to the Dean. This is in the same day, no appointment and I walk up there, and I tell the dean exactly my same story. He goes, “Great. We'll put you in AgEcon as your minor.”
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
“And, uh, and then you can take all the business classes.” And he waved me in and that was in one day. So that's why I went to Fresno State. And then I said, “But I need to take 20 units at a whack.” He goes, “Well, see how you do on the first 15.” So the dean ... So, then, I had to go see him after every semester and, 'til eventually I was taking like 22 units. And, uh-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
You know, I got a -
Doug Shafer:
Well-
Bo Barrett:
I was a man on a mission at that point.
Doug Shafer:
Well, okay. But that's, that's the difference. So, at that point, you know, you, you'd had those four years, and you're skiing, and you're working in the winery, so it's like, not that you got serious, 'cause we'd never want to get serious in our lives. But, you had-
Bo Barrett:
But, I found that there was a job-
Doug Shafer:
You were, you were-
Bo Barrett:
I found the ideal job, where you don't have to be in an office all the time. You can earn, at that time, it was an honest living. You know, you gotta remember. Montelena doesn't make any money-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... 'til really about 1990. You know, until we started really being profitable. It took, took forever. But, I found a job where I could be outside most of the time. And, you know, you have a winery. You know, it's not like an office. It's, you go into the winery, it's like your fort with all your friends and your toys. And it's not like having a job. You know, during harvest, you get, the, the stuff, it's, you know, you had tractors, and equipment, and-
Doug Shafer:
No.
Bo Barrett:
It's, it's, it's a gas, man.
Doug Shafer:
It's ... I'm, I'm, I'm...
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
We track the same way. 'Cause I'm a junior in high school in '73. We move out here, a year and a half finishing up. Dad's, you know, all of the sudden, I'm living on this ranch in this funky little house coming from suburban Chicago. This little, you know ...
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
There's no winery, here. We didn't build the winery 'til '80. You know, but I'm coming back from high school seeing Dad on a tractor, with a shit-eating grin on his face, you know with a straw hat. I've never seen him so happy in my life. I'm working on the weekends, hauling rocks out of the vineyard, hating it but kind of loving it.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And now I see him working with these guys, who, who, their office is a pickup truck. There's the, the, the water consultant, the irrigation guy, the, you know, the guy selling grapevines. And basically, that's when it clicked for me and said, “You know.” 'Cause I didn't know he was gonna do a winery. I just thought he was gonna grow grapes, I really didn't. So, you know, I think he did. But he wasn't telling anybody, including my mom.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
And, when I said... I, I went to Davis to be a farmer. So I went to t- 'cause I just wanted, I wanted to wear jeans and live in a pickup, live, work out of a pickup truck. So I went to Davis to do the viticulture thing. And, uh, the lo and behold, I took some enology, but actually, I went another direction. I said, I wanted to teach, so all of the sudden, I started taking education classes, and went and taught school for a while. But that, too-
Bo Barrett:
That's actually a big part of the job.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
But the whole, the whole allure of the outdoor thing, you know, not being in an office, and, you know, now 30, 40 years later, I'm in an office most of time, or on an airplane. But, you know, God, you know, this first 10 or 15 years, here in the cellar, you're out in the vineyard. I mean, it's just, it's great. It's a great life.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It's fun.
Bo Barrett:
It is.
Doug Shafer:
Did you know that were gonna have a... Did you know that, you know, you were doing this gig at Fresno State and it was like, you had a job to go to? Did you guys talk-
Bo Barrett:
No, not at all.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
That, that was a big surprise to me-
Doug Shafer:
'Cause knowing, knowing your Dad.
Bo Barrett:
Well, what happened, so, we're there, this is before we win the Paris Taste, remember I'm in Fresno.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And you gotta remember, I don't know, your winery was, our winery was, OSHA wasn't really part of our job. And they had a couple of injuries. And so, I was at Fresno and at the California State Ag schools, you can get a waiver out of school and miss some school and not get kicked out. So, I had to go in, so they had a broken arm and a chopped off finger. So, Grgich called me, and said, “Hey, I need some help for like 10 days.” And so, same thing, you go in and tell the guy, “I need to take the, uh- “
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
“... the Ag school waiver for harvest to help out my family business.” So they let me go. And I'm, you know, everything's fine.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And, but, it, not really uh, what happens is, that we win the Paris tasting. And, um, Mike Grgich leaves the company. Basically, the next day. He's off with Austin Hill starting his winery and God bless him.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Good for him. That's his dream, he's always following his dream, and this is wonderful. But, my dad now doesn't have a winemaker. And Grgich took his whole wine-making team with him.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
That's, um-
Bo Barrett:
That's the cellar master, Aaron Mosley-
Doug Shafer:
Ohhh, no.
Bo Barrett:
The lead cellar worker, and they left us one recent graduate of Fresno State, Gary Galleron, you know, who Galleron is?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. I remember Gary.
Bo Barrett:
So Galleron, Galleron is the only cellar worker, Gustavo Brambila all those guys, they go off to Grgich, 'cause they're loyal to their maestro.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, man. Like, you know-
Bo Barrett:
So.
Doug Shafer:
And I can, you know and I can see your dad lighting it up, and he deserves to do as much as he wants. That's, that's-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. No.
Doug Shafer:
That's tough.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. That was tough. So, but, you know, the golden lining, here, is, unbeknownst to most people, there's a famous American winemaker Jerry Luper.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And he had made all those great Freemark Abbey wines. And then at the Paris tasting. The didn't win, either. You know, the wild card team from five years ago, who the hell was it? Nobody remembers. But, Luper-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Is the only winemaker that had two wines qualify for the Paris tasting. He had the Freemark Chardonnay and the Cabernet Bouchet. So Luper-
Doug Shafer:
I forgot about that.
Bo Barrett:
... Luper is just coming back from France. Now, you gotta remember who Luper trained; me, Tom Rinaldi, Heidi, I mean, this guy's ... He was a absolutely genius maestro. Like, that, whether he really separated himself as, for his own wines, it, to, his strength was his coaching.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
And, so, but anyway, Luper comes back. So my dad lucks out. Now he's got a straight up, straight shooting, honest as the day is long, hard working, really intelligent guy, Jerry Luper. Who's made a lot of good wines and we love him 'cause he's cool, he can play the guitar, he can play Eagles songs, he's-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... got a beard, he's kind of hip. And he's cool. So all the younger guys, uh-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... just like ... so my dad hires Luper. So Luper ... Now, I'm down in Fresno. I don't know any of this is going on.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause you were-
Bo Barrett:
So my dad's-
Doug Shafer:
In Fresno, yeah-
Bo Barrett:
...not calling me.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
I'm gone, I'm at Fresno State. So, the, so, Jerry says to, uh, this guy, Gary Galleron, “Hey, I, I need an assistant wine maker, here.” And Galleron says, “You should talk to Bo Barrett. He's down at Fresno State and he worked for Grgich for five years, here.”
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And he's been around. He, I, and, so Galleron says, “He's actually the boss when he comes back here. He's actually Gus' boss when he comes, when he shows up for harvest.” So, Luper calls me up, out of the blue at Fresno. “Hey, this is Jerry.” “Jerry, what are you calling me about?”
