Full Transcript
Doug Shafer:
All right. Uh, hey, everybody. Doug Shafer back for another episode of The Taste. Um, I've got a guest in here today. Well, he's not in here, but he's on the phone, Mark Beringer. Been wanting to have Mark on for a long time. He's been in business a long time. And, uh, we have a lot of common friends, growing around the Valley, but we've never had the chance to really spend some time together. So, I'm just about, today. I wanna hear this guy's story. Welcome, Mark. How you doing?
Mark Beringer:
I'm doing good, Doug. Thank you for having me on. Um, you know, it's crazy times right now. So, this gives us at least a little sense of normalcy, right?
Doug Shafer:
It is. It is. In fact, uh, once I started doing these things on the phone, I, I never used to give the date we're recording, but I'm doing it now, just for kind of posterity. We're at April 28th, 2020. We've been sheltered in place for it... What? F-... A good five weeks now, I think. And we've got another four or five to go. Sounds like, in California. But, um, how are you holding up? How's the family? What do you... What are you doing? Are you at home? You run around? What's the deal?
Mark Beringer:
Well, you know, um, I've been working, 'cause, uh, we are part of the, uh, so-called essentials in Napa County.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, need to keep our wineries running. So, uh, we're, we're keeping things going. Uh, keep wines topped up, doing our rackings, trying to get stuff for the bottle. Um, but then, yeah, it... when it comes to going home, we're just like everybody else. Doing the shelter in place, and trying to keep our heads low, and, and be as safe as possible. Being that we are going to work, we're even more concerned about, you know, eh, not bringing something back to work, or bringing something home that shouldn't be there.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Right. We, we got the same thing going. It's, it's, it's pretty strange, because, eh, with the wine business-
Mark Beringer:
Hmm.
Doug Shafer:
... because we're allowed to keep vineyard operations going. That's going on full tilt here, and throughout the Valley, and cellar operations. We're racking wine and bottling and, um, you know, carefully. And, eh, with all the distancing we have to do, and, and, uh, masks, and all that.
Doug Shafer:
But, um, the business end is, um, everyone's working from home. And naturally, our... all the, uh, hospitality venues are... and wineries are shut down until things open up again. So it's a, it's kind of a, it's a half on half off, but I'm with you. Eh, but, uh, not much traffic on the road, that's for sure.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, (laughs), it's gotta be the best traffic I've seen in a long time.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
But, uh, I think, probably, you know, like you, uh, this is my travel season too.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
So, um, I'm accustomed to being... living out of a suitcase, uh, at least a week or two, a month, this time of year. So, uh, adjusting to that, and being home, (laughs), oh, it's a... has been a different perspective for me.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, I've, I've got the same thing. My Annette's like, "Aren't you suppo-... You know, usually, you're gone. What are you doing here?" (laughs). In fact-
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... I looked at my cale-, I looked at my calendar, I'm supposed to be on a trip to Korea and Singapore, right now. But, obviously, that's not, not happening. Um-
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
But anyway, listen, I've, I've had a bunch of people on there... this podcast, through the last year or two, with family stories in Napa, which is great. And a lot of them go way back. But I think you're the winner, man. Because-
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... from what we can tell your story goes back, uh, l-like 150 years, to '1869? Is that about right?
Mark Beringer:
That sounds about right. I believe, uh, Jacob arrived... Jacob Beringer, my great-great-grandfather arrived, uh, out here in around 1868, 1869, um, and started working, um, for Charles Krug, um, back in those days.
Doug Shafer:
Eh, and so, and he emigrated from... It was Germany?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. So, he, uh, immigrated from a little town called Mainz.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... uh, in the Rhine River region of Germany. Um, he actually was the second to arrive. His older brother, Frederick, had arrived in the United States first.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, he had come into the New York area and established a pretty decent business, uh, in the malting, uh, area.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, you know, one... two things Germans know is beer and wine.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
So, uh, they, they were in the beer, uh, primarily, at that time. Jacob was six years younger, and had stayed behind, in Germany, 'cause he was an accomplished winemaker there. He made wine in Berlin, as well as in Mainz, as well ... we have very little, um... You know, we don't have really good history back beyond their immigration.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, thanks to a couple of world wars that disrupted record keeping, and things like that, in that region. Um, we don't have a real good history back there.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. And, uh, so, he d-, he started out in New York, but ended up, uh... He and his brother Frederick both ended up out here working with Charles Krug, that's what you were saying?
Mark Beringer:
Well, Jacob did.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, Frederick stayed behind in New York. Jacob, k-, you know, after he helped his brother for a bit in New York, he got a little itchy and wanted Jacob back to wine making. And so, uh, you know, to put this into a timing perspective of each, you know, we took a ride, or one of the first rides on the transcontinental railroad.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, cool.
Mark Beringer:
Um, it had just been completed. This is, you know, post, uh, civil war, uh, getting resolved. And, uh, he, he made his way out, and, yeah, gained employment with Charles himself-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... and became his cellar master. And he did that for about a half a decade, maybe about five, six years-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... until he could save up enough money, and was able, with Charles' help, to buy the neighboring property. Um, what is now Beringer Brothers to this day.
Doug Shafer:
That was across the street, right? The... I don't know if that was the-
Mark Beringer:
Y-yeah, it's... Oh, it's, yeah, next door to and across the street. So-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... we have, we're adjacent to Krug, they're on, on the, uh, south side. And then we cross over Highway 29, of course, we're the Rhine House-
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Mark Beringer:
... and the historical winery. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
That's right, your, your corporate offices are right... Yeah, you're right next door to Charles Krug on the s-, on the, uh, east side of the Highway 29.
Mark Beringer:
M-... Right, right.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
So that the tree tunnel, the historical tunnel of elms that runs on the Highway 29 actually divides the property.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
So, the, uh... Uh, most people, probably like myself, we think of Beringer, when we drive by, we don't look at the corporate offices, you know, um, big, big, you know, winery on the east side. We look on the right side, or the west side to the Rhine House, and it's like, "Hey, there's Beringer." Um, so the history of that house, was that... is that something those guys built, or was it there?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, so that's kinda where the brothers came together. Um, after Jacob had purchased the piece of property, he really didn't have the means to do anything with it. And Frederick had quite a bit of wealth. Um, he had inherited the family fortune that was brought from Germany, as well, 'cause he was the eldest son.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, had made even more of fortune, um, with the businesses he'd been doing. So he took a ride out on the train as well, and, and saw the property, and fell in love with it. And, uh, they decided to partner up, and that's how Beringer Brothers was created. But, you know, Frederick didn't stay at that time. He actually went back to the East coast, and he set up shop to distribute and sell the wine. He was a businessman, and he had opened up a couple of wine shops. And back then, of course, things were transferred in cask, and bottles were brought into shops and filled up that way. We didn't bottle wine back in those days.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that.
Mark Beringer:
Uh-
Doug Shafer:
So, they shipped it in bulk-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... basically, and it's casks, or barrels, or some type of container in bulk?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, the barrels, the barrels that we use today, the small 225 liter casks were actually shipping vessels-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... back in those days.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Mark Beringer:
It wasn't until much, much later that people discovered that the wines tasted better at basement. Some time, uh, um, majority of the casks we use were large oval, um, casks, made even out of things like redwood-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... 'cause that's what was available. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
You know, I didn't know that. So, your... our 60 gallon, 225 liter barrels that we all have and all use for aging our wines, their original purpose was for shipping bulk wine to other parts of the country?
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Right. And, uh, and even brandy, back in the days, with cognac, the, the w-, the way they get wine up to areas that were, maybe long journeys, the wine itself was not very stable, that's where cognac really became a thing. Was, uh, being able to make a concentrated product that would last, and ship it in, in these barrels that would last a long time.
Doug Shafer:
Again, necessity is the mother, (laughs).
Mark Beringer:
It really.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
It really is.
Doug Shafer:
So, these guys... Any idea what these guys were making? What, what type of grapes they were growing, or what types of wines, varietal-wise?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. I mean, you gotta figure that they were German, so they had a lot of German varieties they brought over. But, you know, the main settlers of this Valley were, were two primary groups. And the Germans, of course, being one, like us, and Schram, and Jacob Schram, Schramsberg.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
Uh, Hans, Hans Kornell. You know, there's a lot of Germanic names running around. But the other side was a lot of Italians.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, there was a lo-... Uh, it was kind of two communities at that time. And so, we saw a lot of Italian varieties. Um, Barbera, Nebbiolo, things like that, were planted in this area. Much of that, of course, is gone now, but we were growing a lot of, you know, German whites, like Riesling-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... and things like that. Um, and you know, of course everything was blend. So, we didn't do varietal bottling in those days. Um, everything was kind of these blends that they put together, and we called it Chablis, till we couldn't call it that anymore.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Or Burgundy, you know?
