Julia Flynn Siler tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1 2008-05-17T06:00:55Z Movable Type 3.35 Robert G. Mondavi, 1913-2008 tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.26 2008-05-17T09:41:26Z 2008-05-17T06:00:55Z Robert Mondavi as Bacchus, with wife Margrit. Photo: Avis Mandel for Pate International During the three years it took to research and write The House of Mondavi, I interviewed hundreds of people, pored through legal and corporate documents, and... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com bacchus.jpg Robert Mondavi as Bacchus, with wife Margrit.
Photo: Avis Mandel for Pate International During the three years it took to research and write The House of Mondavi, I interviewed hundreds of people, pored through legal and corporate documents, and studied old photographs from high school yearbooks and other fragments of the past, searching for clues about Robert Mondavi’s character. Along the way, I gained an enormous respect for his passion, his perseverance, and his joie de vivre. I was lucky enough to have the last formal interview Robert Mondavi ever granted to a writer. Our meeting took place in a second floor conference room of the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville on March 29, 2005, nearly four months after the forced sale of the Robert Mondavi Corporation. Although the sale proceeds helped Mr. Mondavi fulfill his many philanthropic pledges, it also put him out of the wine business for the first time since the 1930s. It was a sad spring for Mr. Mondavi, then 91, and his wife Margrit and I left that interview feeling as if Robert Mondavi was already beginning to slip away.]]> Margrit. His former employees and old friends told me how he swam forty laps nearly every day well into his seventies – and never took up golf because it was too leisurely for him. He seemed to drive faster and faster as he got older, until finally his family and colleagues insisted the winery provide him with a driver and a car. He was a brilliant marketer whose charisma and high energy drew all sorts of glamorous people into the winery’s orbit: Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner on a sunset cruise in Hawaii, the author Danielle Steele to his and Margrit’s Napa Valley home known as Wappo Hill, and even the red-haired entertainer Ann-Margret in Las Vegas.
Robert Mondavi presides over a grape stomp
Robert supervises a grape stomp at the first harvest of Robert Mondavi Winery.
Photo: Arlene Bernstein for Pate International
Frank J. Prial, who was chief wine critic for The New York Times for many years, wrote Mr. Mondavi’s obituary in Saturday morning’s paper. His excellent story notes that “Mr. Mondavi was a master of the grand gesture. He championed California but led his employees on grand tours of Europe to see how other fine wines were made. Guests at Mondavi lunches found themselves sampling up to two dozen of the rarest French wines, opened to show that they were no better than California’s best. Many of America’s renowned winemakers trained at Mondavi.” That’s why the Robert Mondavi Winery got the nickname “Mondavi University.” And to this day, there is still a large and very loyal group of former employees who gather once a year for a reunion and keep in touch through a Yahoo! group. Some of the photographs I gathered from old friends, such as Arlene Bernstein and long-time label designer Susan Roach Pate, express most clearly for me the seemingly boundless energy that Robert Mondavi had in his prime. These photos not only capture the spirit of a moment in the history of the American wine industry, but the spirit of a very complex man. Mr. Mondavi led a long, rich, fascinating life. I feel honored to have had the chance to chronicle his life and times.]]> The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.25 2008-05-15T14:47:01Z 2008-05-15T14:59:35Z President John F. Kennedy plays with children John. Jr., and Caroline in the Oval Office in October 1962, above, while below, his motorcade approaches Dealey Plaza in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Top photo from historyplace.com; bottom photo Walt... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com dance.jpg President John F. Kennedy plays with children John. Jr., and Caroline in the Oval Office in October 1962, above, while below, his motorcade approaches Dealey Plaza in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Motorcade.jpg Top photo from historyplace.com; bottom photo Walt Sisco, photographer/Courtesy The Dallas Morning News I can’t remember the last time I choked up with emotion while visiting a museum. But the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas – which offers far more than just the preservation of historical artifacts behind glass cases – is an example of powerful storytelling about a tragedy that changed history. What unfolds there is a recounting of the November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, an event that occurred when I was a toddler. Illustrating the ways