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
He goes, “I want you to come to work for me as an assistant winemaker up at Montelena.” I said, “Well, I gotta, I gotta do an independent study this fall.”
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
He goes, “That doesn't matter. You can do an independent study.” So, I guess I only needs like three more units or something at Fresno to get out of there. So, so, actually, so I didn't really, actually work for my Dad 'til '82 when I came back after I'd quit Montelena so I, I worked for Jerry all the way through the harvest of 1980.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So it's, moving up to 1980, the wine business is, now, it's really starting to explode. And people are walking out of Davis, and lead winemaker jobs with no experience whatsoever. Like maybe one internship in France. And so, now I got, you know, at least, you know, five year’s experience as, I've done my apprenticeship from Mike Grgich, my journeymanship with Jerry Luper, I got my credentials from Fresno State. So now, I'm ready to be a, a winemaker.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And so-
Doug Shafer:
'Cause you'd be, 'cause you'd been more or less at, off and on at Montelena for like eight or nine years.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, for 10.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, 10 years.
Bo Barrett:
So, really, yeah-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... eight or nine years by this time.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So, I had told my dad I was ready for, to be a winemaker. And he said, “Good luck.” And he sent me on down the road. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And-
Doug Shafer:
I know, I know that ... by the way, I know that conversation.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, yeah, I know- I'm ready to be the winemaker. And he goes, “Jerry's my winemaker. Good luck, kid.” You know? And so, so then I take off.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And, um-
Doug Shafer:
I'm sorry. Mine's(laughs) ... I'm sorry.
Bo Barrett:
You know, it takes two for that.
Doug Shafer:
I was teaching school, it was my second year, Christmas-time. I was back for Christmas. I knew I was gonna come back to the wine business, you know. And so I was actually said to Dad, and, at this point he had a winery, he had a winemaker. But I just said, “Hey, I'm gonna leave teaching and come back to the wine business.” Never even thinking I was gonna work with him at all. I just wanted to come back and start working in the cellar somewhere. And so, I told him I'd come back to the wine business. He goes, “Well, I don't have a job for you.” (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
It's like, “Wow, can you be a little nicer about that?”
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But -
Bo Barrett:
But it was go- it ended up good, and-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... you know, our d- we learned a lot from our dads. You know, what to do, and what not to do-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... it seems like. But like, my daughter, Chelsea, she's a winemaker down here at Materra now. It's the same, you know, the anti-nepotism thing that our dads taught us it, it's really important-
Doug Shafer:
Very important.
Bo Barrett:
Because you see so many wineries that are crushed by nepotism. You know, they get Junior in there, and they're driving his Ferrari, and the winery's in the toilet-
Doug Shafer:
No, no-
Bo Barrett:
... five years later-
Doug Shafer:
I'm with ya.
Bo Barrett:
...And, or wholesalers, you know, we, you, how many times have you seen that happen? Nepotism, it just crushes businesses. But, anyway, so, and then, I was down in, um ... So finally I took a job, it's you know where Ancient Peaks is now? It's called cra- it was called Indian Creek at the time, later, Creston-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Remember Alex Trebek's place-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
In Creston, California?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Down in San Luis Obispo... So, the first winery I designed was, is now Ancient Peaks. Is their tank room, now. But it was a cut and cover, I adapted some Idaho potato technology. The guys didn't have a lot of money. So, I did a cut and cover before it'd been invented. I took it from the, actually, from the spud business. I had seen-
Doug Shafer:
How fun.
Bo Barrett:
... in Idaho-
Doug Shafer:
How neat.
Bo Barrett:
.... so many times, so I did a cut and cover for these guys and it's still working. And so, I was happily designing a winery, gonna start, do this build-out thing. And my dad calls me up, and said, uh, “Jerr- Jerr-” and this was completely out of the blue. I mean, I'm just moved to Fresno. I've only been ... I've been in Creston and, you know, Saint Luis Obispo for, I don't know, b- um-
Doug Shafer:
A year?
Bo Barrett:
Maybe six months.
Doug Shafer:
Six months.
Bo Barrett:
Six, eight months-
Doug Shafer:
So it's like '81-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, less than a- it was definitely less than a year.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So I'm all down there, and I got this-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... vineyard it's gonna be 400 acres. It's going to be big. It's going to, it's a good project. I'm like a total monk.
Doug Shafer:
Well, you're the winemaker, right?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, I'm the winemaker. GM, everything. It's like designing the vineyards, I'm just, this whole thing, I got this whole deal. And Dad calls me up, and says, “Hey, I, uh, Jerry got a partnership job.” 'Cause that's when Jerry got the partnership job at Bouchaine. So, Garret and Tatiana had offered Jerry a partnership. Which my dad did not do, 'cause Grgich had been a partner, and getting rid of that partner was not easy. So, my dad, he, You work for Jim, you're not a partner. You know?
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, um-
Doug Shafer:
So Bouchaine down in Carneros
Bo Barrett:
So, he went to Bouchaine in Carneros. And, so now my dad needs a winemaker. And he, and so he goes, “Well, Jerry, who should I hire?” My Dad and Jerry were really tight. It was, it was-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... a tough decision for Jerry. I mean, I'm not kidding. Jerry and I have been trading e-mails this week.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
You know, okay. He lives in France, now.
Doug Shafer:
I know. Because he, he left town, and there's so many people in this valley, in this business that don't know-
Bo Barrett:
He, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
What a, A, what a great guy he is and B, what a fantastic winemaker. And what he did, and how many winemakers' lives he touched.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. And, the, his tr- like I said, the training, you know, 'cause the Duckhorn, when Tom Rinaldi was there, you know.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... was there, you know, Heidi, up at La Sirena, I mean, and, uh, not La Sirena but, you know, the Dalla Valle, and the Screaming Eagle, all that stuff. That really, you know, he was the coach that taught us a lot about how to do stuff. Now, Heidi with her dad, that you, you can't downplay that. That's just-
Doug Shafer:
You can't. (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
But, in my case, you know, and I got to train under Mike Grgich and Jerry Luper. So, you know, I had, I had a benefit of having, you know, several excellent mentors, coaches-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... in the business, you know, including Justin Meyer you know but, 'cause as you know, I married up. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Bo Barrett:
So I got to meet Justin and Joe Heitz and all those guys by the simple fact of marrying, you know, one of the most intelligent and articulate, and at that t- and, and beautiful young ladies in Napa.
Doug Shafer:
Well, she didn't do too bad herself.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So, but anyway-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... circling back, so the old man called me. And, uh, offered me a job in '82. And that's actually when I first started working for my father, it wasn't 'til then. Because it had always been the Navy. I worked for John Rolleri or I worked for Mike Grgich, I worked for Jerry. I'd never worked for Jim Barrett, I always worked for his officer corps.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
And it was a very da- and I still, d- typically do run Montelena in very much in Navy style. We have an officer corps, enlisted corps, and everybody knows where they fit in the-
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
... chain of command. And it's very ... The thing is, when you have a very tightly run ship, you can be very relaxed.
Doug Shafer:
Interesting. That's why you're so relaxed all these years.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
And you know you look at me, and go, “Shafer, why are you so uptight?”