Doug Shafer:
Burgundy, yeah, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
I remember burgundy.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I was drinking Burgundy-
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... in college. A gallon-
Mark Beringer:
Some Hardy Burgundy?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, a Hardy Burgundy-
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... in a bota bag on the... off the Tahoe. Um-
Mark Beringer:
You bet.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. I always wondered why I had a headache. I thought it's 'cause I drank too much. I'm not... Maybe I just didn't hydrate enough. I can't remember, but that was tough.
Mark Beringer:
All the sugar within it, probably. Yeah?
Doug Shafer:
Yes, probably the sugar, (laughing). So, so these guys, they were... The Beringer was pretty successful at that time. This is the late 1800s, early 1900s, they were cranking, weren't they? Locally?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and, and to kind of finish that thought, you know, the question was kind of the, the Rhine House, and how it came to be.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, that was actually Frederick's home. So, after they had gotten this business established, it, it only took about six or seven years before Frederick got the edge to come out too. So, he finally moved out with his family and, uh, wanted to build a home on the property. So, the original home on the property... I think you've been on the property. The-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
Um, there's the Hudson House, which is the culinary center, where we do a lot of our, you know, sit down m-meals.
Doug Shafer:
Sit... Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
We have a, a sit-in kitchen in there. Um, it was originally Madeline Common’s Kitchen-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... um, when we first built it, in the '80s.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, but that was the original home on the property. The irony of it is, it used to sit right where the Rhine House is today.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), oh, no. 'Cause I've been in there. I've had a couple of dinners, really nice dinners in there, in the Hudson House.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So, so, is... So, they moved it, it sounds like?
Mark Beringer:
They moved it.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
They picked it up, and they rolled it down the hill on some logs and, uh, and replaced it where it sits today, so that Frederick could build his grand mansion in its spot. 'Cause that was the ideal home site on the property.
Doug Shafer:
So, big brother, he's got the family fortune, he gets to put his house where he wants it. That's how it sounds-
Mark Beringer:
Yup.
Doug Shafer:
... it sounds like. Okay, I get it.
Mark Beringer:
But younger brother got a gravity flow winery out of the deal, so, uh-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... it was a pretty good trade.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, uh, tell me about that, 'cause I read somewhere, first gravity flow winery, right? Or that's where-
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
... they all were then. I c-... I'm j-... What was the... What's the story, b-backstory on that one?
Mark Beringer:
Well, you know, the majority of the wineries, um, that were here prior were built out in the middle of the Valley, where they could find flat space. And a lot of the movement of wine revolved around, um, pumping with hand pumps, or things like that. But because of their, um, their knowledge from some facilities in Germany, they ha-had the idea to build into the hillside. To basically carve out a three-story structure with a road that went around the back, where they can bring horse drawn carriages up there. Bring the fruit to the top floor-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... and crush it. And it would just flow naturally down to the second floor. And that second floor, um, is an amazing piece of engineering. It's actually tongue and groove, and just doweled together. There's not a nail in it.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Mark Beringer:
I-... And it allowed it to swell just like a barrel does when it gets moisture on it, and it would seal itself. It was completely watertight. It could hold several inches of water or wine if they were spilled-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... um, without draining into the third or the bottom floor, or the first floor. And it held an enormous amount of weight, because, you know, we talk about grapes in a measure of tons, right?
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
We bring in such amount of tons, and then we put it into a fermentation tank. So, you can imagine the weight of that tank with five, six tons of grapes in it being up on this floor above, it had to be enormous, like, you know-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... engineering.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah. That's crazy. And so, that was... So, the second floor, or the f-... Well, the first floor down, they crushed on the top. Took the wine down the next floor, which is where they fermented, big tanks.
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
You know, big oak, oak tanks. And then the floor below was... Was it for aging, or bottling?
Mark Beringer:
Yes, for aging.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, it was, um, there's aging casks down there. And then, eventually, they dug caves. And we are known as having the very first caves dug in Napa Valley. And they were done by hand. There was no machinery to do this at the time. And since there was no refrigeration, or, you know, means of s-, even electricity, we used steam power in those days. The only way to get temperature control was to go underground.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, man. And this is, this, like in the early 1900s, right?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, the, the winery was built... The gravity flow winery was finished in 1877.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And it took six years more to hand-dig the caves. It was a group of Chinese laborers who actually were, um, resettled here because of the transcontinental railroad. They're the ones who dug the caves in the tunnels and blew the rock away to build the Sierra portion of the transcontinental railroad.
Doug Shafer:
(Laughs) This is fascinating. I love doing this. I find out so much stuff. So, it's... I wonder, 'cause I had heard that the ca-... I knew the caves were... I'd heard they were the first caves. I had heard there was Chinese labor. I'm thinking of some... You know, I never thought about where they come from. Did they... They were already here, and they did the railroad. That's amazing.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, they'd, they had finished their work and, uh, you know, were looking for things to do. And many were going... uh, staying in the Sierras for gold.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
You know, that was during the gold rush. And most people stepping off the transcontinental railroad, that's what they were in search of.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
But there was many looking for other types of work. And there was actually a small Chinatown in, in St. Helena, off Pope Street. That area was actually a small Chinese settlement.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), like, like, all right, that's like six new things I've learned with you today.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
This is great. Um, I want this, this whole virus thing to go away so we can get together and have a beer. And I wanna hear more.
Mark Beringer:
Oh, I know.
Doug Shafer:
I wanna hear more.
Mark Beringer:
I know it.
Doug Shafer:
Um-
Mark Beringer:
This is much more fun over a cocktail.
Doug Shafer:
Uh, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
But it's pretty cool. I'm... I'll t-... I'm gonna stop the tape and I'll go get a shot of tequila.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Anyway, um, it's too early in the day. But, um-
Mark Beringer:
Hmm.
Doug Shafer:
... all right, so. So, a very successful winery doing well. Any idea how large they were? How mu-, how much they were making? I'm just kinda curious about that.
Mark Beringer:
You know, it, it was not a small operation. Um, for the time, you would consider it probably enormous.
Doug Shafer:
Hmm.
Mark Beringer:
Um, we would consider it about a medium sized winery probably in our nomenclature today. So, they say the first vintage was roughly 50,000 cases equivalent.
Doug Shafer:
That's, that's a big, that's a big number. That's a-
Mark Beringer:
That's a pretty good production.
Doug Shafer:
That's a, that's a... Yeah, that's, that's serious stuff. All right. So, they're cranking along, super successful and, uh, prohibition came. But they both were gone by the time prohibition came, right? Is that how that worked out?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. I mean, uh-
Doug Shafer:
For Jacob and Frederick.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, they were both gone by then. Um, and the winery had passed... Well, at least the operations of the winery had passed to Jacob's son, uh, Jacob Junior.
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Mark Beringer:
And he was the winemaker from 1911, up until, um, the end of prohibition, around 1935.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. So, it was still in the family.
Mark Beringer:
And-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, and we were still operating. We were, we were licensed to produce, uh, wine for the church, and also brandy, for medicinal purposes. And, uh, I always liked to kid that there was a lot of sick and religious people during prohibition.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), I've hear-... I have heard that story, about there being a, (laughing)... The, the, uh, the... You had to get a prescription from your doctor, right? For Brandy? I think that's how it went. So-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I don't think it was that hard. (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Well, that's, that's... So, that's a pretty rare story, a winery stayed open during Prohibition. That was... There weren't many that did. So, um, that was good fortune for you guys, for sure.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I heard there was only six in the area, that stayed open. I don't know them all. I know BV was another one-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... which is in our group with Treasury.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, they've been around since 1900. And so, they also survived Prohibition. But, you know, others like Charles Krug, that had been here much longer than us, uh, because my, my great-great-grandfather worked there, they actually ceased operation. It wasn't reopened until many years later.
Doug Shafer:
That's right. 'Cause, yeah, Marc Mondavi was in here, we'd had that chat. Um-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So, they got through prohibition. So, Prohibition is lifted in 1933. Jacob... It's Jacob Junior, is still the winemaker-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... through '35. And what happens when Prohibition's over? They just k-... They kept making Sacramental wine, or they shift gears and go for it?
Mark Beringer:
Well, luckily, you know, we were really well positioned to get back to business, because we actually had your typical wine grape varieties in the ground.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
Um, everybody else had moved on to other things, either table grapes, or other types of crops, stone fruits, hops. There was all kinds of things being grown around here. Um, a lot of livestock. And so, we kind of had an advantage in that sense, 'cause we all know how long it takes to grow a grapevine.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
And it takes five to six years to get back into production. So, they had that little bit of advantage over, um, the competitors. They had also been producing during Prohibition, this very unique, uh, brick. I don't know if you heard about this? We had a dehydration, facility in St. Helena. And we would be hydrate grapes and press them into bricks.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Mark Beringer:
And then those would be sent out with a package of yeast and some instructions on ho-, what to do with it.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Um, because-
Doug Shafer:
For-
Mark Beringer:
... there was a-
Doug Shafer:
For, for, for homemade wine? This is during-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Right. Okay.