in which multimedia storytelling is often so much more moving than print or broadcast alone, I used the audio tour to guide me through the exhibition. The audio tour’s spare, muscular prose was narrated by Pierce Allman, who was the first journalist to broadcast from the Texas Book Repository, where the assassin took aim at the motorcade below. On that day more than four decades ago, 200,000 people had gathered in the streets of Dallas to welcome the presidential party. One of them was dress manufacturer Abraham Zapruder, who filmed the convertible limousine that the President was riding in that day through the downtown streets with his 8 mm Bell & Howell movie camera. As the car passed directly beneath the Texas School Book Depository, shots rang out. The stills of these moments captured on Mr. Zapruder’s film are profound.]]> Dallas Morning News columnist and blogger named Josh Benton, who I met earlier this year at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation Conference on Narrative Journalism. In particular, Josh had mentioned the original teletype dispatches from the wire service reporter covering the story as an example of the power of raw reporting. I wanted to see it for myself – and since I was in Dallas on tour for the paperback edition of The House of Mondavi, I took an hour out of my schedule to visit. As a reporter for so many years, I was dumbstruck when I stood in front of that teletype machine – similar to the one that my colleagues and I still used when I was a cub in the newsroom many years ago – and looked at the mixture of panic, fear, confusion, and adrenalin all expressed through a series of often misspelled words and fragmentary sentences expressing what was happening. It was a moving illustration of the role that journalists play in writing the first draft of history. ]]> Book Tour Blues, as sung by Tony Horwitz tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.24 2008-05-07T19:45:08Z 2008-05-12T05:19:04Z Tony Horwitz: His blog details the "voyage long and strange" that is a book tour.Photo from voyagelongandstrange.com I hit a low point on my first tour for The House of Mondavi on one of those days that come so seldom... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Tony HorwitzTony Horwitz: His blog details the "voyage long and strange" that is a book tour.
Photo from voyagelongandstrange.com I hit a low point on my first tour for The House of Mondavi on one of those days that come so seldom to Chicago. It was last June and the weather felt balmy, with the last burst of spring blooms still on display. Who would want to sit indoors on an afternoon like that? Few did. At a bookstore known for its well-attended author events, only three people showed up (excluding my very patient Aunt Gene and Uncle Jack, who had sat through my book talk several times already.) I’d brought two bottles of wine – one from the Robert Mondavi winery and the other, a Charles Krug, from the Peter Mondavi side. That was my mistake: the warm weather, combined with the alcohol, literally lulled a third of my non-family audience to sleep. The book lover who come to my talk that day had her head thrown back, producing a soft, ladylike snore. ]]> Tony Horwitz’s great blog about the tour for his latest book, A Voyage Long and Strange. I’ve been a fan of Horwitz’s for a long time, following his reporting from the Middle East for the Wall Street Journal. Tony then became the author of such wonderful books as Baghdad Without a Map (with his wife and fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner, Geraldine Brooks), Confederates in the Attic and Blue Latitudes. I read his first three books and plan to read his new one this summer. His first posting is about the first stop on his tour, which was New York. He writes:
“'Book tour' is one of those deceptive phrases that sound fun and sexy, like a rock tour with klieg lights, groupies, roadies, mosh pits, backstage parties. The reality is more like the life of a Fuller Brush Man or encyclopedia salesman…”
In another posting, he admits that over the next five weeks, during his tour, he’ll talk more to his publicity manager, Emily, than his wife. “A big job for a girl with braces and pigtails …When things go wrong, which they inevitably do, Emily will also be my therapist.” In a post titled “Evil Thoughts,” Tony recalls the experience of WSJ alum, Ken Wells, when he was on a book tour in 2001.
“My mate Ken Wells first learned of the 9/11 attacks when his plane pulled into Atlanta that morning and suddenly every cell phone in the cabin starting ringing … [He] arrived for the first stop of his book tour, which was instantly canceled. Small beans of course in the catalogue of that day's catastrophes but the world narrows to an unseemly focus on a single question: What will this mean for my book? It’s a bit like the joke at the market-obsessed Wall Street Journal where Ken and I use to work: in the event of a planetary catastrophe, the paper’s final headline would read, WORLD ENDS, SOYBEAN FUTURES PLUMMET.”