Bo Barrett:
Well, because-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... you work at the office. But I make other people do that. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
We're gonna have to go have a long lunch. So he, so he called you up, 'cause Jerry said, “Hire Bo.”
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And, and and y-you went for it. Did you guys-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, no, well-
Doug Shafer:
...long discussion?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. That was, it took about three days because my father, I knew him by then, and he knew me pretty well, and basically what we said is, “I will take this job, if you will treat me like you've treated every other of the professional winemakers that you've had.” 'Cause he treated 'em very well. He treated Grgich well, he treated Luper well. He was a very responsive, authoritarian, you know, firm, but unreasonable boss but you could always count on him.
Doug Shafer:
Hm.
Bo Barrett:
And he was, he was non-interfering, which is, you've been in the business enough. When the owner are interfering with the creative side, that's, gets to be a problem. Like, I need you to make the wine just like Silver Oak-
Doug Shafer:
Someone else.
Bo Barrett:
... or something. That, that's a recipe for disaster. And he never did that. He said, “I need you to make Montelena Wines.” So basically, my c-conditions were, uh, you have to treat me like the other guys. You can never treat me like sunny boy and he goes, “You're darn, you're damn right, you know-”
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
“I can't treat you like sunny boy, if you make shitty wine, I'm gonna fire your ass.” And I said, “That's a totally straight up deal. I'm ready for that.” So, it a, so, then we would limit our father and son stuff. It was, he was good at compartmentalizing, too. So we always fished together, and flew together, and like when I flew with him, I was his, by that time, I was a better pilot, I was his chief pilot, and he-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... eventually conceded that. But on the wine making and things like that ... And he, uh, he'd he he kept a good check on me. Lots of time when I wanted buy a vineyard, you know, these were screaming deals, that we should have bought.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
As I looked at it through, you know, the times we have recessions and I'm, I'm really glad that he had that rule to keep Chateau Montelena small, that we're, you know, still the same size we were in 1990. And it really is a nice size that be, and he did it, just 'cause the Bordeaux first growth, so, 35, to 50,000 cases. And he didn't ever want to make more.
Bo Barrett:
So, and that, we're still a small winery, and we're still, you know, making 100,000 gallons of wine and we don't have to be all things to all people. It is, so, a lot of his things that we didn't agree with, I could certainly agree with his philosophy. But that we passed up on a couple of vineyards. Yeah, there's several that I, I wish we would have had a buy-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
... had boughten. The wineries that we went in to buy, I'm probably glad that those deals fell through, uh, now.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
That-
Doug Shafer:
I had a couple, I've had a couple of those.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, that-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
You know, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, like, oh my gosh. I'm so glad we didn't do that.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And so, and e-especially, you know, when times are great, like the last five years are, you know, it's our bus- I was talking to David Duncan do you talk to him yet? Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Dave Duncan 'cause I had, we were yucking it up about how great things were. This was probably, I don't know, 10 years ago when it was a really, one of the good cycles.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And he goes, and, uh-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... wh-what did he say? He says, “Yeah. Uh, it's never been better and it's never gonna end, again.” (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs). So true. I think, well, you and I've been, you've been doing this the same length of time. We've had a good two or three cycles.
Bo Barrett:
Hm.
Doug Shafer:
You know. For sure.
Bo Barrett:
Definitely. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Um, so, s- help me out on s- dates. 'Cause I'm losing track. So you're, so you've, you became winemaker at Montelena, '82, '83?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. '82.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. Got it.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Another similarity. '83 for me, here-
Bo Barrett:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
... at Shafer. So we-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... were tracking, no wonder I never saw you-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, exactly.
Doug Shafer:
... 'cause we were busy.
Bo Barrett:
That, that was a busy time, in '83. Then my dad finally moved up around '85. So there was, that was the toga party you're just like, when I'm running the show.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, that was the, the inmates are in charge of the asylum. You know, and then the old man moves up and things kind of calm down a little bit.
Doug Shafer:
Good.
Bo Barrett:
And then I stayed through-
Doug Shafer:
When, when, when-
Bo Barrett:
well-
Doug Shafer:
... when you jumped on board, did, did you make a lot of changes, or just kinda keep going? 'Cause you guys had a pretty good prior-
Bo Barrett:
Well, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... track record with-
Bo Barrett:
The where, my ... Jerry really was terrific, uh, on shaping the Estate Cab program.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
You know, he was, he was clearly more masterful, uh, in the Cabernet world. And even though he had some pretty crappy equipment at that time. You know, you gotta remember, we're still picking in the day, and it's 100 degrees. But-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
But, so Jerry's mastery was really the estate Cabernet. And that was really his job. To make sure, you know, cement that program. 'Cause, you know, he takes over in '77. And that's 75% of Estate Cab. So, Jerry really develops the Montelena Estate Cab.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So, then, I came up-
Doug Shafer:
I'm with you.
Bo Barrett:
... in, uh, two th- in '82, and it wasn't 'til like '84, where we started filtering into barrels, uh, 'cause we had a lot of Brett.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
... and, you know, and back in those days, you know, what, they used to call it terroir, that you and I both, know, was really the Brett the terroir was really a-
Doug Shafer:
It was Brett.
Bo Barrett:
W-was, was a buy, you know, was a microbial signature of the house.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Bo Barrett:
So our Brett tasted different then your Brett, which is different then, you know, Heitz's Brett and everybody else's Brett. And you know, and-
Doug Shafer:
You know, I never thought-
Bo Barrett:
The most amazing, those are amazing wines still.
Doug Shafer:
I never thought about that, but I think you're really right.
Bo Barrett:
No terroir it was definitely and-
Doug Shafer:
It's all Brett.
Bo Barrett:
... and it lasted longer in France than it did here.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
We, the wineries in Cal- this is what, that's a- really when Napa Valley took over the world, if you think about it. Where we really started making run of successes of Bordeaux Chateau is when we stopped using so much Brett and started using our, our great vineyard flavors.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And that was really-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
That really suited Napa's niche in the world, where, you know, your vineyard, your Cabernet, it could be the same rootstock and the same clone, and the same farming. But your Cabernet's gonna taste so different then mine.
Doug Shafer:
So different.
Bo Barrett:
But, your Brett's gonna be more similar-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... than dis-similar, you know what I mean? And you can use the same cooper, so this is where the Americans in Cabernet, or Napa Valley, in particular-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... really starts-
Doug Shafer:
But once we start-
Bo Barrett:
... really impacting the world.
Doug Shafer:
Once we cleaned up our wines-
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... it happened with us.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I mean, amazing.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So in '84, I started filtering. And these are tough-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... decisions you're making. And I, like taking out the press, making different press cuts and so, yeah, sure, I made some changes that were all, you know, in that progression, that, you know, Shafer has done, all of the successful wineries have done the exact same thing. Take your core mission to make these amazing wines. But then to make 'em as the bar of quality. You remember, the '70s, '80s, it was easy to find crappy wines.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
From anywhere-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... around the world.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yes.
Bo Barrett:
Now, you go to a wine sh- you can go to the cheapest, most inferior wine that you find at Long's Drugs, I'm not even talking about Costco.
Doug Shafer:
It's solid.
Bo Barrett:
We, there, these-
Doug Shafer:
It's okay.
