Full Transcript
Doug Shafer:
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Taste. Doug Shafer with another episode. We've got a couple of guests today. They are siblings, third generation of a long time Napa Valley winery family, Hailey and Lorenzo Trefethen of Trefethen winery. I've known their folks, John and Janet for a long time, but haven't spent too much time with these guys. So it's kinda fun to have them here. I think Lorenzo, my last... My best memory of you is some of those crazy things you and my nephew (laughing), long, many years ago-
Lorenzo:
Oh-
Doug Shafer:
... back in high school.
Lorenzo:
... I was wanna say we've been on... I've seen you on the road.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, on the road but-
Lorenzo:
That's always where we catch up (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
That's usually where we see each other. But my first recollections were some high school boy stories.
Lorenzo:
Oh -
Doug Shafer:
That's okay, yeah, we don’t have to go into them
Lorenzo:
We might go into them. We'll see. Yeah. (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
So welcome you guys. Good to see you. Hailey: It's great to be here.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: Thank you Doug.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
Um, so listen Trefethen around 50 years or more, we gotta start in the beginning. Give me some history. It's a real historic property going way, way back.
Lorenzo:
Oh yeah. How much time you have?
Doug Shafer:
Oh, we got, we got as much as you guys want. (laughing).
Lorenzo:
Well 1800s, there was a, the first boom, uh, golden age of Napa Valley. And the property that we're on now is called Eshcol. And um, Hamden McIntyre who was kinda like the Howard Backen of his day, um-
Doug Shafer:
Archi- architect who's-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
Architect. Uh, every, every new winery in the Napa Valley seems to be a Howard Backen project. Back then it was, uh, it was Hamden, and he was originally a ship captain for Gustave Niebaum.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
And he- Hailey: He actually wasn't the ship captain.
Lorenzo:
Not the ship captain. You correct me. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
This I like, this is fun. This is - Hailey: Yeah, he had the honorary title of captain because he did spend so much time on ships and everything, but he was actually an engineer by training.
Lorenzo:
Oh, there you go. Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
See I'm learning something too.
Doug Shafer:
But we all are (laughing). Hailey, thank goodness you're here. But what a great name, Hamden McIntyre. Okay, so he's an engineer. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
We called him captain. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And he designed buildings. Hailey: He also, he made a little wine. And so that's why he had this insight into designing wineries. So, he designed what's now known as like the big four. And so Eshcol, our winery was one of them.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And then Far Niente, the Culinary Institute at um-
Doug Shafer:
Graystone- Hailey: ... of America.
Doug Shafer:
... Graystone. Hailey: Graystone. Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
Which was Christian Brothers years ago, right? Hailey: Yeah. Um, and then uh Inglenook.
Doug Shafer:
Inglenook. Hailey: And so-
Lorenzo:
And Frog's Leap and Flora Springs and (laughing). The list goes on and on and on. Hailey: Put the big four. And so it's fun cause there's like little-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, Flora Springs. Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, yeah. And what, uh-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, and the Frog's Leap- ... Frog's Leap barn. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Oh my gosh. He did all those? Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
He did all those. No, it's crazy. It's like every time we go out- Hailey: And when you start going into the buildings, you'll see things that are-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: ... like very uniquely his.
Lorenzo:
Like-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that's cool.
Lorenzo:
... oh, this looks familiar. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And mom tells stories she cause essentially Far Niente-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... and Eshcol were more or less the same building. One was just made out of stone and built into a hill as opposed to where we are in the Valley floor and all in wood. And she tells stories about basically walking Far Niente blindfolded cause it was the same layout.
Doug Shafer:
It's the same layout.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Cause I can remember Far Niente was abandoned forever.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, so was Eshcol.
Doug Shafer:
And so was Eshcol. Okay. Cause okay, all right. All right. Well don't let me interrupt. Hailey: Oh no -
Doug Shafer:
Carry on. So Hamden? Hailey: I mean when the winery was built in 1886, there were over 140 wineries in the Valley. So it was booming. Uh, the cool part about the Eshcol building was it was really technologically advanced cause it wasn't built into a hill. Everyone else was built into a Hill. So you drive your horse and buggy with your grapes up and you'd be at the third floor. Um, and at Eshcol they actually develop this whole horse-drawn elevator system. And then in 1910, got a Foose engine and they actually had a conveyor belt that took grapes up to the third floor.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. So, let's start in the beginning, we wanna get grapes on the top floor because? Hailey: So while you don't have pumps and everything, so you wanna use gravity-
Doug Shafer:
Gravity. Hailey: ... basically. So on the third floor you wanna crush everything and then they just use like wooden troughs and all the juice would just freely, freely flow down to the second floor, um, into big wooden vats. And so, uh, the second floor has these really tall ceilings because you were had all, you were... You were fermenting in there.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: So you had really lovely-
Doug Shafer:
The big tanks. Hailey: ... tall ceilings and big tanks. Um, and then down to the first floor for kind of like barrel aging and bottling.
Doug Shafer:
That's so cool. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And so I got it. So when you're on a hillside, you got the road that goes up the hill- Hailey: Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
... to the top, you draw them up. But with your place on the Valley floor- Hailey: Horse drawn elevator.
Doug Shafer:
The horse drawn elevator. Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
So it was powered by a horse drawn.
Lorenzo:
The horses and then-
Doug Shafer:
And then stee -.
Lorenzo:
... uses like this like original internal combustion engine. It's like one cylinder. (laughing). It's the size of this table. Hailey: Bigger.
Lorenzo:
It's like eight horsepower maybe. (laughing). And now, now we have like just a little electric motor. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
That's wild. That's so cool. That's... Thanks for explaining that. All right.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Cause I wondered... Cause I remember I was reading something about, it was gravity flow. I'm thinking- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... how could be gravity flow on the valley floor. Hailey: On the valley floor.
Doug Shafer:
Now I get it. Okay. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
The horse. Okay. Hailey: Yeah. And most of the other like... Most of the reason that the other buildings in the Valley are still all stone or the wooden ones from that era have all burned down.
Doug Shafer:
Had burned down. Hailey: And that's how dad always thought that this building, you know, would go. So one of the first things he did when he started making wine in there was put sprinklers in.
Doug Shafer:
Good for him. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Smart guy.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. As it turns out, it was a another natural disaster-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. We'll, we'll get there. We'll-
Lorenzo:
... that gave us some problems (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... we'll get to that, we'll get to that later. We have -
Lorenzo:
We got a lot more to get to.
Doug Shafer:
... we got a lot of time. So, so the boom for Napa Valley of the late 1800s and a hundred wineries. Hailey: Yeah. And Eshcol-
Doug Shafer:
Ham- was Hamden, was Hamden... It was Hamden's property. Was he making the wine there? Hailey: No, he was commissioned by the Goodman brothers.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: And the Goodman brothers actually they were bankers and so brought the first bank to Napa. Um, things like that, but really also-
Lorenzo:
And there's the Goodman library in downtown Napa. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And in downtown St. Helena, the Goodman-
Lorenzo:
Downtown.
Doug Shafer:
... store.
Lorenzo:
There you go. Hailey: Oh yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Was it the same family?
Lorenzo:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
Oh man.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. They were major philanthropists and really like built the, the, the Valley in the early, early 1800s -
Doug Shafer:
I heard.
Lorenzo:
... or late 1800s.
Doug Shafer:
I didn't know that. You know, the more I find out-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... about this Valley, it's just totally-
Lorenzo:
It's fascinating.
Doug Shafer:
I mean it's... Where everybody's related to everybody. Hailey: (laughing). Yeah, it is.
Lorenzo:
No, it is a small incestuous business (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
We can probably, we can probably manage, you know, eight or 10 marriages and everybody be related.
Lorenzo:
Oh dear.
Doug Shafer:
Oh -
Lorenzo:
And hopefully not bad incestuous.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah (laughing). I don't wanna go there. Hailey: - from outside.
Doug Shafer:
All right. So the Goodman brothers were making wine, how long did they make wine? Any idea? Hailey: Um-
Lorenzo:
Well the, they, they actually had some pretty early success. So 1886, the building was built, all... And I should say it's this beautiful, uh, building and all the timbers are Douglas fir-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... and all the siding is Redwood. It's- Hailey: Yeah, tongue and groove Redwood-
Lorenzo:
... very unique. Hailey: ... and old growth. Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Um- Hailey: Couldn't build it today.
Lorenzo:
Couldn't build it today if you wanted to (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And built right across from Oak Knoll Station. Um- Hailey: Train station.
Lorenzo:
... the railroad. Hailey: Train, train tracks.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, cause they were, you know, moving the, the barrels basically out the front door onto the train and then down to San Francisco.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Lorenzo:
Um, but in 1889 at the World's Fair in Paris, um, that's when Inglenook won gold and a few of the Eshcol wines won some medals. And that was sort of like the first, the very first bottle shock, all the way back then.
Doug Shafer:
All the way back. Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
Um, and uh- Hailey: And won awards for Cabernet, for Riesling, which are really fun cause of the variety-
Lorenzo:
Semillon dessert wine. Hailey: ... that we grow now.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Um, and-
Doug Shafer:
That's neat.
Lorenzo:
... and they, uh, it was-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... it was this, cause the French had just recovered from phylloxera.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And so they as a thank you to the Americans for kind of coming up with some rootstock that would fight back against phylloxera, they invited the Californians to attend, not thinking that they would win most of the medals (laughs)-
Doug Shafer:
And we did.
Lorenzo:
... which they did.
Doug Shafer:
And we did, and we did.
Lorenzo:
Yeah (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
That's, that's a good story. Hailey: Yeah. But one of the Goodman brothers actually passed away and so it kind of started changing hands and-
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: ... started kind of going downhill.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, the Faver family. Hailey: Yeah. And they kept it going for a while and then you had Prohibition. And so-
Doug Shafer:
And that knocked it out. Hailey: Yeah, I mean-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ... they tried to make wine for as long as they could. Um, tacked like sheds onto the building to store all the wine. And after Prohibition tried to sell it off-
Lorenzo:
Yeah, they were running out of space. Hailey: ... 5 cents a gallon. But-
Doug Shafer:
Yep, just didn't make it. Hailey: ... I mean you had that and the combination of phylloxera, I mean, you had... You couldn't make money cause you couldn't sell wine.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: So you had no money to put back into your dying vineyard and it just destroyed Napa.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: So you went from-
Lorenzo:
Yeah, it destroyed the American fine wine industry. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I agree.
Lorenzo:
It was fun listening to some prior podcasts-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... and hearing, you know, the advance of Thompson seedless across California (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Well yeah, because yeah, I mean you're not making wine, you just gotta make-
Lorenzo:
You gotta make a bunch of -
Doug Shafer:
... raisins and table grapes.