In his latest post, Tony writes about his Mom, his biggest fan. He’s staying with her on the Washington, D.C. stop of his tour. “Mothers, of course, are also expert at mortifying their children, even when 'the Kid' (as I'm still called at home) is pushing 50. At the moment my parents' house looks like Cooperstown, with copies of my book and posters advertising my talks on every available surface,” he writes. My WSJ colleague Jim Carlton, the author of Apple: The Intrigue, Egomania and Business Blunders That Toppled an American Icon, had a discouraging moment similar to my own. An important stop on his tour was at a gigantic Barnes and Noble bookstore near the headquarters of Apple’s chief rival Compaq Computer Corp. There were perhaps two dozen seats set up, and one of the store’s managers announced his talk over the loudspeaker. “Literally, two people showed up and one of them was homeless,” Jim told me. I can identify much more with Jim’s experience than with that of the British conservative politician-turned-novelist Jeffrey Archer. The British tabloid The Sun reported in early April that Archer, “currently holed up in Hong Kong’s five-star Landmark hotel on his book tour for A Prisoner of Birth, is not a happy bunny. 'My room has among the most inconvenient bathrooms I've ever experienced,' he complains on his blog." Read his entry to learn why.]]> Christina Meldrum and Madapple tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.23 2008-05-06T23:17:12Z 2008-05-12T05:18:48Z Christina Meldrum I read the galleys of my friend Christina Meldrum’s stunning debut novel, Madapple, over a single, rainy afternoon a few months ago. I refused to get up off the couch, despite the requests of my husband and sons,... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Christina MeldrumChristina Meldrum I read the galleys of my friend Christina Meldrum’s stunning debut novel, Madapple, over a single, rainy afternoon a few months ago. I refused to get up off the couch, despite the requests of my husband and sons, until I’d finished the last page. What a book! I truly couldn’t put it down. Christina has written a gripping page-turner that explores the dichotomy between religion and science. Reading it, I felt as if I’d entered into a dream state where nothing was quite what it seemed. Christina began her book nearly a decade ago, while she was still working as a high-powered litigator at a big law firm’s San Francisco office. She would rise at five a.m. daily and write in the darkness of dawn for about an hour, her computer providing the only light, before heading to her San Francisco office. She had majored in religion as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, and then went on to Harvard’s storied Graduate School of Law. Although she had the drive and intelligence to be recruited as an associate by one of the top law firms in the world, Christina didn’t find what she was looking for in the practice of that profession. ]]> Madapple. Finely drawn and deeply felt, Aslaug’s character is a puzzle, as is her apparently immaculate conception. Set in rural Maine, the book shifts between courtroom scenes and the strange life that has led Aslaug to stand trial. As a gardener, I particularly enjoyed the book’s focus on the hidden power of plants. To learn more, visit Christina’s website, www.christinameldrum.com, which has the botanical name and descriptions of many of the plants that appear in her book. Madapple’s publication date is May 13, but already it has garnered a lot of attention and glowing reviews. Kirkus gave it a starred review on May 1st, calling it “A markedly intelligent offering mixing lush descriptions of plants, history, science and religion…With this spellbinding debut, Meldrum marks herself as an author to watch.” Booklist also gave it a starred review: “There is much to ponder in this enthralling achievement from a debut author.” The Marin Independent Journal ran a long story on Christina today, including a photo of her in her lush backyard – “a tangle of azaleas, rhododendrons, ivy and ferns, towering redwoods, tulips and camellias” – as writer Leslie Harlib described it. The front page of the paper describes Madapple as an “intellectual amusement park ride.” This is the first of two books that Christina will write for the storied New York publisher Alfred A. Knopf. Judging by her first book, her second is sure to be keenly awaited.]]> "Friend-raising" for our public libraries? tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.22 2008-05-05T23:41:32Z 2008-05-12T05:18:30Z Above, an invitation to Burlingame's library fundraiser ... Image from wincountrygetaways.com ... While in Salinas in 2004, readers protest "death of the libraries." Photo from indymedia.org On Saturday, May 3, the Burlingame Public Library Foundation hosted a lunch that... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Burlingame Library Foundation invite Above, an invitation to Burlingame's library fundraiser ...