Mark Beringer:
'Cause you, uh, you had, uh, an exemption in the law that you could produce a certain amount of alcohol for your own consumption. So, that business had continued even after Prohibition.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. How soon-
Mark Beringer:
Uh, and then people would get that.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that continued. 'Cause I knew it was happening during, so the home wine makers, they kept doing it? It's-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, there was still a bit of that business continuing on-
Doug Shafer:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... 'cause people got used to making their own home brew-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... until things got rolling again.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And so, when we got back to business, there was, uh, a new gentleman that came in. Um, he was winemaker and general manager of the facility. And, uh, it was a f-, kind of unique, um, that w-we hired somebody whose name ended in the last letter of I, you know? It's not a very Germanic name, but Fred Abruzzini-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... um, was the, the gentleman who ran the winery from the post Prohibition days.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. 'Cause-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, and he was-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. And, and that family-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... I d-, I know that name. That family is still around the Valley, big time, the Abruzzinis.
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, and as I was talking about earlier, you know, the Germans and the Italians, they kind of kept to themselves. But, you know, this time, people are starting to grow. Almost all the women in my family were, were Italian women, although I carry a German name, you know?
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
But Fred Abruzzini was an absolute entrepreneur, visionary, whatever you wanna call him. He, he had the idea of, you know, opening the doors up and inviting people in. And it wa-, it was something that really hadn't been done before. There were cellar doors, or tasting rooms around where people could try the wines. But you really couldn't go back into the, you know, operations of a winery, back in those days.
Mark Beringer:
And there probably wasn't much to see, anyway. But, uh, he had these programs he set up to bring people up from the city and tour, not just Beringer, but Napa Valley, you know? And, and any of the wineries that were here, and even over to Sonoma. And they would do these bus tours, or they bring people up on the train. And then load them on the trucks and bring them to the winery. And, and he created this kind of, I call it the Disneyland-for-adult effect-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... what the Napa Valley has become.
Doug Shafer:
I never knew that. So, he was the one that got that going. The whole hospi-... You know, what is today's hospitality business in this Valley-
Mark Beringer:
Hmm.
Doug Shafer:
... in the wine industry.
Mark Beringer:
Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Mark Beringer:
So, we were the first winery to offer public tours and tastings-
Doug Shafer:
Well-
Mark Beringer:
... in 1934, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
(laughs). Again, they just keep... The hits keep coming today, Mark.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Um, but, so he was there, and then another guy started working there. Some guy named Roy Raymond, right?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, Little Roy.
Doug Shafer:
Uh, what's his... Roy, I remember Roy. Roy Senior. What, um... Where... What was his story? Where did he come from? 'Cause he wasn't-
Mark Beringer:
So-
Doug Shafer:
... Italian or German, was he? So-
Mark Beringer:
No, uh-
Doug Shafer:
... he was an outlier.
Mark Beringer:
He was.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
I, I c-... I don't know what his true background was, if he's Irish, or... But, uh, you know, Roy was just, yeah, he was a man's man. I mean, he had these big biceps and triceps. I mean, he was like a huge guy, and very intimidating, in a sense. But he was the winemaker, um, for Beringer, from 1956, until 1971.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, wow.
Mark Beringer:
Um, 19, 1971 being the year that we sold it, of course.
Doug Shafer:
Was he... So-
Mark Beringer:
Um-
Doug Shafer:
Great. Was he... So, he was winemaker after Fred? Or in t-
Mark Beringer:
Yes.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. So, he would have been number four in the chain.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, he married into the family. He, uh, took a liking to my grandfather's sister, Martha Jane Beringer, and they married. So, uh, um, that made Roy family. And all of his kids and descendants, like Walter... And I'm sure you know Walter?
Doug Shafer:
Wal-... Yeah, Wal-
Mark Beringer:
Eh, a-
Doug Shafer:
Uh, and Roy Junior.
Mark Beringer:
And Roy Junior, mm-hmm (affirmative). They're, uh, all descendants of Jacob Beringer as well. They're all my cousins.
Doug Shafer:
So, okay. So, I mean, I was trying to figure this out last night. So, R-Roy and Walt, who've retired-
Mark Beringer:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
... and must be in their 70s. Great guys, great winemakers. They are your-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... cousins or uncles?
Mark Beringer:
So, yeah, Walter and Roy are my dad's first cousins.
Mark Beringer:
And, you know, and they really gave me my, my break in the business side. Um, I got into this very young, you know, growing up here. Um, we ha-... We didn't own the winery anymore 'cause we sold it in 1971.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, so-
Mark Beringer:
So, uh-
Doug Shafer:
I'm gonna interrupt you. Sorry, man. So, yeah, so the winery-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, no worries.
Doug Shafer:
So, Roy was winemaker till '70, '71, and then the... then the family sold it to Nestle?
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Is that, is that-
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. And-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, a little Swiss chocolate company.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. What was... Any... Um, before we go on, I'm just kind of curious about what that was like. 'Cause that, that had to be big for the family. I mean, you were just bor-... You were born in... When were you born?
Mark Beringer:
Oh, '67.
Doug Shafer:
So, you were like-
Mark Beringer:
So, I was just a few years old.
Doug Shafer:
You were just, you were two years, you were just a little baby. Um-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So, you don't remember that, obviously, but any stories about that whole thing? What that was like for the family?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I mean, I was so young-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... I don't remember a lot of it. But we did retain ownership of a s-, a couple of the houses on the property, past the sale of the winery.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, not the Rhine House, but the Hudson House and the other North House on the property, we, we, we kept, for my grandparents lived there.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, neat.
Mark Beringer:
So, I do have a little bit of memories of being on the property as a kid.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
But for the most part, you know, we didn't have a lot of presence there after I, I became an adult.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. So-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
So, you're growing up in St. Helena, um, and your f-, your parents ran the wine shop, but what else did they... Fred and Kathy Beringer, 'cause I n-, I remember those guys.
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
And, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
... what were they doing? Um, and how did those two meet?
Mark Beringer:
So, my parents met in high school-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... here in St. Helena.
Doug Shafer:
All right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, they were high school sweethearts, and, um, married young. And, you know, raised a family here in St. Helena. Uh, I have one older sister and, um, she, uh, still works and lives in, uh, in, in the Valley here, in St. Helena. So, um, you know, our whole family has been raised here for five generations.
Doug Shafer:
And, uh, (laughs), so you grew up in St.... Five generations? So, you were a St. Helena kid, high school, the whole thing? What'd you, what'd you do in high school?
Mark Beringer:
Uh, we shouldn't really talk about that-
Doug Shafer:
Okay, (laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... stuff, hmm.
Doug Shafer:
Okay, (laughs). All right, that's for our next gue-... All right, never mind.
Mark Beringer:
No.
Doug Shafer:
Never mind.
Mark Beringer:
Actually-
Doug Shafer:
Sorry, brother.
Mark Beringer:
There's the... Actually, there's a, a huge synergy between, um, my past through high school and your winemaker’s. Um, that's why Elias and I have always been, uh, pretty close, because we took very similar paths. We were both musicians.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, p-
Mark Beringer:
Um-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... we both had-
Doug Shafer:
Very well.
Mark Beringer:
We p-, we both played the trumpet, and we both played in the jazz band. We were different ages. Elias is a few years older than I am.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
But, uh, you know, and both ended up going to winemaking school, different schools. But ended up, you know, graduating, and coming back to the Valley, and working our whole careers, essentially, in the Napa Valley, where we grew up. So, um, that's not a common story, ironically, with most wine makers around this Valley.
Doug Shafer:
No. So, you guys... I know he played trumpet and he got a scholarship to University of Nevada, Reno-
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
... on that scholarship. That's how he got to college, and then transferred to Davis. And you played trumpet too, and that was, uh, the t-... I... So, y-you were a few years behind him in high school. I was there for a year and a half, and he was, uh, four or five years behind me. He said he remembers to watch me play basketball. He was like in eighth grade. And I remember-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I remember there was always the jazz band at basketball games with... Uh, who was the teacher? Uh, the music teacher at-
Mark Beringer:
That was Bob Graph.