Lorenzo:
... raisins. Yeah, exactly. Hailey: Yeah. And that's our property as the vines died rather than planting like a Thompson, a seedless, they'd plant a Walnut tree, a prune tree-
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: ... a pear tree, anything else, cause they could harvest that.
Doug Shafer:
So basically that winery kind of went into hibernation- Hailey: Yes.
Lorenzo:
Like so many in the Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Like so many.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And the property-
Lorenzo:
It was one of the many ghost wineries.
Doug Shafer:
... it was still, it was a big property. It stayed all in one- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... one, uh, one ownership. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: The Eshcol, Eshcol property originally was about maybe 240 acres-
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: ... and it stayed, stayed together until my grandfather-
Doug Shafer:
All right. Hailey: ... bought it.
Doug Shafer:
So then we fast forward to granddad. Hailey: Yeah (laughs).
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Tell me about your grandfather cause he's got a story.
Lorenzo:
He's-
Doug Shafer:
Eugene Trefethen.
Lorenzo:
... he does. Yeah, well yeah, I'll take... My middle name's Eugene, so- Hailey: You take it.
Lorenzo:
... maybe I'll-
Doug Shafer:
Lorenzo, you go. You go.
Lorenzo:
... I'll talk about granddaddy (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
You guys get along very, you guys get along very well-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... I like this.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Surprisingly well, right? (laughs). Hailey: Just wait.
Doug Shafer:
(laughing) - out.
Lorenzo:
Uh, I liked so um, granddaddy grew up in the working summers in Santa Clara Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
Which was... You read the novels of John Steinbeck, that was the Valley of the heart's delight. You could grow anything down there.
Doug Shafer:
Right. That's true.
Lorenzo:
And over his lifetime he watched that become Silicon Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And then he was... We had, the family had a ranch in Walnut Creek that we called the North 40, cause it was as far away from San Francisco as anyone wanted to get. And then- Hailey: And it really was walnuts.
Lorenzo:
And there was walnuts. Hailey: It was, it was a walnut farm.
Doug Shafer:
Walnut Creek, that's called Walnut Creek. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
Yup. And he woke up one day, they'd put the tunnels in, they'd started converting everything to housing, and he woke up one day and realized he had like the last walnut farm in Walnut Creek.
Doug Shafer:
Oh my gosh.
Lorenzo:
So he, he always had his roots in, in agriculture, and when they came to Napa Valley, he was really looking to invest in a place that was going to protect agriculture.
Doug Shafer:
But his, his day job was Kaiser steel, right?
Lorenzo:
His... Yeah, what was Kaiser. Kaiser was- Hailey: Industries.
Lorenzo:
... Kaiser Industries.
Doug Shafer:
Industries. Pardon me.
Lorenzo:
It was, it was Kaiser steel, Kaiser Cement, Kaiser Gravel. There's the Kaiser Pipe plant here in Napa.
Doug Shafer:
Big projects. Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kaiser Air. Kaiser Car.
Lorenzo:
Kaiser Air. Hailey: Kaiser Concrete.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. They- Hailey: Pretty much anything you could think of.
Lorenzo:
... uh, they did a few small projects like, like the-
Doug Shafer:
Hoover dam.
Lorenzo:
Hoover dam (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. I did, I did some-
Lorenzo:
... the Bay bridge.
Doug Shafer:
The Bay bridge. Hailey: The Bay bridge was a good one.
Lorenzo:
There's actually, I love this story. This just speaks to like that era.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
So they, they get the contract to do the underwater pylons for the Bay bridge, which at that point in time was the largest over-water expanse in the world-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
... by far.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Lorenzo:
And they get the whole company together. Uh, all of Kaiser at the San Francisco ferry building, and they're all having a party. And Henry Kaiser, Eugene Trefethen, Cornell Meyer, and a few engineers get on a tugboat and go into the, the Bay towards Yerba Buena Island. And they go, "All right, great. We got the contract. How the hell are we going to do this?" (laughing). Hailey: Never done anything like that before.
Doug Shafer:
Well no one had ever done anything- Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
No one had ever done anything of... Yeah. And it was just like ... they, they... Henry would have these crazy ideas and he turned to Gene and say, "Go make it happen."
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Lorenzo:
Um, and one of the, one of, I think, the brain-childs of our, my grandfather that we, um, are... It's just amazing to see what it's become. As Kaiser became, uh, not the first, but one of the first, um, and definitely one of the major companies in the US to provide healthcare for its employees.
Doug Shafer:
There you go. Hailey: Yeah. This was one of the last things that granddaddy did before he retired.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. And-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Lorenzo:
... uh, so it used to be you had to work for Kaiser to get Kaiser healthcare.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And now, of course there's Kaiser Permanente.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
That's what it grew into.
Doug Shafer:
So that's your granddad?
Lorenzo:
That was, that was granddaddy. He was- Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
I mean the story's amazing. He just, he... I like to say he dropped out of business school to go work for a small San Francisco startup in the 1930s (laughing). But he really didn't drop out of business school. You did not... There were no startup scene in San Francisco.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
He was Henry's right hand man and he became eventually chairman and-
Doug Shafer:
Sure.
Lorenzo:
... I think president as well.
Doug Shafer:
No, he ran it.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Um-
Doug Shafer:
What a story.
Lorenzo:
But uh- Hailey: Yeah, but it's funny, I mean those are the values that kind of stuck with us, you know,
Lorenzo:
Right. Hailey: ... to the point that today, well we have Kaiser at Trefethen-
Lorenzo:
Well- Hailey: ... and that's my healthcare. But-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: I mean that's for every employee across the company. And you know, healthcare and, and benefits have always been-
Lorenzo:
Yeah, all of our guys- Hailey: ... taking care of your... Taking care of your team is something-
Doug Shafer:
Um- Hailey: ... he definitely instilled in us.
Doug Shafer:
So, so he's got the last Walnut Creek, Walnut orchard in-
Lorenzo:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
... Walnut Creek and he's saying, and here comes urban sprawl, and he does?
Lorenzo:
And so he came... I mean, he and nana started visiting Napa Valley and nana had, uh, an affection for wine. Hailey: She'd always loved wine.
Lorenzo:
She'd always loved wine.
Doug Shafer:
Good.
Lorenzo:
And that was probably part of the success of Kaiser actually, is they were doing... They were getting all these projects and the, the Trefethen sort of campaign dinners to get these projects became-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... famous because Nana was also a master gardener. And so you'd have sort of fresh vegetables on the table and this weird, um, substance called Bordeaux. (laughing). Um, and, you know, no one had had good wine in the US and people- Hailey: Most people were drinking scotch and soda.
Lorenzo:
... it was like a steak and scotch.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, beer and bourbon. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
And so they came to Napa and there were... It was 1968 and there were a series of rather controversial zoning regulations in front of the County supervisors-
Doug Shafer:
- right.
Lorenzo:
That, uh, said about to establish the first agricultural preserve in North America.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
And if... And Napa was a poor agricultural community.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And anybody who wanted to make some money as a land owner was looking to sell to a developer.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And my grandfather came in, did a handshake deal on a few properties, but with the condition that the supervisors passed this thing.
Doug Shafer:
Oh wow.
Lorenzo:
And he flipped the economic calculus for enough people that this passed, and as, you know, that Ag preserve is a foundation of the Napa Valley today.
Doug Shafer:
It's kept us green. Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Kept the developers out.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. Hailey: I mean just forward thinking. I mean, and, and it goes to his history with Walnut Creek and, and the Santa Clara Valley, but just having that vision for something for the future, for it to remain in agriculture, that whole generation. It's just amazing.
Doug Shafer:
Well, he saw the Santa Clara Valley get paved over. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
He saw the whole East Bay get developed into housing. So how, how old, how old were they when they moved up here? Or when he bought the property?
Lorenzo:
He, um... Well he, he was- ... up here partially, I think, because he fell victim to his own retirement policy at Kaiser. (laughing). So- Hailey: He implemented a mandatory retirement-
Lorenzo:
... he was in his late 60s. Hailey: ... age.
Doug Shafer:
Oh no. And it came back to bite him.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah. He wasn't, he wasn't totally ready. (laughing). So this was his retirement project.
Doug Shafer:
Oh bless his heart. Hailey: Yeah. But he wasn't-
Lorenzo:
But he got a few others. They, they got the whole family into it actually. They had started sending bottles of wine to, um, Nana's sister and Barbara and Mill Eisele came up the year afterwards-
Doug Shafer:
I remember the Eisele’s.
Lorenzo:
... and setup Eisele vineyard.
Doug Shafer:
Up in Calistoga.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Which later became, uh-
Lorenzo:
Araujo.
Doug Shafer:
Araujo. Who did the Eisele bottling. Or, Phelps did the Eisele botting - Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And Araujo bought it. Um, okay, so there are... So he's, is he living up here in '68? your grandparents? Hailey: Slowly.
Doug Shafer:
Slowly. Okay. Hailey: Yeah, kind of splitting their time between San Francisco. They still had the-
Doug Shafer:
Got it. Hailey: - still had the place in San Francisco. And we're here and kind of remodeling the house that was built in 1910 on the property.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: Kind of-
Doug Shafer:
But they weren't, they weren't making wine. Hailey: No. He had no intention of making wine.
Doug Shafer:
No intention of making wine? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But then now your dad, so how old was your dad when this is all going down?
Lorenzo:
Oh, he's a young whippersnapper.
Doug Shafer:
Young-
Lorenzo:
(laughing) Hailey: Yeah, just out of college -
Doug Shafer:
This is, this is father John?
Lorenzo:
He came back from the Navy and was actually going, uh, to business school on the peninsula and he came up with a small business plan for a theoretical family-owned winery.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
In one of his classes. And on the weekends he was coming up and, um, attempting (laughing) to make wine in the basement of the house. Um, and there were a few incidents. I mean, he was literally making wine in like steel trash cans basically. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Um, and- Hailey: Some good stories from those days.
Lorenzo:
... he put the lid on cause he'd, he'd, he'd sorta get the fermentations going-
Doug Shafer:
Sure.
Lorenzo:
... then he had to go back to school.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
So one day he, uh, one weekend he, you know, it was the beginning of fermentation, he put the lid on a little too tight and he came back and the whole can just like the entire side-
Doug Shafer:
Split.
Lorenzo:
... had split and there was half fermented wine-
Doug Shafer:
All over.
Lorenzo:
... all over the place. Hailey: But that led to him also sleeping next to fermentations later-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: ... when we started actually making wine.
Doug Shafer:
Really? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Good. Hailey: Yeah. But dad actually... I mean, he took over kind of the day-to-day farming operations from my granddaddy.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: And really kind of threw himself into understanding that side of the business, which is where we started.