Bo Barrett:
... are solid products.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So in the early days, you make a wine, and it was decent. This is great.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But, now, you know, everybody's making such amazing wine. So, then, you know, well, whether it's here at Shafer, or us, or all of our, you know, in our league certainly, we all have to work really hard to, you know, keep up, you know, 'cause you're after my customers, and I'm after yours. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
You bet.
Bo Barrett:
You know what I mean?
Doug Shafer:
You bet.
Bo Barrett:
And that's a very, odd, it's a, keeps us honest. It, but, you know the beneficiary of it is our customers.
Doug Shafer:
Oh there's-
Bo Barrett:
That they get-
Doug Shafer:
There's never been more great choices across the spectrum of, for the consumers.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So it's great.
Bo Barrett:
So, but anyway, back to the Brett. So, yeah, sure, we changed things over the years.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And, you know, the other funnier thing is as you get through equipment. Because you think-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
... the old Healdsburg crusher destemmer -
Doug Shafer:
Did you have one of those, too?
Bo Barrett:
Oh, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
This is called a Healdsburg crusher stemmer, and man, it was (laughs) it's like a Waring blender of the stemmer crushers.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, we call it the Cuisinart.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
And, like ... our Chardonnay, our Chardonnay always had this green color. And, um,-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
I was talking to Warren [Winiarski] one time. And he goes, “I can always pick Montelena out of a tasting.” I said, “Why?” He goes, “I love the green color. How do you accomplish that?” I'm going, uh.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs). It was that old Healdsburg grape disintegrator.
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
But, yeah, we didn't change that 'til '89. 'Cause, you know, remember '87, '88.
Doug Shafer:
Remember -?
Bo Barrett:
Okay.
Doug Shafer:
We used to crush Chardonnay in that thing.
Bo Barrett:
Oh, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Ohhh.
Bo Barrett:
Riesling.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, no. You did Riesling?
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
This is before whole, this is before whole cluster pressing, where we put everything through the crusher.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And it was just like ... And with white grapes, it's just kind of, uh, it's kind of ... not really a good thing to.
Bo Barrett:
We crushed, well, we do still about half Chardonnay, still.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
We have, but we have the, which is totally different, you know.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So we're not using the green part. Actually, I want to put some green in, this year. Just see how it-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
... works out.
Doug Shafer:
All right.
Bo Barrett:
But, uh-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, I mean so Warren said “I could always tell the Montelena Chardonnay, because the thing.” ... And also, remember how long we used to use barrels. That was the most amazing thing. Like our Chardonnay-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
... barrels, like 12 year old Chardonnay barrels.
Doug Shafer:
No kidding.
Bo Barrett:
Oh yeah. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
You know something? Can I, can I j- I'm interrupting again. But, I, I'll, you know. I'm on board. I'm the winemaker. I've been here, I don't know, five, six, seven, eight, you know, eight or nine years. Elias has been with me six or seven of 'em, we're starting to turn the corner. You know, we've still got a ways to go. I'm trying to be, you know, but I, but I'm close with Dad, and, you know, he's, you know, I'm in the loop on budgets and financials, so cash flow. So I'm, you know, I'm tracking with that. 'Cause he's teaching me, which is great. And you know, so I'm real sensitive about that. You know, I don't want to spend too much money. So, you know, I had barrels. I had old barrels. I had, like, eight, nine year old barrels around here. You know, we'd get a few new ones every year, but you know, like -. You know? And, you know, doing the right thing. And then, within a year or so of that, we promoted Elias to winemaker, 'cause Dad says, you know, “Doug, you gotta be president.” I said, “Great. Great.” So the first thing Elias does, is he walks into Dad's office, now that he's winemaker, and says, “John, this is what I need.” And it's like, you know, I need, he needed like ... (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
He needed like a whole lotta new barrels. And it's like, the, the price tag was major. And, and Dad goes, “Great. We can do that.” And I'm like going, “Wait a minute.” (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
I was trying to be... So, no more nine year old barrels around here.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But I remember that.
Bo Barrett:
No Jim, Jim on the other, my dad, that was what, because he didn't really know exactly what we were doing in the winemaking.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
And then, his mantra was, If it makes the wine better-
Doug Shafer:
Hm.
Bo Barrett:
... and it makes your job easier. I will find the money for it.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
So-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But, we were always very responsible about that. I'm I am not joking. We still have a 1984, the first forklift we ever, the first new piece of equipment-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
... we ever bought was an '84 Cat forklift.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Bo Barrett:
We still have it. It's out at the vineyard shop. So, when you learn up, 'cause everything was borrowed in those days. Like, when we bottled-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Bo Barrett:
You know, Mike Grgich had sent me down to see Roy Raymond over at-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... Beringer-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... and I'd borrow a hand labeler.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And then I'd go to somebody else, and I'd scrounge up, uh, you know th-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... the corkers and stuff like that.
Doug Shafer:
Or you need a hand spinner from somebody-
Bo Barrett:
Oh, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... hey can I borrow it-
Bo Barrett:
Oh yeah, all that stuff-
Doug Shafer:
... you know that type thing-
Bo Barrett:
... just we were always, you know, borrowing, or you needed a-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
... dump truck. You gotta go get it and-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
It was, you know, it was pretty, you know ... I don't know, I can't remember when the first year we bought a brand-new tractor, it was probably about 1990.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Something like that.
Doug Shafer:
We had a lot of old tractors-
Bo Barrett:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... around here. (laughs).
Bo Barrett:
Oh.
Doug Shafer:
Um, you mentioned, uh, her name earlier, uh, at some point in this whole timeline, you meet your bride, Heidi. How'd you guys meet?
Bo Barrett:
Well, we met t-two ways (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
Okay. We met professionally first, and it didn't work out so hot, but she was out of that great class at UC Davis, there was a class at Davis that got finished I dunno, '80, '81, whenever it was, where it was Heidi, and both Rose and Bruce Cakebread, and Randall Graham, and Rollin Soles, and-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
You know, a whole... So she came out of there and Jerry Luper had hired the Texan Rollin Soles, who later had the great career at Argyle-
Doug Shafer:
Okay, right.
Bo Barrett:
You know, up in Oregon, and now ROCO Wines, but so... Jerry Luper hires Rollin and Rollin comes from Davis.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And I happen to have an apartment in the upstairs of my house called 'The Hovel,' and Rollin moved into The Hovel...
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
So Rollin says, "Hey, let's start a tasting group!" And I hadn't been in a tasting group, 'cause I had this infant son, I was- by this time I'm a single divorced parent will full custody of a two-year-old child.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
So I have an extremely busy life, I'm workin' in the cellar full-time-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And have a baby all by myself. My folks still live in LA. You know, I have no back-up here, so I was-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Anyway, Rollin starts this tasting group, people come to my house, and he invites, you know Bob Levy and Heidi, and all of his mob from Davis, and so then there's-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
-me and Gerard Zanzonico, you remember him
Doug Shafer:
I remember Gerard, yeah. Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And so Gerard... So I give this tasting group and, uh... But, it was, you know, Heidi walked into my house, saw what was goin' on, and she had no interest at all, what was goin' on there. So then I-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
I quit Montelena, and I went to Europe, and I came back, and I was coming home from Parke Hafner's wedding down in Berkeley, you know Hafner, up in Alexander Valley, and of course now I've got my skinny tie, and I'm all cleaned up-
Doug Shafer:
Parke and...Parke and I -
Bo Barrett:
Parke and Sarah-
Doug Shafer:
Parke and I were lab partners at UC Davis freshman year.