Doug Shafer:
Bob Graph. And, you know-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... we was the St. Helena's Saints, so, obviously, the theme song is, you know, When the Saints Come Marching In, right? And the jazz-
Mark Beringer:
That's right. I had it committed to memory, (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Oh my God, if I heard that song one too many times, and that jam would drive me crazy.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
But, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Good stuff.
Doug Shafer:
... how funny. So, you and and Elias were both trumpet players, how f-, how neat. Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
All right, I got it. And then, um, so your f-... Uh, there's so much going on here. Um-
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
So, summertimes were you, uh, were you working at... W-were you working with your folks, or at the wineries? What were you doing in the summer, during high school?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I mean, it... to keep me out of trouble, I think my dad tried to keep me working. So-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... he, uh, he started me working in the wine shop when I was 12. I'd run the register, and stock shelves, and do whatever needed to be done, break down boxes.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, eventually, I, I got a driver's license and realized I wanted to escape that, you know, envelope of control.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, I took a job at Beringer, ironically enough. Um, at the age of 16, I was a stock clerk in the Rhine House.
Doug Shafer:
Really?
Mark Beringer:
Um-
Doug Shafer:
So, now-
Mark Beringer:
... yeah.
Doug Shafer:
The... How'd you get... Now, how'd you get that job? I mean, did they know you were like a Beringer-Beringer, and all that stuff, or was that, was... Okay, was it kinda-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I mean, there was a gentleman working there. Um, I don't know if you remember the old Keller's market?
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Um, which was right across the street from my dad's shop, but we knew everybody kind of over there. And they used to deliver groceries to my grandmother, and stuff. And, um, you know, I got to be really good friends with Jim Barfield-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... um, who was, he ran the grocery for many years. And he ended up becoming a manager of the Rhine House, later on.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, he ended up hiring me. And, uh, it was a great time. I still... And the same kind of work. I was stocking shelves, and carrying cases out the cars. And people would find out, you know, what was my last name, and they tried to fix me up with their daughters. But, uh-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... I'm like, "I don't own the place. I'm just working here." (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
That's pretty funny. So, those are high school summers.
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
So, so was... Were you thinking about wine, and being a winemaker, or... You know, in high school, and I wasn't, but, uh, lemme see your background.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, no. I, I thought I w-, I was going the musician route.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And I was, like Elias, I had a scholarship opportunity, um, not to Nevada, but, um... Which was the natural connection, I guess. St. Helena in Nevada had some sort of connection, but I was trying for Cal State, Northridge-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... um, for a full scholarship down there. And I kinda got... I got freaked out. I mean, you know, I went and did my auditions. And I was visiting the campus and realized that I was making this huge lifestyle decision to become a musician living in LA-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... playing the trumpet.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
You know? So, I kind of balked at it and said, "You know, I don't know if I wanna do this." And my parents were like, "Well, if you're not coming here on a scholarship, you're coming home." So, I came back and just enrolled in St. Rosa Junior College, to figure out what the heck I was gonna do next. And I got a job working with Raymond. I went over there and, uh, Walter hired me, and put me on the bottling line.
Doug Shafer:
Uh, so this is-
Mark Beringer:
Uh, I bottled every summer.
Doug Shafer:
I'm with you. So, okay. And, uh, 'cause I interrupted you earlier, so I got a... For our folks out there, I know the history, but, um, when Beringer sold, at the time-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... um, Roy Raymond Senior was the winemaker guy, and his sons were Walt, and Ray... and-
Mark Beringer:
And Roy Junior.
Doug Shafer:
Ro-Roy Junior and Walt were his sons.
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
And they were, and they were working with their dad, at Beringers, I think. And then, um-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, they were.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. So, when they sold in '71, what people didn't... I... The gap in the story is Roy and Walter, what did they do after they sold Beringer?
Mark Beringer:
So, yeah, W-... So, Roy, w-, being the winemaker-
Doug Shafer:
Hmm.
Mark Beringer:
... he also trained Walter. Walter was a winemaker as well, and Roy was more of a viticulturist.
Doug Shafer:
Hmm.
Mark Beringer:
So, it was a really good family team.
Doug Shafer:
Got it.
Mark Beringer:
Um, it's the way most families operated in those days, in a business. So what happened is, they decided to start their own winery. And in 1974, they opened Raymond Winery, over on Zinfandel Lane.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. So, the two brothers started their own w-winery called Raymond, Raymond Winery?
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Got it. Okay. And that's-
Mark Beringer:
With their dad, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
Okay with-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
That's right, 'cause Roy Senior was with him. Okay, I remember that.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, he lived on the property. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. I know, I remember the house. Yep. I... 'Cause I remember-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
Uh, I remembered going over to... Oh, when I was starting out, I needed something. Um, I called them up. S-... I need s-some help with some forklift, or something. Someone said, "Go see..." What they could... I think I drove right by your... uh, Roy Senior's house. He was out there in his garden, or something like that. But-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, he's usually right on a ride-along mower, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Just great family. Um, very welcoming, just like everybody, when we first got... when the Shafer showed up. Everybody was so friendly and helpful. It's, um... And still to this day, it's a nice, it's a nice place. All right. So, I'm-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... I'm interrupting too much. So, you got a job-
Mark Beringer:
No worries.
Doug Shafer:
You got a job working with your uncles at Raymond. So, what'd you-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), what'd they have you doing? I wanna hear this.
Mark Beringer:
So, well, the, (laughing), the first thing they did is put me on a bottling line.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, we're not talking of the modern ones of today, I'm talking the old model block stick and pick labeler that would probably, you know, tear my arm off today.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
But, uh, we... You know, I learned the nuts and bolts of that stuff, and eventually graduated to being forklift driver. And I, I drove lift and, and managed bottling operations all summer, every summer, while I was going to school.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, and then I would go back to school during, yeah, after the fall, after harvest kinda got wrong. But, uh, I got... You know, I was going to Santa Rosa, and, uh, I was just taking basic education stuff, trying to figure out what the heck I was gonna do. I was looking at engineering, and some other things. And then, um, I took a couple classes as electives, in viticulture, just for the heck of it.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And Rich, Rich Thomas was the instructor over there, at the time. Many people know-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... uh, he wa-, he was quite a legend, um, on the other side of the Hill, um, in viticulture. And so, I took a few of his classes, and I realized it wasn't just in my blood, it really kinda hooked me.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, that it was something I was truly interested in and passionate about. And I did that for a couple years. And then realized, "Uh, maybe this farming thing isn't what I wanna do. I wanna get more into the science, in the winemaking perspective."
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
So, I, I talked to some people, and talked to Davis, talked to Fresno, and tried to set myself up to transfer to one of those schools, and ended up selecting Fresno. Because of the hands-on perspective of it.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
You know, both great schools, both great programs. Just one is maybe a little more-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, f-
Mark Beringer:
... uh, theory, scientifical, one's a little more hands-on, you know?
Doug Shafer:
Right, right. Uh, which was, which was, which wa-
Mark Beringer:
I think we go back and forth on it all day, right?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Which was Fresno state. Listen, I was... I did the Davis thing. And, and, you know, uh, to tell you the truth, um, the Fresno State program, from what I've learned from, from folks like you, who've been through that, you're much better preparation, hands on. You know, until you do it, you physically do it and, you know, you know, hook up a hose to a tank, you know, how'd he learn how to do that in the classroom? So...
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. And I was doing it already, 'cause I was working in a winery. So, I kinda looked at those... at that part of it and said, "Well, this is the way wine's made, so I wanna get m-more involved in the hands-on department."
Doug Shafer:
Great.
Mark Beringer:
Um, 'cause I never min-, I never minded getting dirty. I mean, I was running a lees filter on the weekend, so, um, that's most miserable job in the winery. Shoveling D and leas together, pushing it through a filter. So, I knew it was dirty work, (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Lees filters.
Mark Beringer:
Hmm.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, bad memories. Um-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
And we can... We won't, we won't describe what that's like. It's just, it's-
Mark Beringer:
No.
Doug Shafer:
It's a, it's a necessary job. It's a, it's a mucky job. You get covered with just kind of like lees-y, slimy, yeasty sweet or, you know, sticky stuff. It's, it's fine. It's no big deal, but it's just kind of like, it's just like boring.
Mark Beringer:
It was the job, like, for the interns, (laughs).
Doug Shafer:
It's boring, it's, it's bori-, it's boring... And it's boring and sloppy, but someone's gotta do it. Um-
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
So, you were at Fresno State, and, uh, I found out something I didn't know about. Who was... You had a... Who was your roommate at Fresno State, or classmate?
Mark Beringer:
Well, I had some of, from this area.