Doug Shafer:
So when he got out of school, he came up here and started- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... running it? Because it was a big property. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah. Um, over 400 acres of grapes. And yeah, and it was a lot. But he took that on and then went on to... I mean, it was a time when great-
Lorenzo:
Well, and also figured out that all grapes weren't the same. (laughing). That was... You know, granddaddy wanted to grow grapes cause he'd grown walnuts and, you know, walnuts basically are walnuts. But then dad was like, you know, "We should probably plant different things in different parts of the vineyard." Um, (laughs) and so started that.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
All right. Well that's cool. And now meanwhile though, we got to take a step back because we've got to talk about your mom- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... and your dad. So your... Cause they met at, they met at Stanford, right? Hailey: No.
Doug Shafer:
I think, no, where did they meet? Hailey: They met-
Lorenzo:
They met-
Doug Shafer:
Where did they meet? Hailey: ... in Napa.
Doug Shafer:
They met in Napa. Hailey: Mom was working in the wine growers office for Ren Harris, right?
Lorenzo:
For Ren Harris. Hailey: And dad was going up there and he was kind of feigning interest in joining. (laughing). Uh, but really he just wanted to go talk to this cute girl.
Doug Shafer:
He was just was, he was flirting with the girl? Hailey: Yeah. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Smart guy. Hailey: Exactly. And so, uh, yeah, they actually, they met and got married and launched the first vintage of Trefethen in the same year.
Doug Shafer:
Holy cats. But stepping back with your mom, where, where, where's your mom grow up? I don't know this. Hailey: Mom grew up in the Sacramento Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: In a town called Williams.
Doug Shafer:
Williams? Hailey: On a rice farm.
Doug Shafer:
On a rice farm? Hailey: And so she's a Mald-... You know, so she's a third generation rice farmer.
Doug Shafer:
So she's a, you know- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Janet, don't take offense, you're a farm girl. Hailey: Exactly. Absolutely.
Lorenzo:
No offense taken, she- Hailey: No, she's-
Lorenzo:
... wears that proudly. Hailey: ... prideful. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Of course, she does cause yeah, she's ridden horses forever. Hailey: Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
That's right. Hailey: She grew up riding horses. She'd have to beg her dad to get a new brush or comb for, but I mean that was her life. She loved riding.
Doug Shafer:
She was Ag, Ag, Ag. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. I never knew that. All right. And then she ends up here? Hailey: So she still grows rice.
Doug Shafer:
Still grows rice? Hailey: Still grows rice.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Good for her.
Lorenzo:
Yup.
Doug Shafer:
So they meet, your dad, uh... So they all get... They get married. And this is what year? Hailey: 1973.
Doug Shafer:
73, they get married? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Move... They're living here and they start making-
Lorenzo:
First crush.
Doug Shafer:
... wine. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
First crush?
Lorenzo:
First commercial - Hailey: Mom majored in journalism, so she started doing all of our, all of our marketing-
Doug Shafer:
She did all - right. I know that. Hailey: ... Dad made all of our wine in the early days.
Doug Shafer:
And so dad, was dad was wine maker? Hailey: Dad was winemaker?
Doug Shafer:
All right. Hailey: ... for the first couple of vintages.
Doug Shafer:
Well, how (laughing)... All right, so where did he learn how to make wine? Because, you know, this, these experiments have-
Lorenzo:
Out of a book-
Doug Shafer:
... gone awry. But-
Lorenzo:
... he got (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
... of which I've done the same.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I've done the same thing (laughing). It's like, oops, that didn't work.
Lorenzo:
I mean this was the amazing thing back then is you... It was really the wines of early Napa Valley were a testament to the land cause-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
I mean- Hailey: We didn't know that much about wine making.
Lorenzo:
- they were doing. Yeah. There were a few people, there was Andre Tchelistcheff, there were, you know, the Mondavi's have been here for a while. We, we, we would call them up with all of our questions (laughing)-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... and Mike Grgich too. Hailey: But the big one was, is in the early days it was like, who are we gonna sell those grapes to?
Lorenzo:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
That's - how many, how many acres of grapes? Hailey: Over 400 acres of grapes. And they were-
Doug Shafer:
Cause that's what your- Hailey: ... they were less than 25 wineries in the Valley.
Doug Shafer:
... that's what Gene started, your granddad? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So he's selling grapes- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... and there's only 25 wineries. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I'm interrupting you. Okay. Hailey: No, it's fine.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah. Hailey: No, it's crazy. And so that's actually when-
Lorenzo:
Well no, dad was... Dad, dad was selling grapes. Granddaddy really like put the estate together, started to re-energize the estate-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... cause it was a whole mess out there.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And uh, and dad kind of took over that planting process. And then of course, selling grapes. There's lots of- Hailey: Yeah, and that like him-
Lorenzo:
... stories about that. Hailey: ... co-founding the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association so that they could have a voice in terms of how much money they would get for their grapes because otherwise you were at the whim, you know, whatever the winery-
Lorenzo:
The co-ops. Yeah. Hailey: ... wanted to give you-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, the co-op was big. Hailey: ... is what you had to take.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, cause we moved out in '73 and it was an existing vineyard, but yeah, dad was selling the grapes to the co-op. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And they controlled everything. All the pricing, the whole deal. Hailey: Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
So your, your- Hailey: So grape growers-
Doug Shafer:
... dad John helped form the grape growers? Hailey: Yeah. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Aha. Hailey: And it really was to try and be able to, you know, get-
Doug Shafer:
Have some- Hailey: ... good money.
Doug Shafer:
Have some strength. Hailey: Yeah. Exactly. Have some strength in terms of us being a grower.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Back, cause people don't realize, you know, how it was tough to make money growing grapes back then. Hailey: It's still is (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
It's still is. It still is.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, exactly. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
It's still is. Um, all right. So now what do your grandparents think about your dad and your mom like doing the wine thing? Was that- Hailey: Well dad-
Doug Shafer:
... were they, were they onboard? Hailey: ... went to granddaddy the first time and said, I think, you know, everyone really likes our grapes, like that it's good quality.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And dad kind of said we should start a winery. Granddaddy looks at him and says, "I'm too old. You do it."
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And so that's-
Doug Shafer:
So did it.
Lorenzo:
And they're sitting around this first vintage is now like all fermented and uh, they're, they're going, "All right, what are we gonna call this thing? We got, you know, put it in a bottle, put a label on it."
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And mom, the newlywed into this Trefethen family says, "Why don't we call it Trefethen." And all the Trefethens go, "That's a terrible idea. No one can pronounce our name. It's too long." (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
That's true. It's a challenge. It's true. It's good point. Hailey: It's memorable.
Lorenzo:
It's, but it is, it is... Yeah. She, uh, mom, she had the foresight to recognize that really, you know, the, the name on the bottle matters-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
... and the name on the bottle in, in, in certain parts in our history is really like, that's been the ultimate quality guarantee.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Um- Hailey: We put our name on it and stand by it.
Lorenzo:
... and it means everything to us. Um, and it is, there is, it is memorable, and I swear it gets easier to pronounce the more you enjoy-
Lorenzo:
... the wine. Yeah. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Well that's so... When they started the winery, they, they... Did the, the, the old building, that beautiful building- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... cause that... Had that been abandoned, was it being used? They had- Hailey: Dad has lots of stories of getting in battles with pigeons and bats and everything else (laughing) that was living in there. So he had to clean it out and clean it up so he could make wine in there.
Lorenzo:
And the first time moms saw it, she said, "Oh, John, what a great building. Can I keep my horses here?" (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Of course, of course she did.
Lorenzo:
He said, "No, I've got another idea."
Doug Shafer:
But that- Hailey: Yeah, so they cleaned it up.
Doug Shafer:
... must have been so cool.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. No, but it was-
Doug Shafer:
It had abandoned, abandoned for years and years and years. Hailey: Well it's one of those buildings that from the outside you'd be like, oh, okay. It's kind of a funny color.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: It looks like a big barn, but when you go inside and you see all of this Douglas fir and Redwood-
Lorenzo:
Yeah- Hailey: ... and how it was constructed.
Lorenzo:
It's spectacular. Hailey: It's, it just has this warmth too. And this aroma of wine being made there for 133 years, you know. It's really-
Doug Shafer:
That's, that's neat. Hailey: ... special.
Doug Shafer:
That's a good question. The color of the building, has it always been that color? Hailey: Since we've had it, yes.
Doug Shafer:
It's a great color. Hailey: We've kind of... One of the theories is that maybe it was red and faded-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ... to that color, but that's the color it was when we got it, and we've kept it that way.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, it's beautiful. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Oh.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Kind of jealous, but that's okay. (laughing). Uh, so, yeah, speaking of grapes and wines, the I... My understanding is your, the first big winner was Chardonnay for you guys, and I think still is. Are you guys kind of known for Chardonnay for the most part, you think?
Lorenzo:
Uh, Chardonnay and Cabernet.
Doug Shafer:
And Cabernet?
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Right. But early on was Chardonnay was the-
Lorenzo:
Chardonnay was the, was the grape we built our brand on.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And I was on a panel recently. I learned that... Just how rare Chardonnay was when we first planted it.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
It was... I mean, grape sort of, you know, you had the... Wine had forever been sold on the basis of place. And then in California, some clever marketers started using those place names to sell wine that had nothing to do with that place.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And so the fine wine makers started putting the variety of, of wine grape on the label. But Chardonnay was basically unheard of-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
... outside of Burgundy and Champagne. And when granddaddy planted our vineyard, I mean that was a, a massive increase in the amount of the Chardonnay grape-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... in the Napa Valley. And it was a big- Hailey: It also had a good relationship with Domaine Chandon.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: - (laughing) why we have a lot of Chardonnay and Pinot on the property.
Lorenzo:
Exactly. That was our first real grape, grape client. And we still grow grapes for sparkling wine-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... producers today.
Doug Shafer:
Good.
Lorenzo:
Um, and we love our bubbles. Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, the bubbles are great cause-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... they pick early, man. (laughing). We love... Growers, we love, we love that. Hailey: Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
But you've got a great spot for... I mean because people always talk about, you know, the, the coast and Carneros cool weather for Chardonnay and pinot but-
Lorenzo:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
... and you guys aren't there, but you're in South Napa and you're over there on the highway cause I'm, I'm here in Stags Leap, I'm not that far from you guys.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
A couple of miles. But I'm over here-
Lorenzo:
Out of the fog-
Doug Shafer:
I'm out of the fog- Hailey: The Valley is a little bit more narrow here.
Doug Shafer:
I'm a little warmer, but you guys have that straight shot with, you know, the fog and the breeze is coming up- Hailey: Straight to the Bay.
Doug Shafer:
... in the afternoon. Yeah, straight to the Bay. Hailey: We'll have um, you know, up to 50 degree temperature swings between day and night-
Doug Shafer:
Wow. Hailey: ... and we'll get that fog that comes and sits over the vineyard and keeps it nice and cool in the morning, and then it'll burn off around noon and get nice intense heat then to ripen the Bordeaux varieties. But because of those like cooler nights, that's the biggest reason of why we can grow Chardonnay, Pinot, Riesling.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: And even why even our red wines have that bright acidity to them is because those grapes get that break at night, really get to maintain that acidity, that brightness, and then they get the heat during the day to develop flavor.