Bo Barrett:
Okay, so anyway, Parke gets married to Sarah down in, uh, in Berkeley-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So I'm comin' home with my 80s skinny tie-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
-and all that stuff. And I walk in the Yountville Saloon, which I'm sure you remember.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Of course, yeah. So I walk in the Yountville Saloon, and Heidi's sittin' there in a UC Davis crew sweatshirt, you know, so I'm dressed up and she's not, and it was just a lightning bolt. We looked across the room, next thing you know we were goin' on a date.
Doug Shafer:
Oh man.
Bo Barrett:
33 years later...you know, two kids, and she helped me... So then, you know, she, even with my... I was kind of a project that-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
-you know 'cause I've got this kid, and all I did was hunt and ski and fish, and, you know...
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Do whatever I wanted. And it turns out, and fly airplanes, and so Heidi was takin' flying lessons, she skied ... She didn't hunt or fish, but I taught her how to fish, which is one of my greatest regrets of my life, 'cause she always catches more-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
-and bigger fish than I catch. And then for hunting, she didn't like the blood part, but I got her into mushroom huntin' and so-
Doug Shafer:
There you go.
Bo Barrett:
-foraging, so she likes that. So it turned out, uh... She's just, we just had so many mutual-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that's-
Bo Barrett:
-interests, and I told you what I... When we walked in today, we just finished, you know, 24 hours under water, you know 20... 24 dives in 14 days.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Bo Barrett:
You know, she was with me on every single one.
Doug Shafer:
Nice.
Bo Barrett:
So that was good.
Doug Shafer:
Nice.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah. So I met Heidi, and clearly she, with Dick Peterson having been the winemaker at BV... Uh, at that time he was down building the Monterey, had built
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
-the Monterey vineyard.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Right.
Bo Barrett:
So I went down, met him down there, but, you know, he was already a big name in the business by then.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And Heidi was working with Justin Meyer, so when I- When I met Heidi
Doug Shafer:
That's what- that's what I didn't catch earlier, okay. I didn't know she, I didn't know she worked with Justin.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, when I met Heidi, that's where, clearly that I married up.
Doug Shafer:
Sil- sil- Silver Oak.
Bo Barrett:
Si- Silver Oak, yeah, and this is when Silver Oak is still at Franciscan, 'cause she's workin' a lot with Franciscan, so, before they built Silver Oak, uh... Franc- uh, they were makin' the Silver Oak at Franciscan, 'cause Justin was the winemaker there.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So in the early days of Silver Oak Heidi was part of that, and so, by... started hangin' out and event- and eventually marryin' Heidi, then I got to meet, you know, all, all that circle that she'd grown up with when it was, you know, the Heitzes-
Doug Shafer:
Oh yeah-
Bo Barrett:
The Martinis, and basically everybody. And so it was definitely I went, you know, from the bush leagues into the big leagues (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
And like I said, I very proudly say I married up, there is no question about that.
Doug Shafer:
Oh no, yeah, I'd say it's mutual.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs)
Doug Shafer:
I'd say it's mutual. I'd say it's mutual. You know, Heidi's great, you're great, you're uh, you're no slouch, my friend. And you're, you know, we were all projects at that age.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, that's true.
Doug Shafer:
You know, I mean... I can't go there 'cause-
Bo Barrett:
(laughs)
Doug Shafer:
M- my- I have to- my kids are great, th- they said, "Dad, we love all your stories." I said, and they go, "God, you were a derelict." It's pretty funny to listen to.
Bo Barrett:
(laughs)
Doug Shafer:
But, uh... Rollin' along, I gotta talk about 2008, 'cause all sorts of things happened in 2008 for you guys. I think the winery was almost purchased, you were in the, you, you had the Bottle Shock movie based on Montelena, and you and Heidi started a wine brand. Anything else happen that year (laughs), or is that the big three?
Bo Barrett:
No, the financial crisis happened.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah, yeah!
Bo Barrett:
Don't forget about that.
Doug Shafer:
So- so what, so- let's start with the story. You guys were in contract with some French folks.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, it was, actually it was a Swiss guy, Rebier, that owned Cos d'Estournel and he had been putting money in build, rebuilding that one. And my dad had come to the conclusion that his estate was too complicated and Montelena was difficult and it -
Doug Shafer:
Sure.
Bo Barrett:
And that probably, for the family business would probably not survive the estate tax business and.
Doug Shafer:
Good point.
Bo Barrett:
You got to remember, before the economic collapse of late 2008, it was a boom time on everything.
Doug Shafer:
Boom.
Bo Barrett:
And the prices were really high out here because Mountain Valley was still just crazy. So, people were offering him crazy money for the winery, and he said, "I'm going to sell it." because we were a monarchy at the time and a lot of us did not want to sell it. My mom in particular who owned 47.5%, me who owned 5, but it was a limited partnership and that general partner is the king.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, we worked for a while to find the right buyer for the place and the Rebier guys, uh and the Cos d’Estournel, they had the right idea because we saw what they had been doing and the investments they made. So anyway, we made a deal with them, and we actually sold the winery. And, I quit being the winemaker for them and that's when Cam Perry was promoted to winemaker
Doug Shafer:
Okay
Bo Barrett:
And I was, then I was master winemaker, and basically stepping away and I was going to be like titular staff for the three to five years and then.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
You know, they're going to own the winery.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And it was good because their winemaker was a super pro guy. He was Basque guy, he wasn't a Bordelaise, and so we got along great, but the Bordelaise, the Champagne guys, who was running it. I'm not going to name names but this guy was like a champenoise guy and we're all saying nice things like, we're going to work together, but he was a -
Doug Shafer:
Not going to happen.
Bo Barrett:
It wasn't going to happen, you know there, like he, people that know me know exactly what I was going to say right there. (laughs)
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
So anyway, and it wasn't a pud, but he was a pud. But anyway, so, they move in for the harvest of 2008. And so, because now I needed a job to do, because you know, that was ten years ago, or eleven now. So, I needed a job so Heidi and I had our own family vineyards at that time and we had been selling all the grapes to Montelena and then some to Heidi for La Sirena. So we decided to cut out a little bit and make the Barrett & Barrett.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
And that was going to be my, I was going to build, we bought a property on an old toll road. I was going to build a small winery there. And we were going to build something for our kids because -
Doug Shafer:
Nice, yeah.
Bo Barrett:
There could be, uh so, because our daughter by this time had decided to, because our kids were growing up that I had done the same thing, they're like, I don't care what you do. I don't care if you're a marine biologist, a doctor, astronaut, lawyer, surgeon -
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Indian chief. Do not go in this business. It's way too much work for way too little money.
Doug Shafer:
Hmm.
Bo Barrett:
And that worked like a champ, they're both in it.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
I got one that got off. My son Seamus was the first one I'm talking about. He's an attorney in -
Doug Shafer:
He's an attorney?
Bo Barrett:
In Manhattan, so ...