Doug Shafer:
Well, you had a few of them, sure. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I mean, uh, when I moved down there, I moved into, um... Take over an empty bedroom, um, with Alex Ryan. Ironically enough, Alex Ryan and I, uh, knew each other from our childhood years. And his father was the... He was the head of sales or marketing for Beringer back in the Nestle days.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Mark Beringer:
So-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... Bill Ryan was kind of a, a legend within the Beringer organization in that, um, in that era. And, of course, Alex grew up in the business, and ended up at Fresno. And to this day, he's the President of, uh, Duckhorn Vineyards. So-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... we all kind of came back and, and took our paths. But, but also, one of my roommates at Fresno was David Duckhorn.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, yeah, David.
Mark Beringer:
... from the Duckhorn family.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, Andy Gridley, that you may know. He s-sells boots, barrels to all of us.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
A good friend of mine. So, yeah, there's a whole group of us that went through Fresno, during that area, from, you know, from this, uh, region.
Doug Shafer:
This region? That's kinda neat.
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
So, you get out of Fresno, it's, uh, what? 19... You... Were you in the '90s yet?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, it was 1990-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... that I graduated, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
And, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... what was the next move?
Mark Beringer:
Well, I came back and I actually worked a full harvest with Raymond. I'd... usually had to leave a little bit early, to go down to Fresno and, uh, work in the winery there.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
So, I get to work a whole full season through, um, with the team. Um, and got to about the holidays, and went to talk to my uncle, Walt, and see if he might have a full-time job for me. And-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... he said, "No." (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Oh, no. No. Come on. Um, god, family is tough sometimes. Really?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. You know, he-
Doug Shafer:
Uncle Walt said-
Mark Beringer:
He's like-
Doug Shafer:
Walt Raymond, my f-, my buddy, Walt Raymond, nice guy, down in Arizona-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... relaxing, playing golf right now? God darn it.
Mark Beringer:
Exactly.
Doug Shafer:
Uh, oh.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, you know?
Doug Shafer:
He shut you down.
Mark Beringer:
It was like, "Buddy-
Doug Shafer:
He shut you down.
Mark Beringer:
He did.
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Mark Beringer:
He didn't have anything for me.
Doug Shafer:
So much for family, man. I tell ya. That's all right.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. No, but, you know, he was trying to give me my, uh, my push out of the nest-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... and it was the right thing to do. It was bad timing in the business, 'cause, uh, the '90s were rough.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, and it was December, and then not a lot of people hiring in the wine business, but everybody gets laid off about that time. You know-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... if you're in a harvest position, internship, whatever. So, uh, I w-, ironically found a job working for, um, a larger winery called Glen Ellen-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... with the Benzinger family, if you know the Benzinger boys.
Doug Shafer:
Yep.
Mark Beringer:
Um-
Doug Shafer:
A successful family, successful family wine business, for sure, at that time.
Mark Beringer:
Legend-legendary, I would say.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah. I'd agree.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, it's not just in their business practices, but in their, uh, recreational practices, (laughing).
Doug Shafer:
Oh, I didn't know that part, but that's okay.
Mark Beringer:
And they were-
Doug Shafer:
I'll take your word for it.
Mark Beringer:
And they were like, they liked to party, and they liked to ski. And, um, did... we did big ski trips up to the mountains, uh, as a team. And, yeah, we had a lot of fun there. There's no doubt about it. And there was no holiday left unturned, in terms of having a party.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs). Oh, the things I'm finding out from you. Um-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Good. So, you're c-, working, so you're working, I'm assuming, in the cellar? Um, so, some-
Mark Beringer:
Yep. I was, I was operating a massive D-E Filter.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
A pressure lift filter, um, for bottling. So, I received tanker trucks, made the blends, filtered it, and gave it to bottling. So, I saw the wine for about 48 to 72 hours.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
And that, and that was his... Eh, curious, 'cause a winery that size, is that something that you're kind of doing year round, or is it seasonal?
Mark Beringer:
It was pretty year round.
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Mark Beringer:
Um, they operated under a just-in-time philosophy, or JIT, as it's referred to.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Um, so, basically, the wines were, were bottled on demand. Uh, orders were placed out in the market and then the wine would be assembled from the bulk components and, you know, finished up, and, and put into packaging. So, we didn't carry a lot of inventory, or in a warehouse.
Doug Shafer:
Interesting.
Mark Beringer:
It wasn't like we do in luxury wine making, where we, we bottle, essentially, this... the entire vintage and then deplete the warehouse. It was very different.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. So, very different from what, what we're doing now, and, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... what the rest of us do. So, interesting. I didn't... So, they've got it in bulk, and when the orders come in, they make the blend and bottle it, and ship it out to fill the order?
Mark Beringer:
Yep-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... that's exactly... We had a couple of high-speed bottling lines and just crank it out, and we wou-... It aged on the truck.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), wow. That's a different world. That's a-
Mark Beringer:
Yes.
Doug Shafer:
... different world for me, for sure.
Mark Beringer:
Not, (laughs), what we're accustomed to. No.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Not anymore.
Doug Shafer:
But successful. So, you're there-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... for, uh... How long were you at, uh... with the Glen Ellen crew?
Mark Beringer:
So, I spent a year and a half with them, total. They... I got a promotion halfway through, to assistant winemaker, and they moved me into the Benzinger line of wine service, or luxury portfolio.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, but I didn't do that for very long. In, uh, 1992, I got a phone call from my old roommate, Alex Ryan, over at Duckhorn. And, um, he said that they had a position, potentially, opening up and wanted to know if I was interested. And, um, it was really a bottom level position. I was an assistant winemaker, uh, where I was, but it, it was just a, a cellar man-... you know, just a cellar role.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Enologist role, if you will, um, to come over to, to join the Duckhorn team, and I, I took it. Uh, I figured I go-... I would take a demotion in, in title, and everything, to work for a brand as well known as Duckhorn.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, man. Yeah. I mean, 'cause tha-... 199-... It was 1992, right? That's when you made the new role?
Mark Beringer:
Yes, it was 1992, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
And, and Duckhorn, and that's kinda when Duckhorn just exploded. I mean, you were there for I think 15 years, is what I could found. And, uh-
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
... it was the '92 to 2007. Tell me about that. Because, you know, I think Dan was still there, Dan Duckhorn. Alex was there.
Mark Beringer:
Oh, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Tom Rinaldi. What, what were the... What were all those guys doing? What were you doing? Tell me about the Duckhorn years.
Mark Beringer:
Oh, yeah, those were great years. Um, you know, when I arrived, Duckhorn was maybe a 30, 35,000 case winery.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, we made, uh, like five wines. You know, like Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, you know?
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Pretty straight forward. The Three Palms Merlot, of course. Um-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... but then, by the time I left, we had w-... there was only 12 employees, I think, at that time.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
I have a Christmas card from that year-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... with all of us sitting on the barrel. Uh, it's pretty hilarious. But, you know, Tom was the, the winemaker, had been since the very beginning, um-
Doug Shafer:
Which was seventy... Yeah, '78, I know that. We had the first in 1978.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, 1978.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Yep. Um, and Dan and Margaret, of course, was very involved. Dan ran... You know, he's the President of the company. Um, Margaret really ran marketing and sales. Uh, Kellie Duckhorn was there as well. She was in, uh, the marketing side.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, so, it was a really tight group. We were like family. Alex ran the vineyards. Uh, eventually took over running the company, as Dan began to pull back and retire.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
But, um, you know, that was a great run. We, we launched a bunch of new line extensions, uh, within Duckhorn. We launched new brands. We bought property, we built wineries. That was, that was a crazy time.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, it was-
Mark Beringer:
Um, had a lot of fun, though.
Doug Shafer:
It was crazy. I mean, um, uh, k-, help me, when did Paraduxx come online? What year? Do you remember that?
Mark Beringer:
S-... Yeah, it was 1994, was our first vintage. Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Mark Beringer:
... we were playing around with Zinfandel. And Dan wanted to make this like, like, like a super Tuscan, but super Napa.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And he felt that Zin was gonna be Ca-... it's California's variety, let's blend it with... He wanted to blend it with Merlot, but that never really worked, it worked better with cab, because it's the universal donor. Um, but, uh, the... with those two together-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), universal donor.
Mark Beringer:
... that's what we got.
Doug Shafer:
Well, I, I gotta, uh... 'Cause I have a memory. So, Shafer was about the same size as Duckhorn was, at that time, you know. And we're still the same size, (laughs). And, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, you guys are about the same size.
Doug Shafer:
And still about, about the same size.
Mark Beringer:
You're the same.
Doug Shafer:
And we got about five wines. And, you know, about, you know, 20 employees, and that's it. Um, but I remember, it was a wine auction in the summertime, you know, charity, charity auction we have out here. And it was, we had some, uh, joint, um, dinner. We got Duckhorn, Shafer, and a couple other wineries are hosting for like 50 or 60 people, at someone's place. And, um, it's the beginning of the thing. A lot of people aren't there.