Doug Shafer:
No. It's a good spot. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It's a pretty cool place.
Lorenzo:
We love it. Hailey: And it's really cool. I mean it's... It allows us to grow nine different varieties on one property.
Doug Shafer:
Nine different varieties? Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
You said you grow Riesling? Hailey: Yep.
Doug Shafer:
They grew Rieslings back in 1800? Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
1800s there too? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
That's cool.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Riesling was... Well, so we started with Chardonnay in '73.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And then in '74, we started making our dry Riesling and our Cabernet.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. Hailey: And we've been making those three ever since.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. And, and Chardonnay was just the surprise, I guess. It was... So we were... I mean we were really... My grandparents and parents were crazy to be (laughing) here doing what they were doing back in that time. It was, uh... I mean the, the Valley was not a place for wine. It was general agriculture. There was more of other things than there were of grapes planted. Um, and, you know, my grandfather, when he started pulling out, there were some orchards, and you start pulling those out to plant grapevines, everyone thought he was crazy.
Doug Shafer:
Crazy because there's no money in grapes.
Lorenzo:
No.
Doug Shafer:
No. There's not.
Lorenzo:
And dad started... Mom and dad started making wine, and clearly lunacy ran in the family (laughing) cause who in America was drinking wine at that time?
Doug Shafer:
Well, I'll tell you who, because my father moved us out in '73 from Chicago- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Right when your folks started- Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... making wine. And the reason he did it was because he kept reading these research reports saying there's a coming wine boom in California. Hailey: That's amazing.
Lorenzo:
That's... I heard you say that in some other podcast, and-
Doug Shafer:
I've told same stories over and over.
Lorenzo:
Where, where was he getting his information? (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
No, I don't know because his job, his job at this other company was to do research, like what's the new Twitter, what's new, whatever.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And so he kept coming across this pending wine boom. And he was a bourbon and beer guy.
Lorenzo:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
And he came out and bought this ranch, not because he wanted to make wine, because as an investment-
Lorenzo:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
... instead of putting stock.
Lorenzo:
How many other people did that though? He must've been-
Doug Shafer:
Again, so all his neighbors in Chicago-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... said to my parents, you're crazy.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
The Shafers are nuts. The Shafers are loony. What are they doing?
Lorenzo:
Yeah. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
It's like they got a covered wagon and they're moving out to Napa Valley. It's like where is that? (laughing). No, it's, I mean... So your parents and-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... my parents and my parents- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... crazy, crazy, crazy like a fox, you know.
Lorenzo:
Those... Yeah, no, that, that... And something that I think defines, you know, both of our companies now, it's just that pioneering mindset that like they were first movers and there was something in their character that they wanted to come out-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
... and try something that like anybody who knew anything about wine, knew that fine wine did not come from California. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. And I was, you know, I was 17, but I was totally ignorant. Hailey: That's a-
Doug Shafer:
I had no idea. Hailey: ... big change for a 17 year old.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, but it was okay. But I had no idea that there was... This was -
Lorenzo:
Yeah, from Chicago -
Doug Shafer:
... viable business. It's like I'm going with mom and dad- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... and off we go.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It was fun.
Lorenzo:
Uh-
Doug Shafer:
So you're... Go ahead.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. So we're... We start making Chardonnay and uh, yeah, I'm, I'm eventually getting to it, Hailey is like, come on. Yeah. (laughing). So, uh, there were, there were a few tastings in the 70s that sort of started to change everyone's opinion in this Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
And the first was, uh, of course now what we call the judgment of Paris. And that was, uh, actually an Oak Knoll district Chardonnay-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
... from Montelena. And then, and that really set the stage for another tasting because it wasn't very well received in France. Stephen, who put it together was banned from the French wine tasting circuit for a year. And the, the French were like tried their best-
Doug Shafer:
Steven Spurrier. I didn't know that.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, no, cause he was a French wine merchant.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
French wine educator. He was important in the business, and they, they essentially excommunicated him for a year-
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Lorenzo:
... you know, go sit in the corner, think about what you've done. (laughing). Um, but Le Figaro wrote the tasting up as laughable, and Lamond wrote it up as not to be taken seriously.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
Um, and so... But I guess the question had been called. And so in 1979, the French put together the largest wine tasting or one of the largest the world had ever seen. Um, they tasted wines from 33 countries, and they called it the Wine Olympics. And when the results were revealed, the, uh, it was a blind tasting of course, at the end of the day, Trefethen Chardonnay was declared the best Chardonnay in the world.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, man. 1979?
Lorenzo:
Yep. Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Lorenzo:
And no one was more surprised than our parents. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
And your, and your dad was the winemaker? Hailey: Yeah, hmm-
Lorenzo:
Dad and David Whitehouse.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah, David. Yeah, David-
Lorenzo:
- first vintage together. Hailey: That was... Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
David came on board. Hailey: Yeah. Exactly.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, that's right. Hailey: But that-
Doug Shafer:
That's pretty cool. Hailey: ... I mean mom at this point was selling every single bottle of wine. She'd go across the country, she met you, and then she sold you wine.
Lorenzo:
She made sure you had refrigeration. (laughing). Hailey: She had her book. And every place that had Trefethen, you know, was down in this book. So, you know, when they were telling her that, you know, the wine had just won, she's like, "No, that's not possible. I know where every single bottle is." (laughing). And she's just like, she refused-
Lorenzo:
We don't have anyone in France. Hailey: ... to believe it. Yeah. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
That's, that's funny.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, she's telling all of these journalists that they were mistaken. (laughing). And yeah. It really, I think it was, yeah. It was... I mean, it was, move, news moved more slowly back then as well.
Doug Shafer:
Yes, it did. Yeah.
Lorenzo:
So it was this weird like slow build and finally where they, I think they said, well, I guess it happened. And, and people were reading the articles and started buying the wines, so we were like, great. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
That's fantastic.
Lorenzo:
Um- Hailey: But I mean, the, the French were so outraged, there was actually a rematch.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. So -
Doug Shafer:
Oh, they did here? Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
So the, the wine Olympics were organized by Gault et Millau, um, the restaurant guide.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
At the time, they were pretty much as big as the Michelin guide. And as you can imagine, there were some rather disgruntled wine producers in Burgundy. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
And, uh, Robert Drouhin wrote a letter to Gault et Millau and Christian Moueix, um, which we have framed in our tasting room. Um, and he expresses his great disappointment with the (laughing) results of the Wine Olympics, and offered to essentially host a rematch. So the following year they took over the big Burgundy auction at Hospice du Rhône.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
Or for part of it. And they re-tasted all the top finishers from the year before. All the grand crus from Drouhin were included in this tasting. The Drouhin's like handpick the judges and they, they wanted to make sure that, you know, this-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... was run right, run properly.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
Um, and uh, we won again.
Doug Shafer:
You won again? (laughing). Hailey: We won again.
Doug Shafer:
That's so cool. Hailey: Yeah. And my parents didn't know about the rematch either. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
They didn't know?
Lorenzo:
No. Hailey: No.
Lorenzo:
This was all a surprise, the both times they called us up and, and mom I think was a little more prepared the second time cause it had-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that's - Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... already happened once. But it was, the response was more like, "What? They did it again?" "Yeah." (laughing). Hailey: I mean I think our parents thought someone was playing a practical joke on them -
Lorenzo:
Oh yeah. Hailey: ... because that's the kind of community Napa was, you know, that wouldn't have been unheard of.
Lorenzo:
And those were the type of friends dad had. (laughing). Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
That's true. That's true. That's fantastic. So that just gets it ... That's gets it going. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Because, you know- Hailey: That way we won't-
Lorenzo:
That kind of going. And that, you know, those, those tastings, they just, they brought attention-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... to the Napa Valley. And all of the great wines- Hailey: To California.
Lorenzo:
In California and- Hailey: ... as United States could produce great wine.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
This whole wine... I mean, yeah cause the French basically had a monopoly on fine wine up until then. And we shattered the myth that you could only-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... we Napa shattered the myth that you could only make great wine in France. And it opened the doors for so many other great winemaking regions across-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... the world. And I just love the serendipity of this. Like we were... We just were there at the right time and it was (laughing)-
Doug Shafer:
It was good timing.
Lorenzo:
... a complete surprise.
Doug Shafer:
Good timing.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So speaking of timing, so Lorenzo, you show up in '83?
Lorenzo:
I do.
Doug Shafer:
Hailey, you show up in ‘86? Hailey: Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
And I hear stories about your dad who's a pilot, like (laughing) using your driveway as his landing place and take off runway? Hailey: Yeah. Well why not? You know? I mean, it's a nice like half-
Doug Shafer:
This, this... Is this, is this- Hailey: ... strip right there. It's very true.
Doug Shafer:
This is totally true? Hailey: It's totally true.
Doug Shafer:
Totally true. Hailey: He kept his (laughing) airplane on the property.
Doug Shafer:
I can't, I just love this thing. Hailey: He painted... He painted a white stripe across the driveway, and he knew that if a car was past that line, he could go ahead and come in for a landing and he wouldn't hit the car. But if-
Doug Shafer:
He would actually land when there were cars like on... So the cars would kind of see this plane- Hailey: Kind of. I mean we weren't that busy, but, you know, just to make sure.
Lorenzo:
Nobody came to Napa. Hailey: (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Still kind of crazy. Hailey: Yeah. Yeah.
Lorenzo:
It was also on the, uh, on takeoff, because you can't see around the corner of the entrance to the driveway, and you always take off into the wind-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
... and the wind is always blowing up Valley.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
So he's taking off towards the entrance of the driveway. If he was not yet to that line and someone turned in, he'd, he'd be the good host. He throttled down, he'd turn around, you know, (laughing) come on, you know. But if he was past that line- Hailey: Past that line.
Lorenzo:
... he was past the point of no return. So-
Doug Shafer:
He's going up.
Lorenzo:
He's going. And a few-
Doug Shafer:
And here comes the car.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, I guess a few visitors, early visitors to Trefethen and got a free and immediate vineyard tour. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Oh, man.
Lorenzo:
Ahhh!
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. So they turn off the road.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
I just love that. As little kids, do you guys ever remember that, flying with your dad? Hailey: Flying with dad, absolutely.
Doug Shafer:
Flying with dad, absolutely. Hailey: Landing on the driveway, no.
Lorenzo:
No. Hailey: I think that maybe was before-
Lorenzo:
I was- Hailey: ... we really remember.
Lorenzo:
I was almost born in a plane. I was a - I was two weeks late and so-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, you're not supposed to fly... What was-
Lorenzo:
I was, I was comfortable. Um, and uh (laughing)-
Doug Shafer:
Wait, doctors say you're not supposed to fly or was you- Hailey: You just take the doctor with you.