Doug Shafer:
That's great.
Bo Barrett:
Well, you got to remember, he grew up in the farm, when the only meat we ate was deer meat or fish I caught.
Doug Shafer:
Listen man, I remember seeing you with lugging him around like, like at wine tastings or, you know barbecues and stuff. It's like hey Bo, I didn't know you that well. It's like Bo, you got a kid. He's like yeah Schafer, I got a kid.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, No I was only 23. Irish Catholic kid in college. What are you going to do, you know?
Doug Shafer:
No, it's fine.
Bo Barrett:
It was good, I learned a lot from him, too. I owe him a great debt, because I learned so much from having him
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Bo Barrett:
I really grew up fast.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And, you know a lot of my friends that never grew up.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
That you know them and they never went anywhere.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
By being forced to grow up so fast, like at 23, I was responsible for somebody besides myself. That, that's a tough thing to do, you know.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Because most people are just, you can barely take care of yourself when you're 23. And now you got this two year old infant. It's like oh, good luck with that, you know.
Doug Shafer:
Boy, that'll, that'll get you tuned up.
Bo Barrett:
But anyway, uh I forget where I was going.
Doug Shafer:
Well you guys, you started Barrett & Barrett.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, we started Barrett & Barrett, but then the economic collapse hit and..
Doug Shafer:
Oh yeah. Bo Barrett The dollar, you got to remember the dollar goes up 14% in 48 hours.
Doug Shafer:
I had forgotten about that one.
Bo Barrett:
Yes, so all of the sudden, they want to renegotiate the deal. No, the deal's in dollars pal, we don't care about the Euro. So, they moved in, so we had two closings, and this, technically we had the operational close because they wanted to make any money that was made from the movie coming out. Because remember, everybody, before the economic collapse. So, the movie's going to come out and so, if the film is going to come out then there's going to be sales and blah, blah, blah. So, we had a operational close and then a financial close. Well, the financial close failed. So, nobody got the winery back. And the best thing that happened was, my father had come to regret that he had to sell it. So, you know, as I said earlier, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I've told Mike Tobbs, our guy before, I said you know why the economic collapse happened in general? So, the Chateau Montelena could be kept by the Barrett's. (laughs) Because it worked like a champ.
Doug Shafer:
Of course.
Bo Barrett:
It really did, so those guys bailed. We got the winery back and the best thing that had happened was everything I told my dad about just like Elias, I said dad we got to replant these vineyards. And he goes, "Hey, I'm 75 years old, I don't even buy green bananas anymore." We got to plant these vineyards. "No." So, he wouldn't give us the money to replant and the winery is a 1972 batch process size winery. It's all 8 or 10 ton tanks, it's all batch process. This is history.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Nobody makes wine like that anymore. We're all in this, you know, viticulture specific, micro lots, and stuff like that. So, we needed a brand new cellar. You know, that's going to be another 5, 10 million bucks, and so, the best thing that happened was. And I said, we're not going to use your money, we won't use partner's money, we'll just use, you know, a line of credit, or borrow money, because we're profitable, we can afford it. And to his credit my dad said you're right. So, it really took the French guys telling him what they were going to do with the company, was the exact same thing that I had been saying for 10 years. So, then he took the wheel, he took the brakes off, he said "Okay, it's your company, run it the way you want."
Doug Shafer:
Nice.
Bo Barrett:
I'm still the CEO but I'll do what you tell me most of the time.
Doug Shafer:
So, that was like 11 years ago?
Bo Barrett:
That's right, yeah. So, we got the new winery, so we gutted the winery, did our sizes and retrofit. Um, started a replant program, and uh did all the things and so, by, by the time he died, Montelena was in a, really in a great renaissance now.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Because we were making better wine than we had ever made. We have the equipment, the tools, the you know, state of the art facility. And he saw all of those things happen before he passed away.
Doug Shafer:
Good. Was he happy about it?
Bo Barrett:
He was extremely happy. He was as excited as we are, you know.
Doug Shafer:
That's so cool.
Bo Barrett:
So, yeah, he saw, he saw all of that good stuff. He did not, unfortunately, the 2008 through 2012 planting, all got red blotched. So, I mean, but luckily, he didn't live long enough to see that very expensive slump.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Because we're now in the third planting. So, that second planting, pretty much, we had planted about 40 of the 100 acres that are on that one. And, so that's all got to be changed out definitely.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, well look what we've gone through. We all had the Phylloxera thing, back you know, late 80s, early 90s. And now we go this red blotch thing. It's, there's always something. It's agriculture.
Bo Barrett:
That's what I tell people, it's like you got to, it's still agriculture. You know, we had a, we, we had a hedge fund manager from like Connecticut bought one of the vineyards, one of our leases. You know, because now we're a landlord. And we were buying the grapes from a previous landlord, that's not on our lease. And he got these guys come in and he's going to start making wine and stuff like that and he got smoked the first year. And I said, welcome to agriculture, pal.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
You know.
Doug Shafer:
And, you know that's, it's almost like we should publicize that it is agriculture because sometimes the wine press says, oh this is gloom and doom, this is the end of all. It's not, because we've had numerous things like this. You know, 10, 8 to 10, in my career. And we get through it, we figure out how to do it. Pierce's disease, this and that, and you keep, we, we figure out how to do it and keep going on just like anybody in agriculture, and it's kind of like, that's just part of the game.
Doug Shafer:
But tell me about, tell me, I want to hear about the movie.
Bo Barrett:
Ha-ha. Okay, so the movie.
Doug Shafer:
The movie called Bottle Shock. Basically the Chateau Montelena Story, right?
Bo Barrett:
Well, yeah, it's. Yeah, every word of it's.
Doug Shafer:
By the way, you were really handsome in the movie. I want to tell you that.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, thanks. Except for the straight hair. I had, bro I had the afro, you remember when I had hair.
Doug Shafer:
Uh-huh. I do.
Bo Barrett:
I had the big blonde afro. But um, the movie, what happened was, down in Los Angeles. You got time for the long version?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
Okay, so remember the name Gary Galleon.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Well Galleon starts his own brand and he's down in Los Angeles talking story about the old days of Chateau Montelena, and a guy named, I believe Sherman Schwartz, no um, Ross Schwartz.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
And his, his dad was Sherman Schwartz, who had done Gilligan's Island. Now he's a Los Angeles entertainment attorney but like any Los Angeles entertainment attorney, he's gonna write a screenplay. So, Galleron, tells the stories of some of the hijinks that have happened at Chateau Montelena over the years. So, this guy writes a screenplay.
Doug Shafer:
Usually the ones with you in the middle of them, you know of course.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, so a rag tag team of misfits are getting into all kinds of mischief and making these great wines.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
So, he writes this screenplay called Bottle Shock, which is essentially the Mighty Ducks make wine, or the Bad News Bears make wine.
Doug Shafer:
The Bad News Bears, got you, right.
Bo Barrett:
So that, he brings us to the screenplay, and he ask, asks us to sign off and I did. I just couldn't, no, this is not, this is not, this is not going to work.
Doug Shafer:
Good for you.