Doug Shafer:
And I... You know, Dan’s there and then, and this, he goes, "Hey, Shafer, Shafer, come here." And I walk over, and he's got this bottle. And he, he pulls the cork, and he shows me the label, and the label is this Paraduxx thing. I said, "What's this?" He goes, "Oh, it's the coolest thing. We're doing this new thing." And he started to describe it. You know, "Zinfandel, this, and this." And I thought to myself, "Oh, come on, really? No way. This is... There's no way this is gonna-
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
... there's no way this is gonna work. It's like..." And he was all excited about it. And, you know, and I kind of forgot about it. And then within a year or two, the thing explodes. And, and off Dan and the Duckhorn team go, to greater glory. So, he was good.
Mark Beringer:
Well, I can't tell you how many times I gave Dan that same look and went, "Man, you're crazy."
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, (laughing).
Mark Beringer:
He was, yeah, 'case-
Doug Shafer:
Well, well, the Decoy, and the Migration, and the whole thing. But, uh, incredibly successful. Um-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
I had, I had dinner with them about, uh, last summer, I think, with Nancy, and Annette, and Dan, and I, and it was cute. It was great to see him again. And, all of a sudden, he and I are having a private conversation, he goes, he leans over, he goes, he goes, "Tell me." I go, "What?" He goes, "Tell me you're still not like 30,000 cases, are you?" I go, "Yeah." And he goes, "God, Shafer, I told you to grow. Why didn't you do it?" (laughing), This was like... And I actually said, "Dan, you were right. I really blew it." And then with... But I'm thinking, "No, I made a good move. I'm happy with what we're doing." But, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Y-you know, tha-that's-
Doug Shafer:
... you know, that was pretty cute.
Mark Beringer:
I, I envy what you guys have. I mean, uh, there's two paths you can take, right? Or-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, Dan, Dan was a, a very savvy businessman. You know, he's Berkeley educated in finance. And he felt that you, you either grow, or you play... pay taxes.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
That was his view of the, of the world. Um, but he brought in outside investors to grow-
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
... and, and gave up his share. By the time we sold the winery, you know, he was a pretty m-minor owner. But, you know, he did very, very well for himself.
Doug Shafer:
Sure.
Mark Beringer:
But for you guys to still have your family winery and still be, you know, able to make that work for you guys, is awesome. It's really an enviable position to be a family owned business in this kind of environment.
Doug Shafer:
Well, thanks man. I appreciate it. No, we, we take a lot of pride. And we've got a great team, and I'm very lucky to be surrounded by s-, great people and great grapes. And, uh, we put it all together and, you know, cross our fingers, and keep doing it, just like you guys. So...
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So, you had a great run at Duckhorn. And then, uh, you had, uh, another move. What happened after that? It was after, uh... What year was it-
Mark Beringer:
So, uh-
Doug Shafer:
... you guys made a move?
Mark Beringer:
It was... Yeah, in 2006, the, the shareholders of Duckhorn decided to sell the winery.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, and was... it was a tough time. You know, I... You had to make that decision, do you wanna stay with a new owner?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Who, who is it gonna be? Um, or is this time to start looking at what... maybe what your next m-move could be. And, uh, I started talking with some friends and, um, you know, we have a friend in common down here, uh, in St. Helena, Mr. Joel Gott.
Doug Shafer:
Yep.
Mark Beringer:
Um, he, uh, talked to me about a project he had going on, out at, uh, what used to be Sutter Homes, uh, Chicken Ranch on, Zinfandel Lane, the Zinfandel Ranch.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, we managed to, to, to put together a purchase of that property, and turned it into a custom precious area, that they wanted to make into a high-end wine making studios.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, they hired me as their first GM, uh, to come on board. And went through the first year there and realized, um... But that one year was my dog year, I call it, it was seven off of my life. Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, no, (laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Trying to deal with investors and, you know, clients, and all that stuff.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And I wasn't making wine. And it was just, you know... I wa-, I was not in a good place. So, I decided to, to take a step back from that. And, uh, I stayed on as a consultant for a little while, and started my own consulting business for a little bit. And that's when 2008 hit. You know, another recession hit.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And being a consultant during a recession is typically not the best plan of attack. Uh, a lot of people were eliminating their consultants to save money.
Doug Shafer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mark Beringer:
So, I decided I needed to get back to full-time winemaking. And, uh, I found this great opportunity with, uh, a winery called Artesa, down in Carneros.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And what an amazing family history they have. They were, they were legitimately the oldest winemaking company in Spain, um, according to Aventas.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And they're making wines... They've been making wine since 1551.
Doug Shafer:
And their, their, their well-known brand in Spain is what, again? I forgot. Uh-
Mark Beringer:
It's Codorníu.
Doug Shafer:
Codorníu, thank you. Thank you.
Mark Beringer:
Hmm, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
God, 1500s.
Mark Beringer:
And that's-
Doug Shafer:
Okay, how cool is-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that must have been neat.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. And they were the first, uh, company to make méthode champenoise outside of France, and that's where Cava was created.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And that was the very first Cava. So, they w-, had eight wineries around the world. One of them being here in California, in Carneros. So, I ran their facility. They're making mostly Pinot noir, Chardonnay, and a couple of single vineyard cabs down there.
Doug Shafer:
Neat. That must have been kind of fun. Was it fun to get back into making wine again?
Mark Beringer:
It was. And to make some varieties that I really hadn't made before.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, I made a little bit of Pinot, helping create Goldeneye, at Duckhorn.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
I helped create the style and develop the facility, and all that stuff, but it wasn't really my, my main job. We hired a winemaker to do that. I made the Duckhorn wines, but, um, you know, to be able to make those wines on a regular basis, uh, was really cool. And is... It was a beautiful facility, if you've never visited it. It's spec-... the p-... Most spectacular view of San Francisco, from the, the view deck up there.
Doug Shafer:
I-it is pretty. Yeah, I've been there. I've been there. And so, while you're there, uh, te-... You know, not to get personal, but let's get personal. At this point, you're married, you got kids. What's going on, you know, away from work?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I mean, I'd, I'd got married when I was young, um, when I was working at Duckhorn. And I, I had three daughters in that marriage, but we ended up divorcing right about the same time I left Duckhorn.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, so I kinda went to Artesa as a single man, but, um, met my current wife a little bit later. She was actually somebody I met, who had... was working at Duckhorn.
Doug Shafer:
Okay, great.
Mark Beringer:
Um, she's was act-... She was a, uh, uh, a pilot on sabbatical.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, she actually flew a lot of private jets, corporate jets, all over the world, and was looking to be a little more grounded. And she moved here from Washington, DC, and got a job working in our tasting room, and taking wine classes at the Culinary Institute. And, uh, and that's how we met.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that's great. That's fun. So, does she, does she still fly, um, as a job, or no, or just for fun?
Mark Beringer:
Um, no, she hasn't been playing recently. She's actually a commercial pilot now, but she actually, um... Speaking of ex wives, your, your ex wife, I believe, works for... work for Virgin America?
Doug Shafer:
She does, yeah. Hmm, but, yeah, she's-
Mark Beringer:
They work together.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, really?
Mark Beringer:
(laughs).
Doug Shafer:
Oh, geez. God, Mark-
Mark Beringer:
Well-
Doug Shafer:
... this is like Small World, Small World City. That's great. Yeah, Liz has been-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... a flight attendant. She's not working right now, which we're all really happy about, so I'm just taking a break.
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah. So-
Mark Beringer:
Well, Liz live right down the street from us, down in, uh, this... the Napa Yacht Club.
Doug Shafer:
Okay. Yeah, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, we used to walk by her place, and we got to know her dog, and got to know her. And then realized, my wife's like, they both worked for the same company.
Doug Shafer:
That's, (laughs)...
Mark Beringer:
And so, my m-my w-... They worked together, um, on many flights. Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh, that's great.
Mark Beringer:
... my is... My wife was a first officer there, so...
Doug Shafer:
That's, that's fun. Now, I'm starting to-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Now I'm starting to think about, have you and I ever worked in the same cellar together? Maybe we have somewhere around the world-
Mark Beringer:
We, we may have, at some point.
Doug Shafer:
... and maybe never know, (laughs).
Mark Beringer:
You never know.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
You never know.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, too good. So, um, Artesa, you were there for what, two or three years? A little longer. Oh, you were there for a while.
Mark Beringer:
So, I was there for six years.
Doug Shafer:
Six years? Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, six years. And then, um, in 2015, um, the opportunity came along, uh, with Beringer. I, uh, I, essentially... (laughs), this is kind of funny. I saw an ad-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... on winejobs.com.