Lorenzo:
Well you take the doctor with you and dad did some light acrobatics to kind of encourage me to-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, you're kidding me.
Lorenzo:
... hey, come on out buddy. Yeah. (laughing). So-
Doug Shafer:
There was, there was- Hailey: And he still took, he still-
Doug Shafer:
... a doctor in the plane? Hailey: I don't know.
Doug Shafer:
No. Okay. Yeah. Hailey: I'm joking.
Lorenzo:
No, I think they were up with the, with their OB. (laughing). Yeah. Hailey: But, uh-
Doug Shafer:
That's pretty funny. Hailey: Lauren was... He was kind of so late that he was just on time-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ... which is a knack he has. So he's born on three 17. March 17th, which is St. Patrick's day at 3:17.
Lorenzo:
AM. Hailey: AM.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Lorenzo:
Doubly lucky. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
That's pretty funny. (laughing). So you guys growing up in Napa, so '83, '86, I'd start here as Wine maker in '83. I remember it from my point of view, which was just kind of just one directional cause I had just gotten married and having kids. But... So you guys growing up, I mean you're living... Where were you living? Living on the ranch. Hailey: Yup. Living on the ranch eve- We'd go to the winery every day after school.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: And then the... Our parents' house is actually up at our Hillspring vineyard, which is just like two or three miles from the main ranch-
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: ... from the winery. Um, and that's really where we grew up. I mean, we played outside all the time. I mean-
Lorenzo:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Hailey: ... you know, Hillspring-
Lorenzo:
Or were inside in the cellar (laughing). Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Climbing around on barrels, playing hide and seek. Hailey: But mom instilled her love of horses. So we grew up riding horses.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: So we'd ride horses through the vineyard. We kept busy and had a blast.
Doug Shafer:
You weren't bored? Hailey: No, not at all.
Lorenzo:
Oh, no. Hailey: Not at all.
Doug Shafer:
Busy? Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
This family does not get bored.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
There's always something to do. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
And so Lorenzo, you were, you were Justin-Sienna, and then-
Lorenzo:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
... onto Stanford. Any, any notable activities or crazy things in high school or college?
Lorenzo:
Oh-
Doug Shafer:
Besides those stories I've heard about you and my nephew, but we won't go there. (laughing).
Lorenzo:
Uh, there was a teacher at Justin-Sienna, Mr. O'Connor, Mr. O, who I really latched on to. Um, and I actually, I just had dinner at his house last night, um, where they get the sort of former students and colleagues together every Wednesday night for dinner. It's really cool, a community thing that they do. Um, but he was a science teacher and, uh, I loved biology. I loved environmental science, which he taught.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
And so I went to school thinking I was gonna, um, do biology. Uh, I went to college and I went, you know, something like 30% of the incoming class at Stanford has, declares premed.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
And so they do their best to weed them out with chemistry. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, I-
Lorenzo:
We took a year of chemistry to get into biology just to... That was the pre-req. And I think the mean on the final of organic chemistry was like 30.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, that's -
Lorenzo:
Even the guys who aced the test, thought they'd just gotten rocked. Um, and that was a... That kinda left a bad taste in my mouth with chemistry. (laughing). But- Hailey: No, cause you said... You always said it was all very geared towards premed too.
Doug Shafer:
Sure. It is. Hailey: So not, like not what attracted you-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ... into that to begin with.
Lorenzo:
No, no. And then- Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... I got through all this to get to biology, and it's the exact same thing that we learned. It's the same syllabus as high school.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And the professor walks in, he does one of these things like, "Look to your right, look to your left, one of you will not be here by the end of this course."
Doug Shafer:
Oh wow.
Lorenzo:
And I stood up and walked out. (laughing). Um, but uh, while I was there I, I started to get into wine.
Doug Shafer:
Oh good -
Lorenzo:
Um, I mean we'd always enjoyed, the wine was always the table.
Doug Shafer:
Oh yeah. You grew up with it big time. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Everybody was, you know, drinking beer in college and I didn't quite have a taste for it.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
I remember we were at a formal dinner and uh, as freshmen and everyone was drinking a certain $2 bottle of wine uh, and we... I just, after the first bottle, I was like, "Man, I can't do this anymore." And I went back up to room. I had like a dresser drawer full of the f- the family product.
Doug Shafer:
I've got it.
Lorenzo:
And brought it, brought it down. Instantly became the most popular table. (laughing). And, uh, I would then, um... I went on to take over a one unit pass fail course. Which was a wine tasting course, which was basically pre-game for pud, pub night.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Lorenzo:
(laughs). Um, but I, uh, yeah, taught... I became professor Trefethen and-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, you taught it?
Lorenzo:
... taught a, a couple quarters. Yeah, one year of the wine tasting course at Stanford, got, got them to buy, you know, Riedel glass where we got them, uh, industry discount. And then, um, had to like figure out how to look like I knew what I was talking about in front of all of my friends. So learned a lot-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... teaching. Like preparing to teach that.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lorenzo:
That. And it was... It was really cool to just see how wine brought everybody together. Um, and that was, yeah, sort of my first taste of the -
Doug Shafer:
So, yeah. So got it. All right. So that's what got you going on that path. And then meanwhile-
Lorenzo:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... you're, you're doing Napa high school or- Hailey: Yeah, I went to Justin.
Doug Shafer:
... Justin Sien- Justin-Sienna. Hailey: I went to Justin-Siena, and then went to Santa Clara. So the joke was that I got 15 minutes farther away from home than my brother. (laughing). Um, but I figured out how to travel in college. And so I spent time in Baja and Costa Rica and in Argentina. Um, and-
Doug Shafer:
Cool, was that... Is that part of schools and internships, those things? Hailey: Yeah. Yeah. But nothing related to wine-
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: ... actually.
Doug Shafer:
All right. Hailey: But it was kind of when I realized that I wanted to come back into the business.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: It was when I was in Argentina cause you couldn't just pick up the phone and call home. And this was... I mean I... In college, I was two hours away from home. I could always come home -
Doug Shafer:
Sure. Hailey: ... I could always call home. It wasn't a big deal. And so, you know, in Argentina, email, set up a time, you know, get everybody on the phone -
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
Skype didn't work very well. Hailey: And then it's not just like how's mom, dad and my brother, it was what's going on at the winery. This is the first time I'd ever been away during harvest. Like I'd always been home for harvest.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. All right. Hailey: And so it was like, well, how's this person? How's this person? Like what's going on in the vineyard? Like how's the, you know, it was all of this. And that's when I realized how big of a part of my life this was. And -
Lorenzo:
And that's still you - Hailey: ... I always wanted it to be.
Lorenzo:
... you're, you're just always like, how, how's everyone doing? You know, (laughing) like day-to-day, like you're keeping everyone together at the winery. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
So- Hailey: And so that's when I realized it was a when not a if.
Doug Shafer:
Int- interesting. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So that's... So both you guys kind of like from early on it's like the wine thing's-
Lorenzo:
It was-
Doug Shafer:
... kind of imbued, you know.
Lorenzo:
... the, so the genius of my parents, I think, was they never pushed us into it.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: But always took us everywhere.
Lorenzo:
It was always- Hailey: I mean they took us-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: ... to winemaker dinners. They took us on the road. We were (laughing) in the cellar with dad, like, you know, summer jobs were at the winery. I washed glasses in the tasting room, which was funny cause I couldn't pour wine. But if someone ever got a hard question, they'd come and get me, you know?
Lorenzo:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Hailey: We'd get, we started giving tours when we were probably 11 or 12. Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, so you've been... Yeah-
Lorenzo:
You might've have seen as around in the early days, mom just took us to her business meetings- Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... in the crib and she'd have-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... a little sweet reserved.
Doug Shafer:
I do remember. I do remember that. Yeah. It's like-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. From Robert Mondavi -
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And she would, you know, if we got a little fussy, she'd rub something on (laughing) our gums- Hailey: On our gums.
Lorenzo:
... and we'd go right to sleep. Yeah. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
So it was kind of like, it wasn't like if you... For each of you, it wasn't if you're gonna come back, it's like kind of when. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Uh, I was maybe had less of that. I, I definitely-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... had to go away-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... to come back.
Doug Shafer:
Where'd you go?
Lorenzo:
And gain some perspective. Yeah, just a few hours away. Yeah. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. I'm with you.
Lorenzo:
Um, but it's still... I mean, I, I remember coming back for Thanksgiving and just... I mean, Stanford's a beautiful place, but coming back here and being like, "Man, it's nice here."
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
It's just a great spot. Hailey: Oh, well Thanksgiving too is like right after the first couple of rains and you have all of that new growth in the hills and everything is so vibrant and green.
Doug Shafer:
That's beautiful.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: And it just-
Lorenzo:
Plus all the- Hailey: ... feels really good.
Lorenzo:
... the fall colors. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. All right. You're here.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And then fast forward-
Lorenzo:
No, it was, it was, it was a long seduction. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
All right well speak. All right. Well this, I need to know if this, this helped seduce you. Cause 1997- Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... you come out with a new wine- Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... which I didn't know until I did some research (laughing) because I was, so Trefethen makes this wine called HaLo. What's? It's kind of a cool name. It's a really good Cabernet. It's cool. HaLo. It's got like-
Lorenzo:
Yeah, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Well it's an honor of you two. Hailey: Yeah. So I got to go first-
Doug Shafer:
Hailey, Hailey and Lorenzo. Hailey: ... even though I'm younger.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. I always thought it should be Loha.
Doug Shafer:
Loha?
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: But it, it comes from (laughing)-
Doug Shafer:
I love it. That's great. How, how cool of your folks to do that for you guys? Hailey: I think it was another one of those little subtle things of, you know, without directly saying, are you gonna come back? It was like, well, there's a wine named after.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, Yeah. (laughing). Hailey: And also it's, it's a best wine.
Lorenzo:
It was-
Doug Shafer:
No, no pressure. No pressure.
Lorenzo:
... but it was... I mean we were in high school. It was like both like flattering and super awkward- Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
... at the same time. Hailey: It's still is.
Doug Shafer:
Oh- Hailey: They want us to talk about HaLo.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, especially, especially in high school.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Oh yeah. It's like-
Lorenzo:
And you're like, "Thanks for naming the thing I can't drink after me." (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Well, we got, you know, we've got Relentless named in honor of Elias. So it's like, you know, we're... He and I tastes with a couple of people and it's like comes time to taste Relentless, someone says, "What's the story?" Elias just rolls his eyes and says-
Lorenzo:
I'm talking-
Doug Shafer:
... you know, I'm not talking about this.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And so, so I have to tell the story. Hailey: I think all of us. It's kind of... I think that speaks to our family is that I'm not... I don't really like talking about myself.
Lorenzo:
No.