Bo Barrett:
And so then, a couple years go by, several, and they, these other guys, Randy Miller and Jody, they've said we've bought this screenplay and we're going to fix it up and we're going to do this movie Bottle Shock. It's a love story to California wine.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And so, I said, oh yeah sure. What's it going to be 8 minutes long? You know, it's like, what you guys working hard in one tasting. How are you going to make a movie out of that? It's going to be 8 minutes long. They said, no no no, we're going to add a bunch of drama and we're going to add some romance to it. I go, oh great, you know. But no, who's going to go to a movie, everybody knows what happens.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
He goes, yeah but um, everybody went to Miracle on Ice. And I said, okay well whatever, it's your money, so they write the screenplay. They ran it by us, and it was as there, it made everybody look good, there was no bad guys in this whole movie.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Even the French just come off as surprised, and so, they get us, my dad in particular to sign off for the life rights, because you know, you got to sign off this stuff. And some people like, Mike Grgich, you know, he decided not to be in the movie because they had all these contacts. Because how did they get Alan Rickman, and you know Dennis Farina, and you know Bill Pullman, and even the young Chris Pine. Well, for Grgich, they were going to have Danny DeVito.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs) Does he know that?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, so that's why he pulls the plug. He says, "If you say Grgich anywhere in this movie, I'm going to sue you." So, then they couldn't get insurance because Grgich, the, over the lawsuit, sitting there, so then they can't get their film insurance. So, Grgich basically votes himself off the island because he doesn't like his character.
Doug Shafer:
That's funny.
Bo Barrett:
So then, Steven Spurrier, he still doesn't like it because Steven, he was a young, handsome, articulate guy. He was not grumpy old guy at all.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, he's not, absolutely nothing like Alan Rickman.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, so I had to call him up. I said, Steven, you are the hero of this movie. He goes, but I'm nothing like the Bo Barrett character, the guys a composite, he has nothing to do with me. I was always the hardest working guy and the first one to work, the last one to leave, you know. But then he gets all the girls, so I guess it's a good trade. So, I had to talk Steven into doing it. And, you know he still makes fun of it, which is fine. But anyway, that's what happened. So, then they make the movie, and it was basically how they, you know, everything kind of happens. They had the wine pink, sure it did, but it happened, you know the winter of 74.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
Right after bottling had pinked, and it wasn't like the, in the summer of 76.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
But they, they made things dramatized, so it's Hollywood you know, it's definitely a Hollywood version.
Doug Shafer:
It's fun, though. What it fun? It was fun.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, it was fun. And so, I'm really glad I don't do that for a job.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
It was, you know seeing how slowly moving, how frustrating it is, and how. I mean, ugh, I could never do that job.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, it takes a long time to get something off the ground.
Bo Barrett:
Just to shoot one scene, it's just like insane, it's like I could never do that job. But yeah, it was a gas, we had a lot of fun. And Heidi worked on it more than I did. She was the technical for the tasting and a bunch of stuff. I only did, you know stuff like making sure there were wood bungs in the hammer, you know stuff like that.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
You know, so, some of the more modern stuff wasn't in there. But yeah, it was, it was a gas, and it's, it was really good for Napa Valley because I actually think that it helped because it, it did terrible at the box office. It totally tanked, but once it got on the airplanes and the airlines, people started coming back to Napa Valley and you remember your taste room, our taste room, 2010. It was pretty damn dead.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). It was great.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, so when the film came out, people started coming back to Napa. That kind of co-located with us with the vendors and the Napa Valley Visitors Board. Ever since, you know NAPA, we're still here, we're not wiped out, you know.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. No, it was great, it was good for the Valley.
Bo Barrett:
I think we learned a lot after the fire. I think that that experience, the experience from that one after the 2017 fires. How we got the people coming back by November, we had people coming back.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And I think we learned a lot from that previous, you know, like, as you talked about in wine making. What we learned from what we've done right what we've done wrong, I think that, uh, for all of us to you know have, encourage people to come back. It was a good idea because I do think, I think tourism, you know. Not to go totally off subject, but remember the first winery. Tasting rooms have always been a part of Napa Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Bo Barrett:
And they forget this, the first winery built after prohibition, was Louis Martini, what did they have? A visitor's center.
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Bo Barrett:
And then Robert Mondavi. You know, Mondavi gets the credit with his but it's actually even before that and was like 36, 39, you can ask Mike, I don't know, you know when that started the Martini, but it definitely had a visitor's center.
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Bo Barrett:
And it wasn't controversial at all, and neither was the Robert, but the Robert Mondavi visitor's center was controversial, even then.
Doug Shafer:
I don't remember that. How come?
Bo Barrett:
Because you were, in high, you were in junior high.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Bo Barrett:
That was '66. That's right. You have to like be like me, like me like because halfway to historian. Get, you know where I learned a lot about the Napa Valley history actually when I broke my. I like to talk about that skiing where I hit the tree, when I was 49.
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Bo Barrett:
And I broke my leg and then you know Calistoga's not an AVA and I had been with the Vineyard's Association right after 9/11. I'd gone with the VIntners to Europe and they had the little Vestra map, with all the Calistoga AVA's on there. And they wouldn't put Calistoga on there. Then I was arguing with the Vintners, I said who cares what the government says, everybody know Calistoga's an appellation.
Doug Shafer:
So, that's where, I was going to ask you about that because you're the one spearheaded the AVA to Calistoga?
Bo Barrett:
Right, but we're all busy so, I go with the VIntners to Europe and this is right after 9/11, hardly anybody's traveling. The Berlin Wall had just fallen.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, it was pretty, you know, not that far after, the fall of the. You know this was, 9/11. It was, you know a long time ago. So anyway, I got back and they said we need to have a appellation to Calistoga but, you know. Like you, I got, I'm busy, I don't have anything to do. Well, what happened was, I had a really bad injury, I had double tibia plateau fracture and I couldn't put any weight on it and I also was taking some pretty serious painkillers and I'd keep going into work with my crutches and I would be talking to people and you know, the guys who work for me, they're typically super loyal. And I said, you don't sound like you think you sound, you shouldn't be coming in here anymore.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Bo Barrett:
So, so I said, well now what am I going to do to be creative. So basically, I could, uh because my left leg was broken so I could still drive kind of. And, I went down to the library and I wrote the Calistoga AVA Petition while I was recovering from that.
Doug Shafer:
You wrote it?
Bo Barrett:
I really. Yeah, I wrote it myself.
Doug Shafer:
Congratulations, man.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, so I wrote it, and it was really. And I have to thank Rudy, you know Rudy Von Strasser, so what had happened is that Rudy had done the diamond mountain. And so I go over there and it's the same thing [incoherent painkiller-inspired noises] and Rudy says, you don't sound like you think you sound but he goes, you know I still want to be productive, even though, I don't look so good, and I don't sound so hot but I still want to you know get something done, you know. People, like me it's, it's hard to sit still.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, I go and see Rudy and he goes, don’t form a committee. Just, he goes, read the law, it says any interested individual. So I read, I read the regulations, it says, any interested party or individual.
Doug Shafer:
You did it by yourself.
Bo Barrett:
I did it by myself, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And then you shared it with everybody and just went for it. But, uh, so talk to me about your kids. Your kids, your kids are all involved in the, well except Seamus, Seamus is the lawyer, but, the other, the girls.