Image from wincountrygetaways.com 2004 Salinas library closure protest... While in Salinas in 2004, readers protest "death of the libraries."
Photo from indymedia.org On Saturday, May 3, the Burlingame Public Library Foundation hosted a lunch that was as much about building community as it was about raising funds. As one of the organizers put it, the afternoon was an exercise in “friend-raising.” Michael Krasny, the host of the San Francisco Bay Area public radio station KQED’s Forum program, talked about his new book, Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life, published this year by Stanford University Press. Michael shared his often hilarious experiences interviewing everyone from Bill Clinton to the Merry Pranksters’ Ken Kesey, detailing the journey that took him from host of a show called “Beyond the Hot Tub” in swinging 1970’s Marin (the county north of San Francisco best known for hot tubs, peacock feathers, and the self-actualization movement EST) to “Bay Area cultural institution,” as author Michael Chabon describes him. Henry H. Neff, a teacher at the private San Francisco boys’ high school Stuart Hall, spoke about his experience writing The Tapestry, a series of young adult novels that our 10-year-old son, who’s anxiously awaiting the next installment, describes as “like Harry Potter, but even better.” Charming, funny, and articulate, Henry’s next book comes out this fall – news that our son was delighted to hear. ]]> St. Helena Library in the Napa Valley – perhaps the only public library in the country that’s got its own vineyard out back – played in my book. It is where I conducted two of the most difficult interviews I did for my book. Within the main library is housed the Napa Valley Wine Library Collection, and it was in a small conference room near this special section where I met Tim Mondavi, Robert’s younger son, in the months after the forced sale of the Robert Mondavi Corporation. Tim no longer had an office at the company, so the library was a quiet and neutral place for us to talk. With my digital recorder running, Tim told me his side of the painful family saga that I detailed in The House of Mondavi. My first interview with Tim began fairly stiffly. By the end of the second, lengthy interview, Tim became emotional and angry as he shared his perspective on how the outside directors of the Robert Mondavi Corporation
“were holding a gun to our father’s head and asked us to pull the trigger. I could not run the risk of his bankruptcy, even if he would have.”
The Wine Library was a fitting place for Tim to share his story of how one of Napa Valley’s great wineries, founded by the Mondavis, passed out of his family’s control. The library boasts a wonderful view through its big windows of “Barney’s Backyard,” a small plot of trellised grapevines named after Bernard Rhodes, a recently deceased Napa resident who was the first president of the Wine Library in 1965. Rhodes also helped organize a retrospective tasting of Charles Krug and Robert Mondavi wines in 1985, two decades after the Mondavi brothers’ famous split. That was perhaps the first time the feuding brothers publicly came together again. Since the era of Barney’s presidency, the Wine Library Association has found all sorts of delightful ways to raise funds, including its 46th annual wine tasting, which will be held at the Grove at the Silverado Resort on Aug. 24 this year. With cash shortages forcing local governments to make hard choices and limit library services, many library supporters have sought to build a circle of friends that can support them through volunteer work and gifts. In wealthy communities like Burlingame, which is on San Francisco’s peninsula, and St. Helena, the chic and pricey epicenter of Napa Valley’s wine industry, the public libraries are thriving. Perhaps there could be similar “friend-raising” events in towns such as Richmond, one of the poorest in the San Francisco Bay Area, where public libraries have been shuttered. ]]> Just a guy from Turlock: Michael Chiarello and lifestyle marketing tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.21 2008-04-29T00:58:51Z 2008-05-12T05:18:12Z Michael Chiarello with guests at a past Bud Break Party (above) and with his own budding progeny, Aidan (below)Photos from NapaStyle.com and ChiarelloFamilyVineyards.com Michael Chiarello is at home, making risotto alla primavera for 130 or so of the best... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Michael Chiarello's Bud Break party Michael Chiarello with guests at a past Bud Break Party (above) and with his own budding progeny, Aidan (below)