Doug Shafer:
No. It's, it's tough. Hailey: ... so like talking about HaLo is super awkward. Um, and so to that point, Lauren and I actually just-
Lorenzo:
We turned the tables on- Hailey: We turned the tables.
Lorenzo:
... on mom and dad. Hailey: Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, you, okay. What, your, your, your-
Lorenzo:
We got a little something.
Doug Shafer:
Lorenzo, Lorenzo is pulling a bottle out.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Yeah. We wanted to share this with you.
Doug Shafer:
Oh this is cool.
Lorenzo:
Especially-
Doug Shafer:
What's this?
Lorenzo:
... given your history with the grape called Merlot. Uh, so we, um, we spent like a year and a half putting this together. The idea sort of germinated and, um, over a long period of time. But we were actively working on this for like a year and a half.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
And we somehow kept it secret from mom and dad. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Oh wow.
Lorenzo:
So, we, we review... We, we sort of revealed this at the company harvest party last year, and we just released it at the winery-
Doug Shafer:
I was about the say-
Lorenzo:
... as a finished wine.
Doug Shafer:
... one of my questions later is, what's new? We’re, we’re - Hailey: Yes, so just released-
Doug Shafer:
... we'll find out. Okay. Hailey: ... uh, September of this year is the first vintage of The Cowgirl and The Pilot (laughing). And we talked a little bit about my parents-
Doug Shafer:
Oh my gosh. Hailey: ... mom the cowgirl and dad the pilot.
Doug Shafer:
You guys look, oh, Jesus, there's the plane. All right. So I'm looking at a bottle. Um, we're gonna somehow get a photo of this-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... and get this up on, on the Shafer site or so, or where we promote this thing. It's called The Cowgirl and The Pilot. It's kind of a vineyard scene with mountains in the distance and the foregrounds, this gal on a horse galloping-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. And her dust -
Doug Shafer:
And her dust -
Lorenzo:
... is creating the vineyard.
Doug Shafer:
Her dust is creating the vineyard. Thank you, Lorenzo. And then in the distance, a little farther back on the right is an airplane that's either taking off or about the land-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... which is cowgirl-
Lorenzo:
Cha- maybe chasing behind.
Doug Shafer:
Chasing, chasing?
Lorenzo:
Yeah (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
I, I get that. The cowgirl and-
Doug Shafer:
How cool?
Lorenzo:
And setting the width of the vine rows.
Doug Shafer:
So you kept his... Look at you got the back. Hailey: we got 'em back.
Lorenzo:
We got 'em back.
Doug Shafer:
Oh this is really cool. And it's just being released like right now?
Lorenzo:
Er, yeah, like two... a month and a half ago.
Doug Shafer:
Just released it's called The Cowgirl and The Pilot, and it's a 2016, it's Merlot. Hailey: It's 100% Merlot.
Doug Shafer:
100% Merlot from Oak Knoll.
Lorenzo:
It's our best Merlot.
Doug Shafer:
It's your best Merlot.
Lorenzo:
Yup.
Doug Shafer:
Which is a, it's a, it's a good spot to grow Merlot. Hailey: It really is.
Doug Shafer:
Oh my gosh, it's cool. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Are you gonna let me keep this? Hailey: Absolutely.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yay, thank you. Thank you. I love it, I love the label.
Lorenzo:
And it's I mean, so this was the, the idea for the package sort of germinated between the two of us and we got really excited and started putting together- Hailey: The name was easy.
Lorenzo:
The name was super easy. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
The cowgirl-
Lorenzo:
And the artwork was really... I love the way that the artist interpreted, uh, the story of Trefethen and he heard this story about Janet and John Trefethen building this place. And so the cowgirl and the pilot on the label are literally building the landscape.
Doug Shafer:
That's a great name, just really cool.
Lorenzo:
Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
Congratulations.
Lorenzo:
Thank you. It's very cool. Hailey: I mean, and just reflects to we and our parents, that's the other thing, like as much as sure we were at, we were at their work every day after school and we knew a lot about what they did. They also have always had fun. You know, mom still rides competitively, she shows on a national level.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. Hailey: Um, and you know, dad's still flying, riding motorcycles, you know, occasionally racing cars.
Doug Shafer:
He does?
Lorenzo:
Yeah, he's the motor -
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, that's right. I read about it. Hailey: Um, and so they just have this love and passion for, for life and enjoyment, you know?
Doug Shafer:
That's pretty cool. Hailey: And that it just fits so well into, into the winery and that we get to have a little bit of fun there too once in a while.
Doug Shafer:
Well, well, well done. That's gorgeous. Hailey: Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
So things are rolling along, shifting gears here and there. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But this is an important story.
Lorenzo:
Going back to the beginning. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
August, 2014. Hailey: Yes.
Doug Shafer:
Here in Napa, we're all gearing up for harvest. 3:00 AM big earthquake hits Napa, 6.0. I was in St Helena in bed. I literally got, which was 25 miles away. Yeah, I was thrown out of bed. You know, I'm running to, I had two little babies at the time, running to see if they're all right. The house was shaking. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
You guys were right in the thick of it. Hailey: Yup.
Doug Shafer:
Talk to me. Where were you, what happened? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
What's... I mean it was - Hailey: I was, I was at home and I lived just East of downtown Napa and luckily my neighborhood is on rock. And so my house was just fine, which was good because there was plenty else to keep me busy.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs) Hailey: Um, and you know, between tr... calling my mom, um, cause at this point my dad and my brother are out of town and so I'm calling my mom on the way to the winery and up to her house to make sure that everything's okay. Um, and-
Doug Shafer:
That, that's three in the morning, four in the morning? Hailey: At three in the morning, yeah. And it was amazing. I mean, driving all the lights are out.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: You know, the traffic lights and everything like that. And yet everyone understood that if you were on the road at, right then you had somewhere important to be.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And so everyone was so courteous and safe and it was, um, even just that drive in was, was really telling of what was to come for this community.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)- Hailey: Um, and anyway, mom and I, um, connect, we find each other and make it down to, down to the winery. Um, and it was one of the most special things. There's, uh, four people there, four of our employees there-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ...um, with us. And so we're all standing there out on the crush pad and there's a little bit of moonlight. And so it's just enough to kind of tell that things are not right.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: Um, and you can tell that the building is leaning. Uh, so this is the, and then as the sun Rose, we got even, even better look. And so the winery, the Eschol building built in 1886 was leaning four feet to the West.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. Hailey: So this three story building is leaning way over. Um-
Doug Shafer:
I remember, dri-driving on the highway and seeing it going, "Oh, man." Hailey: Yeah. So that, um, that day kind of changed my life and my trajectory at the company-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ...for sure.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs) Hailey: Um, but I think it probably was incredibly painful for my brother and my dad, um, trying to get home and not being able to.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. No, I mean, we were just, it was, uh, it obviously wasn't as bad as being here, but it was almost worse.
Doug Shafer:
It's almost worse if you're not here.
Lorenzo:
There's this feeling of powerlessness. And we were, um, you know, and-
Doug Shafer:
Where were you Lorenzo?
Lorenzo:
We were, dad and I were in, uh, North Carolina.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
We were trying everything we could to get on, you know, the first flight home, which was not soon enough.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And getting these terrifying photos. And I mean, I don't think... we told you a little bit about mom's history and she's a tough like farm girl, cowgirl. I've never heard her hysterical until that-
Doug Shafer:
Hmm.
Lorenzo:
...that call that day. And it was, it was like, okay, this, this is serious, so we need to get home. Um, and- Hailey: But it was kind of amazing. There's also, there's a group that just, you never know how you're gonna react in something like that. And I think just because there was so much kind of, there was this chaos, you know, there were a group of us that just really focused on, okay, one thing at a time, right? This is the beginning of harvest. How do we do this? How do we make sure everybody's safe? How do we make sure like, and go through. And we may... sat down and made a list we're like, all right, "We have employees that need to come to work that need a job."
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: Um, we're not going to have a tasting room, that was clear. You know? We were at the very beginning of harvest, how do we still make our wine here?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: Right? We've been estate grown, produced, bottled, everything has happened on that property since we began. And so while, while everyone was great, they were like, "Hey, if if you need to make your wine, we'll make room. Like you can make it at our place." And there's such generous offers, but for us, we're like, well, that's not going to feel right. We've got to make it here.
Doug Shafer:
You did there. Hailey: Yeah. And so five, four, five days later we were, we'd resumed harvest. We were picking grapes and crushing in hard hats and safety vests.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs) Hailey: We had people stationed around the building that was leaning over with um, air horns and sort of watching it.
Doug Shafer:
So you were, were you working in the building? Hailey: No, we-
Doug Shafer:
Because -
Lorenzo:
They were working around it, the crush pad basically in the shade - Hailey: We got a crane basically the next day. Um, it was great. We were doing some just some minor work on a catwalk and called them up, said, "Hey, can you bring a few more guys and a little bit more equipment?" And so they came out and we moved our entire kind of like crush operation around the corner a little bit farther away from the building, so we'd be safer.
Doug Shafer:
Little bit safer. Hailey: And then we started working on the shoring system that would really kind of just keep the building from moving anymore. Keep it in place and keep it safe so that we could get through that year's harvest.
Lorenzo:
Which - itself was an amazing engineering feat.
Doug Shafer:
You know I didn't even think about that, because you're right in the middle of harvest for goodness sakes.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I mean-
Lorenzo:
It was the very beginning. We'd done one pick.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, not harvest would've been cha, you know, traum-traumatic enough, but you've got harvest going on. Okay. Hailey: Yeah. Yeah. But I mean amazing teamwork, like seeing the team come together around all of that, it's one of the most bonding things that you can... Like, it was incredible.
Lorenzo:
It really like just highlighted how strong the company was.
Doug Shafer:
Hmm.
Lorenzo:
Um, and that, that really was, I mean it was the most... And also the community. Like food started showing up from all of th-th...
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs)
Lorenzo:
Like nobody called and was like, "Do you need any-?"
Doug Shafer:
They just show up.
Lorenzo:
They showed up with like, "Here's some lunch." (Laughing) And it was just this outpouring of support that was amazing, that kept, that kept us going really.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. And I remember it because, because it's such a gorgeous building, it's so historic, you know, it's, it's got it, got it- Hailey: Was on everybody's-
Doug Shafer:
...got on every CNN, right? Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It was like- Hailey: There was no hiding it. Other people had damage (laughing) there's no hiding a building leaning over four feet.
Doug Shafer:
I know. Was that, was that like kind of heartbreaking or was it- Hailey: It was hard. It was hard in a time to deal with-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Hailey: ...some press people when all I wanted to do is take care of what was actually going on.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, they were showing up? Hailey: Oh yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Oh no. Hailey: People like try... Yeah. We, yeah, we had someone posted at the gate cause people would just drive in like... And people, you know, people would just like, they'd want to walk straight up to it. I'm like, this is a building that is about to like fall over more if there's an aftershock and you know-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah (laughing) get out of the way stupid. Hailey: Yeah. They're like, "Can we go inside?" Absolutely not (laughing)
Doug Shafer:
That's, that's tough. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Cause you guys are dealing with so much anyway. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Um, yeah. But I mean Hailey and, uh, are, I mean he was just promoted CEO. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Jon Ruel really stepped up. Um, and uh, I mean Hailey took over the entire process of putting, putting the building back together. Um, and you know, had you ever seen a blueprint? Hailey: No.