Bo Barrett:
My Seamus, yeah Seamus is a, he's at a federal court in New York, he in the White Planes and the uh, city. He does EEOC work on the other side. So, he represents people that have been treated badly by their employers. So, he's on the other side, but it's also helpful to have those guys. So, he, he's a very passionate guy and he works really hard to help his clients get money out of people that have been very evil.
Doug Shafer:
Good, good, good for him.
Bo Barrett:
So, he's doing great, he's doing terrific. But my younger two, Heidi and I daughters, are both in the wine business. So, our daughter Remi, she's San Francisco based, she does sales and marketing for our family, for Heidi's brand La Sirena and the Barrett & Barrett. So, she does that one, so she does that. And our youngest daughter, Chelsea is in production, and Chelsea's had a long career of working her way up the anchor chain as we say. That's she's you know did internships in Austria, and then down for two hands in Australia, worked from Twelftree.
Doug Shafer:
She worked at two hands with Twelftree? No, no, not Twelftree.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, she worked with Twelftree.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
But, uh and so then, she worked in production for 7 years at big winery’s and now she just took over on the Materra for the Cunat family. So, she's one hard worker for that. And uh, she's got two granddaughters living in town, Calistoga, so like last night, I was just over there holding the four month old and -
Doug Shafer:
Nice, congratulations.
Bo Barrett:
Getting drooled on, you know. Getting drooled on, it's like.
Doug Shafer:
You know, I have a daughter named Remi, and I've got a couple grandkids too. So, we're tracking.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I got to ask you one thing, man. What were the best years working with your dad?
Bo Barrett:
The absolute best was probably after the sale, where he let go of the responsibility that he made me, responsible for. I was always responsible, but I never had the authority to make things. So, he had all the authority, and he felt responsible for our mistakes.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
And when he got comfortable with letting it go to the French, then he got comfortable with letting it go to me. And, like when we had the opening of the new cellar. And, you know the on the, the 40th anniversary party of the company. The new cellar had been completed.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
And that was in 2012, we had our 40th anniversary, and you know how winery's when they have a big anniversary, they invite the Napa Valley hoi paloi.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
What my idea was that to invite everybody who had, and he let go enough, so he, we invited everybody who had every contributed to Chateau Montelena in a contributory fashion. So we had, every former employee we could find, every grower, you know. The bunch of Galopis, you know people that we hadn't seen in over 30 years came.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, cool.
Bo Barrett:
He gave a general amnesty, all the people who had been fired for stealing and theft, including somebody that we've mentioned previously.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
So, he had a general amnesty. And so then, seeing the excitement of building a new cellar and the replanting and stuff so that, that was really a, a, really a wonderful time, because you know, he was older, and he and he had let go and he was just letting us tear up the pea patch, because, then he realized when it ended, some of the inmates aren't totally crazy, that like this, the dreamers and the that we work even harder then let loose, and you know that he then. Oh, he loved when I would find, just amazing things like, I'm going to build a new winery and he got it out for a permit. We have this old building right, and he goes, so I go for a permit. Why didn't, uh what about your National Registry of Historic Places? You know, because then when are you going to build something that's a federal project? I said, well that's why we never applied for that, they said, well the rules apply to you. So I went in and I was trying to get the Teflon out and how to escape that and reading all the regulations because remember I was going to be a lawyer so I can read regulations. I find this magic word, tax credit.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs)
Bo Barrett:
If you restore a National Registry of Historical Places building, for its original purpose, it's not a tax deduction, it's a tax credit.
Doug Shafer:
It's a tax credit. Beautiful.
Bo Barrett:
So, that's how I got my dad to give me the money so, you know. He was still tough, that he had to find other ways around it. And then, you know like the seismic retrofit all the construction is exempt from property tax and stuff like that. So, we really had fun working together.
Doug Shafer:
Working together to figure it out.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, working together to figure that out.
Doug Shafer:
How cool.
Bo Barrett:
And he was so proud of that new cellar. He, he really loved it, because of the progress we had made. And so, and he quite enjoyed his notoriety subsequent to the film. He, he, he, he really did. Me on the other hand, I'm kind of embarrassed by the whole thing, but I to tell you the truth, it's kind of it's you know they want your picture take. Okay, that's cool, you know, why do I like my job? It's like, you know, I like being a big cheese.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Bo Barrett:
It's fun. It's why I don't want to quit, you know?
Doug Shafer:
Great. Speaking of the wine you make, where can people get them? Chateau Montelena? Restaurants, stores, website?
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, we focus primarily, we're pretty well distributed, we have a national. We're distributed nationally, internationally. We are in, you can get them from Korea to Norway.
Doug Shafer:
Great.
Bo Barrett:
And, they're definitely at specialty wine shops around the country. As I said, we're not making that much wine. It, it's, you can't, like some of the, definitely not the Costco or the bigger chains, we really don't have enough product to support those guys at the level that we'd like to have a good partnership with.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Bo Barrett:
We have the, you know, Montelena.com or Tasting Room.
Doug Shafer:
Website.
Bo Barrett:
We have a really well-developed club.
Doug Shafer:
They can order online on your website? Great.
Bo Barrett:
Order online. Easy to order online, yeah Montelena.com. No chateau, no wine, just Montelena dot com. Yep. It's easy and the local wine shops all over, and restaurants.
Doug Shafer:
And everybody needs to know that they need to drink Montelena Cabernet because that's the cabernet, Elias and I were trying to emulate 35 years ago, and we're still working on it, so, um.
Bo Barrett:
Well, it's because you're not sexy. But it's a different world. But I like, that you guys like it. I can always tell that it's not from Calistoga, you know what I mean. That's really good.
Doug Shafer:
Well, I, I've told you this story. You don't remember, I hope not, but back when we were trying to figure it out, because we taste other wineries wines, and we taste yours, you know it's like. Oh god, this is good. It's like, I want to make wine like Bo. Yeah, me too. You know, you had really rich, strong, well textured tannins, it's part of your spot. And we're like, we got to get tannins like that. How are we going to do it? So, we pump over, and we pump over, and we press like holy hell just to try to get these tannins, and we couldn't do it. And all of the sudden it was like, maybe these grapes just don't do that.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
They, maybe they do something else, so it's like, all of, that's when the light bulb went off, it's like hey pay attention to the place where your grapes are grown. And, you know, work with that. So, just like you. Focus on what your place does best.
Bo Barrett:
Yeah, exactly, our can be a little bit rough and ready because that's the world we live in. I think it's be too tannic. That's the world I live in and you can't get past it.
Doug Shafer:
I can't get enough.
Bo Barrett:
And, yeah, it's well the modern world is pretty cool because you know, when you get the A pods, and automatic pumpers for the wine. So you can pump over in like 5 minutes. But then, it's one of those things that's like pfft. Turns out just 10 pump overs a day and you're good to go. It's awesome.
Doug Shafer:
Bo, thanks for coming in, it's great to see you.
Bo Barrett:
Thanks Doug, I was really happy to come down and, say hi to all your fans and friends and all. I really think, when we talk about our business, it's like being in the leagues, you know the competitors like you, Dave Ramey, the guys that keep us honest, it's really cool.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, all good. See you, man.
Bo Barrett:
All right.