Doug Shafer:
I've been dying to hear this story, so go for it, man. It's-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. So, um, in Wine Jobs, they had a, a position posted for an associate winemaker at Beringer. And I thought it would be kinda funny to, uh, throw my resume at it.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Just to see wha-what would happen.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Because I could just could imagine somebody in HR getting this resume with the last name Beringer on it-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... and just like thrown to the side, you know?
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, and I was a way over qualified for an associate winemaking role. Um, I'd been a Vice President of Production in two different wineries.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
So, um... But about two days later, I, I get a L-, a message through LinkedIn, from a guy that... who's the Vice President of Operations for Treasury. And he's an old friend, an old coworker that worked for me at Duckhorn. I'd hired him right out of Davis. And I put him on the bottom line-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... 'cause that's what I, I did.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, he was never a fan of it. He always was mad at me for putting him on the bottom line.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Because, you know, he wanted to do more than that, but-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... we still always, we were mountain biking buddies, and we were friends, but he moved on. Got a m-... his masters, and ended up circling back, and ended up, you know, at treasury. And so, he, he had reached out to me, just to see what I was up to. And I said, "Well, did you get my resume?" He's like, "What resume?"
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
And I said, "Well, I sent in my resume." (laughs). He goes, "You did? Why?" I said, "What?" (laughing). I thought it was funny. He goes, "Well, ironically, I'm calling you about a role we might have." And I was like, "Oh, well, let's talk." So we were trying to sculpt something. You know, Laurie Hook was still very much there.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And Laurie, Laurie f-, had been there for almost 30 years, um-
Doug Shafer:
And grea-, wi-
Mark Beringer:
... working.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, g-, and great winemaker. Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
And she had, you know, obviously learned from the great Ed Sbragia. We kind of skipped over Ed there.
Doug Shafer:
That's right.
Mark Beringer:
I mean, his era was one of the most significant, I think, you know, in Napa Valley winemaking history. I mean, he brought the private reserves to the forefront, at number one wines in the world from the Wine Spectator. And really put Beringer back on the map, in terms of the luxury portfolio.
Doug Shafer:
He did. And he was there kind of, hmm, mid '70s, '80s? End of the '90s-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, he was one of the-
Doug Shafer:
'80s, '90s, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
He was one of the early Fresno graduates.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And, and he was working with Myron Nightingale, who was after Roy.
Doug Shafer:
That's... Okay, I remember Myron. Okay.
Mark Beringer:
So, Myron was the great scientific winemaker, one of the first. And, uh, so, he was training... Ed was training under Myron-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... for many years, before he became head winemaker in the '80s. And they created the prices of wines together. And then Laurie came in, and the same thing. There was a succession plan in place. She worked 15 years with Ed, and then for 15 years, post Ed, from 2000, until 2015.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. What a, what a lineup of winemakers at that place. It's incredible. Okay. So, here you come. So, what?
Mark Beringer:
So-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... yeah, so-
Doug Shafer:
So, so, what-
Mark Beringer:
I, I was trying to-
Doug Shafer:
What are you doing there? (laughs).
Mark Beringer:
I was trying to get all creative and sculpt some sort of ideal role for myself. You know, that-
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
... "Oh, maybe I'll work with Laurie. We could do a project together, maybe create a wine around the family legacy. I could be a brand ambassador. You know-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... travel and promote." Because Laurie was not always a, a huge fan of that piece of, you know, the, the job. And so, as we got further and further along in the process, I think Laurie had gotten to a point where she's like, "This might be a good time for me to, to think of doing something else."
Doug Shafer:
Wow.
Mark Beringer:
And so... Uh, but this was unknown to me. Uh, whole time, I thought I was still trying to create this role. I interviewed with seven different people throughout the company. And at the end of the line, all of a sudden, one day they said, "Okay, we wanna offer you the job of chief winemaker at Beringer Vineyards." And I just, my first thing out of my mouth was, "What's going on with Laurie?"
Doug Shafer:
Right. Right.
Mark Beringer:
And the said, it was, "She's just, she..." They said, "She's decided to, um... Gonna take a sabbatical and, uh, and do some world travel-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... and take a break from winemaking." She'd been there for 30 years, who could blame her? And, um, later, we got to talk about it, and she said, "You know, if there was anybody that I was gonna be feel c-... feel comfortable handing this off to, it'd be you."
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Mark Beringer:
So, it worked out really well. That, uh, the timing was right, I guess, for both of us. And so, in 2015, I became only the eighth chief winemaker in 143 years now.
Doug Shafer:
Wow. You feeling any pressure, big guy? (laughing). Well, no, no. Listen, lis-... Seriously, con-... First of all, congratulations.
Mark Beringer:
Thank you. Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
I mean, how cool is this? How cool is this? This whole full circle thing. You know, your uncles must be just cracking up. Um, everybody in-
Mark Beringer:
Oh, yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Everybody in the family, your folks. And then, I mean, it's an, you know, and it's an honor. It's a feather in your cap, at the sa-, at the same time, realistically, like I said, eh, what's it like? Is it kind of a pressure, pressure situation, or... I mean, but you've been making wine for a long time, but what's it... How are you doing with it? I'm, curious, (laughs), man.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, I mean, uh, I mean, I th-, w-... I think the whole time through the process, I knew I had the resume for it. I knew I had had my accomplishments. You know, I'd gotten winemaker of the year, and I had worked with all these different varietals. I'm like, "This is the time. I'm ready for this."
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
And then you walk in the door the first time-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... and you realize how huge of a responsibility I've just taken off.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), yeah. Oh.
Mark Beringer:
And the reputation, and the global, you know, recognition of, of the Beringer brand.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
And, you know, assuming the shoes, if you will, of all of these amazing winemakers, who were my predecessors. And, uh, (laughs), and also inheriting a portfolio of wines that we're storing in the high '90s, from Parker, and from the Spectator. And you're like, "Holy crap-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... there's only one way to go with this thing, pretty much." You know, there's-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... very little room to go up. So, yeah, it was a lot of pressure, um, in the very first couple of years. And it wasn't until we got our first, you know, 2015 Private Reserve Cab in the bottle aged and put in front of the major critics that I finally got to have a little bit of a breath of, you know-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... relief. Because, uh, James Suckling gave it 99 points, and that was it. That was-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Like that's when we realized, "Okay-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... we did it. And we're, we're doing the right thing." Um-
Doug Shafer:
Oh.
Mark Beringer:
... so, i-it's taken some of that pressure off.
Doug Shafer:
I'm so happy for you. I really am. I mean, 'cause I, I remember reading about you, (laughs), getting the job at Beringer. It was like, it was like, "Huh, (laughing), w-what's that all about?" (laughing). And, uh, you know, and then, you know, you... everybody gets to work, and grows grapes, and makes wine. And you have to wait a couple of years, 'cause the wine's aging. You bottle it, and they have to get out and see if people like it. So, good for you-
Mark Beringer:
Yep.
Doug Shafer:
... man. Congratulations. That's really, really, really cool. So, you, you-
Mark Beringer:
Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
... must be having fun. It's gotta be a gas.
Mark Beringer:
It is. You know, I, I, I get to m-... work with some of the greatest vineyards around, and get to travel and see the world, and, and spread the, uh, the gospel of, of the Beringer brand around the, the planet. And not right now, but I have been consulting (laughs), some frequent-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), yeah, we-
Mark Beringer:
... flyers about it.
Doug Shafer:
And, and that'll come back. You know, I'm, I'm in the same boat. We're, we're... We'll be back out there again, for sure. Um, what, uh... Y-you know I... The initial pressure's off. You've got your... You know, you've been doing it for a couple of years at Beringer. You're, you're settled in. Any thoughts about what you can contribute to the whole legacy of Beringer? Um, or is that just too crazy a question?
Mark Beringer:
Well, I think, you know, the number one goal coming in was maintain the level of quality that exists. And, and maintaining it under an, um, an increasingly more challenging, uh, you know, climate that we're in.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, you know, the business isn't getting any easier, right? Um, so as people try to challenge you on cost, and things like that, and still maintaining this really high level of quality. Um, but at the same time, we wanted to create something that was kind of, um, I guess iconic, that would be symbolic of my arrival back to the winery, and my, my, uh, continuation of the family legacy. So, we created a new wine in 2016.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, cool.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, it just got released for the first time back in November, on November 8th.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And it's called the Eighth Maker.
Doug Shafer:
Oh, cool. The Eighth Maker? Good-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
A good name. I like good names. I like it. It's-
Mark Beringer:
So, yeah. So, being the eighth maker in, in the lineup, um, and eights are very symbolic, both to me personally, and to many cultures. Um, having traveled through Asia a lot, the number eight is really symbolic of prosperity, longevity. Um, and I happen to love the number eight, because it's, it's my favorite number, it was my wife's. So, we end up getting married, actually on 8/8/08, August 8th, of 2008.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs), I love this.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
So, tell me about, is this under the Beringer label, or is it a-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... a new label?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
A new brand?