Lorenzo:
(Laughing) Hailey: Never looked at building plans before.
Doug Shafer:
Look at you. I remember you telling me this, you... this was your project. Hailey: Yup. So, well, I had an amazing team, you know, and they helped so much. But yeah, the team that we put together, it's fun. Actually, the structural engineer that we ended up working with, his dad had worked on the building in the 80s. And he ended up undoing some of his dad's work. But it was really fun and we didn't realize that until after we'd hired him.
Doug Shafer:
I'm going to ask you a terrible question. I think I know the answer. Did you ever think of saying, "The heck with it, we can't save this thing. We got to tear it down." Hailey: We sat down and we said we need to look at everything.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, you have to. Okay. Hailey: You know, cause we, we didn't know if this building was even saveable at this point.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: We hadn't had an engineer out to kind of tell us that.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)- Hailey: And so we did. We sat down-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. And that budget for the repair- Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
...was not very forthcoming. Hailey: Was not expected.
Lorenzo:
It was like, well yeah, not, not only do we not have it, like everyone was like, we don't know how much this is going to cost. Like no one's ever done anything like this before. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But then after, from what you know, our discussion earlier about the history, the history of, of it, it's like I'm going, Oh my gosh, you can't do it. Hailey: This home, you know? And I mean also, I think the, the-
Lorenzo:
It was emotional. Hailey: ...kind of the support from the community too, we realized this building's been standing here, not just for us, but for everybody who drives up and down Napa. You know, it's been standing there for longer than any of us have been alive.
Doug Shafer:
It's a landmark. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Big time. Hailey: And so, you know, we kind of, it did come down to a little bit of an emotional decision, you know, that if it was that, if it was possible, we were going to save that building.
Doug Shafer:
Well, you did it. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It took what, two, three years? Hailey: About two years. Yeah, a little less than two years.
Doug Shafer:
And you know, on behalf of the Napa Valley and all our people who visit here, thank you. Because it's, um, it's, it's a precious building.
Lorenzo:
I remember the day it, they got it, you know, before we were really rebuilding it. Should we just the first, uh, challenge-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
...the challenge was just get it upright. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And I remember that day that the building got upright and it looked the way that it had before. Um, I just, I had this weight that I didn't know I was carrying, like lifted and it was... I just took like the first real breath I think that I'd had since the earthquake. Hailey: Yeah, no, it was funny. It was like, I, I didn't cry about all of this-
Lorenzo:
No. It was like get to work. Hailey: ...like a year later or something.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
But it was, I mean, it was, yeah, it was amazing for you know... Not something we would ever wish to repeat but it certainly made us stronger and- Hailey: Gave us some really great opportunities.
Lorenzo:
Definitely. Hailey: To make some improvements.
Lorenzo:
I, I agree with you. You know, looking back some of those tough things we've gone through here, it's like, at the time it's like, "Oh man, how come we got dealt this hand?" Hailey: Yeah, dad always talked about Phylloxera.
Lorenzo:
But years later-
Doug Shafer:
The second coming. Hailey: Yeah. I mean, but Phylloxera gave us a chance to, you know, we knew our soils better. We knew where, we knew more about wine. We knew more about grape growing. So you knew what should be planted where and then you'd actually, you make the of whatever you get, right?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, and you guys are, are-
Lorenzo:
Catalysts -
Doug Shafer:
...you guys are so young. You got a lot more to go.
Lorenzo:
(Laughing) Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I'd say that with-
Lorenzo:
You do too.
Doug Shafer:
I do too.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: (Laughs)
Doug Shafer:
Um, so that was '17 we got it restored, reopened and then '18 was a big year. What happened in 18? That was the anniversary was that- Hailey: Oh, our 50th anniversary?
Lorenzo:
Yeah, we both were like, "Huh?" Hailey: (Laughing)
Lorenzo:
(Laughing) another year went by.
Doug Shafer:
You guys took me through that, I'll take you through this.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, yeah (laughing) Hailey: Thank you.
Lorenzo:
Thank you Doug (laughing) Hailey: Oh man.
Doug Shafer:
So that was anniversaries, you know?
Lorenzo:
Yeah, so that was a big one. Hailey: No that was really fun. My brother played an even, even bigger role. I was at the winery more, but he was out on the road-
Lorenzo:
Judging by my airline status, I traveled more last year than I ever have before. And we're, you know, you know the drill, you're, you're out on the road all the time. So- Hailey: But it was great fun because we went into the cellar and we pulled out a lot of old vintages and to be able to share those with people is, it's really special. I mean, especially old Chardonnay cause people don't think Chardonnay can age.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And see you pull out a 20, 25 year old Chardonnay and it's gorgeous. It's still has so much life and vibrancy to it. And people are like, "I maybe would think it's five years old", you know? So, um-
Lorenzo:
That's great. And we've got, I mean, my, our folks had the foresight to save a lot of what they, of every wine they ever made. Um, so we have a full library and we've really embraced the throwback Thursday meme. So every Thursday we're opening something for, from the cellars. Hailey: Yeah, still today. We, every Thursday, we open up a large format old wine.
Doug Shafer:
Cool. That's good. Ah, don't tell my crew here though. Hailey: (Laughing)
Doug Shafer:
So these days it's you and, you two, mom and dad, who's, who's doing what? How's it, what's going on these days duties-wise? Who's in charge or who's not in charge? Hailey: Oh, man I think there's still enough work for all of us.
Lorenzo:
Oh, there's plenty. We should probably back up though, because before we came back or actually as we were coming back, Dad hired a guy- Hailey: No, I was in high school.
Lorenzo:
...you were having - that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, dad hired a guy named Jon Ruel, uh, in the vineyard to take over our, uh, uh, viticulture. And he has just worked his way up through every part of the company and-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)-
Lorenzo:
...the impact that he's had on, um, the wines that we make and the way the vineyard works and the team that he's built is just amazing. And so Jon's our CEO today.
Doug Shafer:
Great. And the fact that our viticulturist is, you know, who started as a our viticulturist is our CEO, should tell you something about how we run this place. Hailey: I was his first vineyard intern and dad also took me to his, uh, his final interview, which we had at the Red Hen.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs) Hailey: That was good.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
That's funny.
Doug Shafer:
So Jon's been there over 20 years probably.
Lorenzo:
This is his 15th. Hailey: It's his 15th year. He just... yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, okay. Yeah. And so Jon has the most difficult job at the winery, which is trying to manage four Trefethens.
Lorenzo:
(Laughing)
Doug Shafer:
So he manages the four of you?
Lorenzo:
Yeah, he's, yeah, I mean that's, that's an impossible task I think. But, uh, Hailey and I are, are working, um, sort of, uh, under his guidance and mentorship.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Lorenzo:
Which turns out to work a lot better than working for your parents.
Doug Shafer:
That makes a lot of sense (laughing)
Lorenzo:
Which we kind of tried. Um, and uh, mom and dad are still involved but much more as ambassadors-
Doug Shafer:
Right, right.
Lorenzo:
...and, uh, uh, advisors.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Jon is running the day to day and Hailey and I are bouncing around from one special project to the other.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs) Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative)- Yeah, we're a little more operations kind of based and Lorenzo's a little bit more-
Lorenzo:
Yeah. There's also a real like complimentariness that's not a word, um, in, in our personalities. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And I tend to sort of bring a crazy idea back and say, "Hey, what if we do this?" And Hailey's like, "Well, here's how it's actually going to work." (Laughing)
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs)
Lorenzo:
So she, she keeps us grounded. So we're kind of like - Hailey: Yeah, he pushes me to think bigger.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: So it works really well.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. It's, it's the, it's the, it's the gas on-gas off. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, no, it does work well that way. Hailey: You need both.
Doug Shafer:
Um, we need both.
Lorenzo:
Right. Hailey: Otherwise you're not going to go anywhere.
Doug Shafer:
I-I, yeah I'm with you.
Lorenzo:
(Laughs)
Doug Shafer:
You know, I've, I've up to today, I've seen you guys not that often separately, but never together. I got to tell you, sitting here, it's like, this just feels really good. I mean, I'm being, you know, this is the - bravo, and bravo to your folks for getting Jon in his position. And yeah, I mean for you guys to be, you know, you know, working side by side with your parents and trying to figure that out, you know, having that one step between is brilliant. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It's really brilliant. Cause uh-
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
...that's good.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, no, but, and with just, the, the team, uh, that that has, I mean we have crazy tenure.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Um-
Doug Shafer:
Well that's -
Lorenzo:
The folks that have been around for, you know, multiple decades and- Hailey: Yeah, one of my favorites is-
Lorenzo:
...and in some cases multiple generations. Hailey: ...you know, in the ‘70s and ‘80s we weren't great about putting pipes down on, you know, where pipes were down on a map, right?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, the old, the old as-built thing? Yeah. Hailey: Yeah, yeah. We, we weren't really great at that. But the great part is, is we, you know, Paulino still works for us. So if we have a question about where something is, you just go ask Paulino because he put it in.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs)
Lorenzo:
It's like over there, it's like 10 feet from that tree. Hailey: Yeah, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
The problem is when they cut the tree down, it's like, "Oh shoot, where do we go now?" I've had that one. I've got old as-builts, it's like, you know, it's 20 feet from this big boulder. Well, then all of a sudden we redo the vineyard and the boulder's gone. It's like, "Oh no, where'd it go?" Hailey: Yup.
Doug Shafer:
All right, so what, speaking of projects, because I think you're in charge. You, you don't, you don't, you don't just grow grapes, aren't you growing like a thousand things? Hailey: We are, we grew a few other things.
Doug Shafer:
What are you growing? Talk to me, I didn't know this. Hailey: So there's a, yeah we have a garden on property as well. And that started, um, like really formally in 2008, I think. But it's, uh, a garden we call Luerta.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: ...and everything that's grown there pretty much goes back to the employees.
Doug Shafer:
That's cool. Hailey: So, yeah. And so, you know, during summer, well like this year, we harvested about a thousand pounds of tomatoes alone in one week.
Doug Shafer:
A thousand pounds of tomatoes in one... How big is this garden? Like acres? Hailey: No, no, it's almost an acre. It's not quite an acre.
Doug Shafer:
That's still big. Hailey: But it's... we-
Lorenzo:
The, the productivity of a tomato plant is-
Doug Shafer:
I know.
