Don’t give me that do goody good bulls—.
I’m in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a lear jet.

There’s an old saying that those cheeky gits across the Mayacamas in Napa came up with. It goes something like, “How do you make a small fortune in Napa Valley?” A: “Start with a large one.”

Scare tactics, I say. Those Napa folks are just protecting their turf. After all, there are far too many successful wineries around and starting up for such a proposition to be wholly true. I do think that, however, the days of creating wine empires so successful that you can afford a company jet are past. In Sonoma, the Firth’s, Jackson’s, Duncan’s and Jordan’s represent this ideal; wildly successful family owned wineries whose successes are built on quality, foresight and perhaps most importantly, a huge first mover advantage.

I haven’t done much talking about money on pinotblogger, but I assure you it isn’t far from my thoughts. Making a world class pinot (many, in fact) is our ultimate goal, but to get there we need to turn a profit fairly soon after our initial release. The old saying above is true in one respect: it takes a lot of money, up front, to start a winery. So in the near term, your large fortune does indeed become a small one.

And thats exactly why there’s another old wine country saying: “Make wine that you want to drink, because you may have to.”

Capozzi Winery