Mark Beringer:
It's under the Beringer label.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, we only made a, you know, a few hundred cases. They're packed in a very fancy, um, you know, lacquered wood box that, uh, is, you know, with a little booklet in there, that describes the winemaking-
Doug Shafer:
Sure.
Mark Beringer:
... you know, process. But, um, it's a really cool package. And, uh, the wine's really solid. I mean, it's a little different style than the... our Private Reserve. A lot of people think of the big huge mountain fruit tannins.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
That the Private Reserve is supposed to go in a cellar and age for decades. Um, we wanted to make something a little different. Maybe a little more polished, a little more plush. A little bit outside the normal style of Beringer. So, um, we, we put that in the bottle, um, a couple of years ago. We got it... You know, it's getting some of our first reviews. It's got a 99 point rating as well, from, from James Suckling.
Doug Shafer:
Great.
Mark Beringer:
So, we're pretty proud of that.
Doug Shafer:
And I'm assuming it's Ca-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
It's Cabernet, right? (laughs).
Mark Beringer:
Y-yeah-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... it's Cabernet, 100, yeah, 100%.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And, uh, it comes mainly from the home ranch, the original property, uh, in St. Helena, that my great-great-grandfather bought back in 1875. So, I really wanted to bring that to be a c-, a major component of it. And then brought in a little bit of our Steinhauer, off our mountain, to give it a little bit of punch. But, uh-
Doug Shafer:
Cool.
Mark Beringer:
... yeah, it's a great wine. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
Um, so n-, this is, so this is brand new. You just grow... Oh, before I forget how do peo-... People who wanna check this out, what's the best way for 'em to get a bottle, or, or more?
Mark Beringer:
Um-
Doug Shafer:
And so-
Mark Beringer:
... we, we sell it right at the Rhine House-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... um, in St. Helena. It's not really out there, um-
Doug Shafer:
And just-
Mark Beringer:
... in major distribution.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
It may get there at some point, we'll see. Um, but right now, it's only available at the winery. And from the website.
Doug Shafer:
And is that... This is c-... Is the wine really, um, taking, you know, will call orders, if people wanted so, tha-that type of thing? Is... Because it's not... W-we're not open f-... to the public, but if they wanted to buy it, could they pick it up, if you folks were to-
Mark Beringer:
Yes.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, we're, we're all trying to get creative right now.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, it's a-
Mark Beringer:
And, uh-
Doug Shafer:
... it's a moving, it's a moving target, for sure.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, it's been tough, 'cause we are closed, uh, to the public right now, but we can do, uh, pick ups.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, so, if you're a member of one of our wine clubs, or if you place an order online, or call in and place an order, um, we are doing one day a week, I believe it's Wednesdays right now, for a few hours, like noon to 2:00, 11:00 to 2:00.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And you can drive in, show your ID, and they'll pop it in your trunk, and off you go without even, uh, coming in contact with somebody.
Doug Shafer:
Good. Great. Good idea. And for all your wines, you've got such a great range of them. I mean, 'cause your, your, your wines, basically, um, span the whole... You know, s-, from very affordable to top end, high end, um, lots of different choices. Mostly all under the Beringer brand, right? Or th-, you've got a couple other brands too?
Mark Beringer:
Yeah. I mean, under the Beringer name, we have our commercial wines. You know, like the White Zinfandels of the world, and things like that, that have been around for a long time. But those are really kind of separated from our luxury business-
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
... which wines are made at our other facilities, um, in Paso Robles, down in that, that region.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
Um, we only really make our luxury portfolio up here in Napa. So, we now have kind of taken that Beringer white zin, and we use the name Main and Vine now.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
So, the main and vine tier of wines is kind of taking that over. And trying to separate the Beringer name from the more commercial wines.
Doug Shafer:
Okay.
Mark Beringer:
And try to... Because there's, there's this bit of a centering effect, I call it. The lower wines kinda get, you know, pulled down the luxury wines, and luxury wines kinda, hopefully, pull up your commercial lines, and you'll end up in the center. So-
Doug Shafer:
Uh, a good point.
Mark Beringer:
... you know, we wanna be able to use the Beringer name as being the, the true luxury part of the portfolio, and try to separate that a little bit. So, but we d-
Doug Shafer:
No, that's, that's good, yeah.
Mark Beringer:
But, you know, the Private Reserve wines, of course, are the main ones in that level. We have, also, another line of, um, Distinction Wines, we call them. That's our, our Cabernet, our red blend. And then our Luminous Chardonnay, which is a crisper style of Chardonnay. And then we have our, uh, regional tiers, like the Knights Valley Cabernet, that people know so well, and our Napa Valley Chardonnay, things like that.
Doug Shafer:
Right. No, uh, it's-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... it's, um, uh, it's g-, it's good to hear you make that comment about, you know, the brand and, and keeping, you know, keeping the Beringer name synonymous with, you know, the best wines you make. I think that's really important. I totally agree with that. And, uh, I'm glad, glad it's happening. But, now, you got, uh, lots of great wines from all over the spectrum, and lots of wonderful vineyards. The things you guys have, where you've got some, some dynamite vineyards you've had for a long, long time. And, and we all know what, uh, you know, what you need to make top wines is top vineyards. So, that's good to have.
Mark Beringer:
That's right.
Doug Shafer:
It's good you guys have that. So, Mark, eh, what else have you got? Any oth-, any other pearls of wisdom for me, before we check out here?
Mark Beringer:
You know, I was thinking, when... before we got on the, on the phone here, that, uh, I remember, uh, I did a presentation for... I think it was for the premier auction here, as part of the Napa Valley Vintners, um, uh, annual auction.
Doug Shafer:
Right.
Mark Beringer:
Um, and I was asked to be on a panel, um, to present some wines. And I was, I was at Duckhorn at this time. And I had to bring a wine that I made, and a wine that I didn't make.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
And basically tell a story about that wine I didn't make, and why I chose it to go with the wine I made. And I chose Shafer Hillside Select.
Doug Shafer:
Huh.
Mark Beringer:
Uh, I think your dad remembers this 'cause, uh, I remember he came and talked to me after it. But I, I don't know if you knew this story? But-
Doug Shafer:
No, I haven't heard this.
Mark Beringer:
... I ga-, I gave a, a complete seminar that half of my presentation was about your winery-
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
... and about the Hillside Select wine, and what I loved about it. And I learned something, and, and maybe you can verify this for me, because I'm a skier-
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
... the Hillside Select Vineyards, are they named after ski slopes? Is that what I heard?
Doug Shafer:
Um, one of them is. The, uh-
Mark Beringer:
Okay.
Doug Shafer:
The... His original... Well, actually, wasn't his original. The original cab thing, it was called the Upper Seven, and still to this day. It was seven acres up high on the hill. And, uh... But then the next one, which has turned out to always be the building block of Hillside Select is a vineyard we... he named Sunspot. And Sunspot's the name of a beautiful run in Alta, Utah, where he used to take us to ski when we were kids. And so, one of those runs-
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
... you know, it's like in, uh, at 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon, where the, the western sun is just hitting this thing, and it's spring time. And, you know, it's, it's getting to be a little sp-, a little slushy, maybe, but maybe not. But it's just, um, that was his favorite run. And we named that vineyard Sunspot-
Mark Beringer:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Doug Shafer:
... and it's a... So, it's... has a lot of great meaning. You know, it's great wine. Well, our premier lot is always from the Sunspot Vineyard. And, uh... But great memories of growing up with my dad, skiing in Utah. So, it's all good.
Mark Beringer:
Right.
Doug Shafer:
Thanks for this-
Mark Beringer:
See, I love those kind of stories.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah.
Doug Shafer:
Thanks for sharing that. I've never heard that one. I appreciate it.
Mark Beringer:
Yeah, yeah, you bet.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah.
Mark Beringer:
Well, I always figured if it snowed around here, you'd have some good vineyards to ski on.
Doug Shafer:
(laughs).
Mark Beringer:
That's some good slope up there.
Doug Shafer:
Yeah, me too, (laughing). All right, Mark. Hey, thanks for taking the time. Great chatting with you. I've learned so much today, and I can hardly wait to, you know, do this again over a c-, glass of wine, or two.
Mark Beringer:
You got it. That sounds awesome.
Doug Shafer:
All right, man. Good luck to you. See you around.
Mark Beringer:
Thank you.
Doug Shafer:
Thanks.
Mark Beringer:
All right. Take care.
Doug Shafer:
Thanks.