Lorenzo:
...it's like you're looking at your grapevines coming out like, what are you doing guys? Come on. Hailey: (Laughs)
Doug Shafer:
Step it up. Hailey: Yeah, but we'll grow, you know, 10 to 15 varieties of tomatoes, a lot of chilies, right? Cause it's chilies upon chilies, upon chilies.
Lorenzo:
Our guys love chilies. Hailey: And then toma, you know, tomatillos, zucchini, squash, green beans, eggplant. Um, and right now we've got the winter crops going in, but we'll do some fun stuff too. We did okra this year. Um, you know, so there's always something new and they're the favorites.
Doug Shafer:
So it's, it's for the staff, now what about, is French laundry involved too? Do they ever- Hailey: So, um, you know, French laundry redid their kitchen?
Doug Shafer:
I do. Hailey: A couple of years ago and they, during construction, had lost part of their garden to construction and I knew some of the gardeners there actually through our high school teacher that Loren mentioned, Mr. O'Connor.
Lorenzo:
Mr. O, yeah. Hailey: And I had great sympathy for anyone who lost space to construction after we just to have gone through this.
Doug Shafer:
Of course, of course. Of course you did. Hailey: And so looking around and talking to him and I was like, well, I have, we have a fallow field. Why don't you guys come and you can grow a few vegetables. Um, and you know, on the property we'll set up some water-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, while, just while you're under construction. Right?
Lorenzo:
(Laughing) Hailey: And it ended up just being a really great kind of natural partnership and I truly believe in, in when you can, growing everything local, um, and having that. And so I mean there's just, again, just like we're all estate on the far-, you know, on the vineyard side, And so it just made so much sense that we would want to grow all of our own produce as well and be able to grow produce locally. And so, that very temporary relationship is still going. And so French Laundry still, they have a little bit of land that they can, um, produce things on.
Doug Shafer:
That's fun. Hailey: Yeah. And so it goes back to the restaurant. And sometimes like we'll sell them blackberries or you know, Kiwis or -
Doug Shafer:
You get a free dinner or something like that?
Lorenzo:
Not so much. Hailey: They drive off - we get some of their extras. It's pretty funny, they'll bring over like these big bins of chilies thinking that, you know, like they're like, this is-
Lorenzo:
Yeah, we grew too many this year. Hailey: Yeah, and they just watch it disappear within a span of like 10 minutes. And they're just like, what, what, they're just like, how, wh-wh-?
Doug Shafer:
That's amazing. Hailey: Yeah, but it's fun. I mean, and then we have a, we have a company salsa party. So all the ingredients have to come from-
Doug Shafer:
A company, a company salsa party. That's another good idea. Hailey: Yeah. And so we'll have, you know, 20 to 30 salsas and everyone, uh, everyone in the company comes to judge.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And so we have this big tasting and you'll just see like-
Lorenzo:
And, and the, our employees are making the salsas as well. Hailey: Yes, sorry.
Doug Shafer:
Sure. Hailey: Yeah. From all the ingredients on the property. And it's funny cause even people will sit there and popping like and snacking on Chili's during the day, when you're tasting 20 or 30 salsas-
Doug Shafer:
Oh no, no, no, no. Hailey: ...you just start sweating. Like everyone right red-
Doug Shafer:
You sweat. Hailey: Everyone, you know, loving it. You know, and it's, it's a lot of fun.
Lorenzo:
And the, it's a really cool nod to the culinary history at Trefethen, which I mean, you know, it was, I actually love that you started the podcast with Cindy Pawlcyn.
Doug Shafer:
Oh I know.
Lorenzo:
She's-
Doug Shafer:
She is the best.
Lorenzo:
I mean we grew up at Mustards.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And uh, it, uh, but she was a rare beast in those early days. There was no one here. And, and so- Hailey: Culinary desert.
Lorenzo:
And especially in-
Doug Shafer:
With regards.
Lorenzo:
...before Cindy. Hailey: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Lorenzo:
Yeah, there you go. BC, before Cindy. Um-
Doug Shafer:
That's a good one.
Lorenzo:
(Laughing) It was, uh, there were, um, there was, there was really nothing here and we were all, we, the, the vintners in Napa Valley were making wine to go with food.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
But there was no food. And so mom and Nana and a few other ladies- Hailey: Jamie Davies from Shramsberg -
Lorenzo:
Yup, Molly Chappellet Hailey: Mondavi.
Lorenzo:
Yup. Uh, they got together and started basically teaching themselves to entertain. Um, and- Hailey: Teaching each other recipes that they knew to expand your repertoires.
Doug Shafer:
Interesting. I didn't think like that. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
But that was the original group.
Lorenzo:
That was, and they... I'm sure we missed, Emily Didier. Um, there, I'm sure we miss someone. Um, but they started, uh, it, they kinda got a little bit bigger and then, and we had this little pool house on the property that, um, once a month or something like that would become the Napa Valley cooking class.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, cool.
Lorenzo:
Um, and for 20 something years, um, we hosted it- Hailey: Well, and it worked so well cause mom and these other ladies were often, um, you know, they're traveling across the country and at that time your wine, the wine buyer was the chef.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: And so we'd invite the chef to come out to the property so they could experience it with us and we'd ask them to do a cooking class.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, perfect. Hailey: And so, you know, and they were of course willing, cause at that time there wasn't a celebrity chef scene and so it was really fantastic. So they'd come out, teach a class, you know, and be able to come and see the property.
Lorenzo:
Hailey, you're up on a stool next to the kitchen counter watching Jeremiah Tower and Cindy Pawlcyn was one of the chefs-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
...um, and the Thomas Keller as well.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Lorenzo:
Um, those were some of the first, and we had these great relationships with um, Wolfgang Puck and Charlie Trotter. Um, and the, just the relationships that developed from there. And I mean the, the food that's happening like the... We had no idea what was going on.
Doug Shafer:
It was right there.
Lorenzo:
And a few of these great people decided I'm gonna stay here- (laughing)
Doug Shafer:
And open up a restaurant.
Lorenzo:
...and open up a restaurant.
Doug Shafer:
You guys had a, you had a front row seat.
Lorenzo:
We had a front row seat. Hailey: Yeah. It was really fun where in the process of bringing even more food back to Trefethen.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Good. Hailey: Um, I mean, finishing up a commercial kitchen right now so that we can do some wine and food pairings and kind of bring some of that back. And again, I mean, using the produce from Luerta.
Lorenzo:
It’ll be table for both the food and the wine.
Doug Shafer:
So you've got that common, you've got the new wine Cowgirl and the Pilot. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
What else is coming? What else is coming? Hailey: Um, Lorenzo?
Doug Shafer:
Lorenzo, you got, you've got?
Lorenzo:
Something for you.
Doug Shafer:
Lorenzo brought this bag in today and he keeps pulling things out of it.
Lorenzo:
(Laughing) I keep pulling things out.
Doug Shafer:
So here comes something new.
Lorenzo:
Um, so we-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
...we've only been working on this for about five years.
Doug Shafer:
Okay, so five years.
Lorenzo:
And uh,- Hailey: So that's the original label.
Doug Shafer:
That's the original label. It's beautiful. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Classic. Hailey: If were talking about, you know, the wine Olympics in Paris and everything-
Doug Shafer:
Right. Hailey: ...this is the label that was on, on that.
Doug Shafer:
Very distinctive, love it.
Lorenzo:
And that script was done, uh, so remember moms wants to call it Trefethen. The Trefethen -
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
Mom finds this calligrapher named Sumner Stone, which is like the, just the best name. Like he had to be a calligrapher. Right? Um, he'd, he, she worked with him, he brought in few, um, sort of old, uh, or just nods to our Celtic history cause Trefethen's a Celtic name.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
And created this very distinctive script. Uh- Hailey: And Lorenzo and I have just always had a love for it.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Hailey: And you know, it's, it's, it's a fondness. Um, maybe it's cause it's the first bottles that we started drinking when we were little, but-
Doug Shafer:
Interesting to hear it. Cause you think the kids would be saying, Oh, this is kinda old and tired, this is mom or dad.
Lorenzo:
So it was that script, and then the top of every bottle is the flower. Hailey: The Trefethen flower.
Lorenzo:
Trefethen flower.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Lorenzo:
And that's been on every bottle we've ever made. And we both have just this great affection for those brand marks. Hailey: It's like our family seal.
Lorenzo:
Yeah. Hailey: Yeah.
Lorenzo:
And we'd been through so much over the last few decades and all this sort of internal evolution, we needed an external reflection of that.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
So in order to uh, move us forward, we reached back and we created a new label based on the very first label we ever did. But we didn't want to make a retro label, we wanted to like have something that brought us into the modern era.
Doug Shafer:
And so I'm looking at the 1977 and finally he's going to show me the new label.
Lorenzo:
There it is, there is the reveal. I know.
Doug Shafer:
The reveal. Oh, that's beautiful.
Lorenzo:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Some type, you got the flower blown up, that's beautiful.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, yeah. So it's got this very sort of modern, crisp feel.
Doug Shafer:
Modern, crisp, but it's still a throwback to the original.
Lorenzo:
Totally, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It's beautiful.
Lorenzo:
It's, uh, you know, that whole, we did this with the reconstruction of the winery as well. We really embraced the, the legacy, the things that had been built.
Doug Shafer:
It's gorgeous.
Lorenzo:
Now moving into the future.
Doug Shafer:
And the separate back label just rolls to it. That's cool -
Lorenzo:
Yeah, it's a three point.
Doug Shafer:
And I love this color capsule, this cream color. It's just beautiful.
Lorenzo:
Yeah, and every, every detail, I mean we could go on for way too long, but one of the things that I really love is the bright green bottle that we found.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Lorenzo:
Again, to reflect the bright wines that we make and just these wines of vitality and, and really like, uh, I've been using the word tension recently. I love that to describe the wines that we have always made.
Doug Shafer:
Beautiful. Congrats you guys.
Lorenzo:
Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
So if people want to find Trefethen wine, where do they go? To the wine shops or- Hailey: Well the best is to come see us. That's the best place is to come see us.
Lorenzo:
Napa Valley. Hailey: Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Come to Napa Valley's to come see this beautiful building they're in.
Lorenzo:
Yup. Trefethen.com, which will be getting an upgrade as well-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
...early next year. Um-
Doug Shafer:
So you can order wine right on order wine right on the site.
Lorenzo:
Wine there. But we're also distributed throughout the US, um, mostly in restaurants.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Lorenzo:
But your favorite retailer, especially those great fine wine retailers can get our wines and uh, uh, even internationally as well.
Doug Shafer:
Great. Hey, well you guys, thanks for coming in. This is exciting. Thanks for showing us the new, the new, the new reveals, very new.
Lorenzo:
Thank you for having us.
Doug Shafer:
And, uh, say, say hi to mom and dad. Hailey: We will.
Doug Shafer:
All right. Take care. See you guys.