Photos from NapaStyle.com and ChiarelloFamilyVineyards.com Michael Chiarello and son Aidan Michael Chiarello is at home, making risotto alla primavera for 130 or so of the best customers of Chiarello Family Vineyards. He tastes a bit of the rice and parmesan cheese mixture, finds it to his liking, and orders it dished onto the scores of white plates which are laid out and waiting, where it will be topped off with a soffrito of spring vegetables. Wearing his white chef’s coat emblazed with a burgundy emblem signifying his kudos from the James Beard Foundation, he dashes out of his modern farmhouse-style St. Helena home, navigates around the swimming pool, and bounds down a few stone steps, to a 125-foot table set up in the vineyards where he and his wife Eileen are hosting a late-afternoon supper for their best customers in the vineyards. Barely pausing to say a few words to his guests, most of whom have bought a case or more of his wine to qualify for an invitation to join the day’s hospitality, he dashes back up the steps, towards the kitchen. “Now, now!” he snaps at the waiters ferrying plates of risotto to the table. The temperature in the vineyard hovers around 85 degrees, even at five in the afternoon, so there seems little risk of the dishes cooling down in the moments it takes to deliver them from kitchen to table. He’s paired the course with a 2006 Giana Zinfandel, named after one of his three daughters. ]]> Tra Vigne restaurant for two decades, Michael developed a reputation for being articulate (one of his sayings is “you know what really makes me pazzo? [crazy in Italian]”) and for his intense drive. He spun his success in the kitchen into a brand name – on the Food Network with his show "Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello," the PBS series "Season by Season" and "Michael Chiarello’s Napa," as well as "NapaStyle" on Fine Living. He’s also authored a series of cookbooks, founded a chain of stores called NapaStyle in Northern California – including a new flagship store scheduled to open in Yountville in June – and soon will head a new Napa Valley restaurant. Before serving the third course of slow roasted porchetta and purple potatoes, Chiarello stands on the stone wall to address his guests, and describes the difference between Tra Vigne and his new eatery. “It’s going to be a lot more expensive” he quips. He seems perfectly serious, too, as he offers his guests this heady experience in what business school types call lifestyle marketing. With his closely shorn graying hair and reflector sunglasses, Michael is a classic example of American enterprise. Although he jokes during the afternoon that he is “just a guy from Turlock,” a decidedly unglamorous town in California’s Central Valley, this son of an immigrant family from Calabria began apprenticing in kitchens at age 14. Since then, he’s built a small business empire on the idea of gracious Napa Valley entertaining. Along the way, he’s parlayed his considerable talents in the kitchen into an entrepreneur’s dream. His wife, Eileen Gordon Chiarello, offers me a glimpse into the kitchen while Michael is cooking. She first met her husband-to-be in 1999 at a conference called Build Brand Value in San Francisco. At the time, she was consulting for a venture capitalist group. She helped him write the business plan for NapaStyle and became the fledgling company’s vice president of marketing. Michael and Eileen also successfully collaborated on another venture, who Michael is toting on his hip. With blonde curls and wearing tiny, sky-blue Crocs on his feet, two-year-old Aidan is the namesake for the family’s “Bambino” wine. Michael and Eileen offer barrel samples of the 2006 Bambino Cabernet, accompanied by white bean and tuna conserva crostini and fontina cheese puffs. The winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Eileen 2004 won a 93 point rating from Wine Spectator, which described it as delivering “lots of flavor and complexity.” As for Aidan, who looks like he’s just woken up from his afternoon nap, he doesn’t – at least at that moment – share his famous father’s easy banter with the guests. Peeking shyly from his father’s arms, Aidan looks at the long table, where so many strangers are seated. But as if this toddler scion is already being groomed to join the family business, little Aidan musters the spirit of hospitality and greets the guests with just one word: “Hi!”]]> Meritage wines -- and a fascinating glimpse into family business tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.20 2008-04-23T21:59:46Z 2008-05-12T05:17:49Z Kim Stare Wallace -- is she drinking a Meritage?Photo from Dry Creek Vineyard As a newcomer to the wine world when I began The House of Mondavi, I discovered that its inhabitants spoke in a distinct language not so... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Kim Stare Wallace Kim Stare Wallace -- is she drinking a Meritage?
Photo from Dry Creek Vineyard As a newcomer to the wine world when I began The House of Mondavi, I discovered that its inhabitants spoke in a distinct language not so easily grasped by outsiders. When Michaela Rodeno, CEO of Napa Valley’s St. Supéry winery, first introduced me to the word “Meritage,” I had no idea what it meant. But she patiently explained it to me … almost, but not quite, concealing her surprise that I didn’t know it already. “Meritage” is an invented name that grew out of a national contest to come up with a way to describe blended wines. As so many other things in the wine industry, it was born out of a response to government regulations. In 1985, U.S. federal regulators restricted the wording used on wines containing less than 75% of a single grape variety to the not-very-elegant sounding “table wine,” rejecting such descriptors as “Bordeaux-blend.” ]]> Agustin Huneeus, Mitch Cosentino, and Julie Garvey came together to try to come up with a better name. The winner of their contest combined the word merit (for quality) and heritage (for the Bordeaux tradition of blending wines). The Meritage Association is now celebrating its 20th anniversary and has website where you can learn more. I tasted some Meritage wines yesterday at a lunch at San Francisco’s Pres a Vi restaurant (which is worth visiting just for its 200-bottle plus wine list, with its special focus on California wines) hosted by the association. Pres a Vi is a treat, as well, because it is located in George Lucas’s new Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio. Through the windows of the restaurant, cherry trees were exploding with pink blooms. Mitch Cosentino’s “The Poet,” a Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and merlot, was delicious – particularly the 1986. Michaela poured two white Meritage wines from St. Supery – a 1996 and its Virtu. I’d never tried a white Meritage before and enjoyed it. But I must admit that I enjoyed meeting the winemakers and proprietors even more than tasting the wines themselves. And a particularly nice treat was meeting Kim Stare Wallace, who works in her family’s Dry Creek Vineyard. Not only did we swap our experience of driving kids to Little League games and laugh at the challenges of working moms -- as explored hilariously by the British writer Allison Pearson in I Don’t Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother -- but we’ve also both started blogging recently. Kim’s blog is fascinating, particularly for anyone who has ever worked in a family business. Take a look at her post, “The Dreaded Family Meeting”:
"Today I realized the whole scene reminds me of the animal kingdom. (I used to love those TV shows that depict the traits and characteristics of various species.) The meeting starts off fairly typically. Everyone is well behaved and reasonable. Then slowly, each one of us transcends into our animal self. My father starts acting like the peacock that puffs up and gets very BIG. This usually occurs in moments when he is reminding us that he started the winery and knows a thing or two about a thing or two. Naturally, this puts The Husband on the defense. His face turns red. His ears begin to steam. Much like a bull getting ready to charge. Or, a wolf circling around, getting ready for the kill. As for me, I’m like the duck--paddling like hell, prepared to take flight at any moment. Just trying to stay out of the way of the gunfire and any fall-out."
You can read more on her blog, “Wilma’s Wine World: An Insider’s Look at the Wine Country Life.” I’m planning to check back to find out how Kim fared after an upcoming Board of Directors meeting.]]> Communities -- virtual and otherwise tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.19 2008-04-22T21:50:34Z 2008-05-12T05:17:30Z The future of community?Photo from smh.com.au (Sydney Morning Herald) Writing, by its nature, is a solitary undertaking. Reading, too, is done mostly on one’s own. So why not bring writers together with readers in a virtual community? Redroom.com is... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Computer Users The future of community?
Photo from smh.com.au (Sydney Morning Herald) Writing, by its nature, is a solitary undertaking. Reading, too, is done mostly on one’s own. So why not bring writers together with readers in a virtual community? Redroom.com is the one of several social networks devoted to the love of literature. Yet, it is pulling ahead in the race by attracting big names. Maya Angelou, Amy Tan, Jon Stewart, Salman Rushdie, and even Barack Obama are Redroom.com members. So are lesser known writers such as Belle Yang, author of The Odyssey of a Manchurian and Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father’s Shoulders; Bill Hayes, author of The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray’s Anatomy; and Peter Coyote, best known as an actor but also the author of Sleeping Where I Lie.]]> went live in December of 2007, and so far, Redroom’s CEO, Ivory Madison, has raised more than $1.8 million from such investors as Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, and Nion McEvoy of Chronicle Books. Madison mentioned that the site has also nabbed for its advisory board Norman Pearlstine, a media mogul who was The Wall Street Journal’s publisher for many years before moving to Time Inc. and then to The Carlyle Group, where he helps spot new media opportunities. Ivory also mentioned that just this week she convinced chef and food entrepreneur Thomas Keller, of French Laundry fame, to invest. Madison is publishing her first book next month (a graphic novel called Huntress: Year One, from D.C. Comics). She’s also working hard to raise the next round of financing for Redroom.com. Her goal: another $1.2 million. Last night Yang, Hayes, Coyote, Ishmael Reed, and Madison discussed their experiences with Redroom.com in a panel at the Commonwealth Club. Expertly moderated by David Ewing Duncan, a member of The Grotto and an NPR host, the evening’s discussion touched on the ways in which writers and artists have sought to build communities over the years. Duncan asked Peter Coyote to reflect on his experience in the 1960s as one of the Diggers and talk about how this new, online community fit in with that. The Diggers, a three-year guerilla theater project, was based in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district. (You can learn more by visiting the Digger Archives.) “The continuum is West Coast culture,” answered Coyote. “We were creating events to raise questions about who owns what. In a sense, I think Redroom is in the same tradition. The existing technology – the internet – is democratizing media. Anyone can jump in. If the writing is meritorious, it will find an audience.” Duncan then asked another provocative question: Is there anything that could go wrong with this? He noted that he’d banned his own kids from their family computer because otherwise they’d spend all day on it. Is that what, in effect, a social networking site such as Redroom.com is encouraging among writers and readers? Coyote acknowledged there is a potential problem. “There is a fundamental distinction between the 1960s and now, and that is that (back in the 1960s) thousands of bodies would show up, get educated at a teach-in, and then go to the munitions plants to protest the war.” “There is something misleading about cyber-community,” he argued. “A real community brings you soup when you’re sick, takes care of your children, and buries you when you die.” There aren’t protests in the street against this war, as there were against the Vietnam War – and that, he said, was the “shadow side of the internet.” Applause broke out, which Coyote self-deprecatingly attributed to “the two people who agree with me.” Yet the club office where the panel was held was packed with perhaps a hundred or so writers, editors, and agents, including Litquake founder Jane Ganahl, San Francisco magazine’s Pamela Feinsilber, Soma Lit editor and author Kemble Scott, and literary agent Michael Larsen. After ignoring Redroom’s first invitation to join last fall, I finally jumped on the bandwagon earlier this year, as I prepared for the paperback edition of my book, The House of Mondavi, to be published in May. That, itself, proved the exact opposite of Coyote’s point about the alienating nature of the Internet: on a Monday evening, a hundred or so people making the trek – after work and during dinnertime for most families -- to the Commonwealth Club to explore the evolving nature of community. ]]> Grotto Dwelling tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.18 2008-04-21T21:38:45Z 2008-05-12T05:17:08Z Lunch in The GrottoPhoto from sfgrotto.org This month, I’ve been spending time at The Grotto, the famed San Francisco writers' community which is home to such West Coast literary luminaries as Po Bronson, David Ewing Duncan, ZZ Packer, Jason... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com The Grotto Lunch in The Grotto
Photo from sfgrotto.org This month, I’ve been spending time at The Grotto, the famed San Francisco writers' community which is home to such West Coast literary luminaries as Po Bronson, David Ewing Duncan, ZZ Packer, Jason Roberts, Julia Scheeres, Ethan Watters, and many others. One of my favorite parts of making the trek to the Grotto’s offices on 2nd and Bryant Streets is lunchtime, when Grotto dwellers emerge from their offices, where they’ve been tapping away in the dim glow provided by their laptops, to gather in the brightly painted conference room for brown-bag lunches and conversation with other members of the tribe. It’s not unusual for guests to join Grottoites over lunch. On Monday, Van Jones, founder of Green for All and co-writers of a forthcoming book called The Green-Collar Economy, joined us. Van, who lives in Oakland, was recently a guest on The Colbert Report and admitted to having been flummoxed by his host’s comments (including one about “green” love machines and another about “unicorn herding”). That prompted Laura Fraser to share her experience of having to strip down to her knickers while her suit was being ironed prior to her appearance on one of the network morning shows.]]> Kevin Smokler, the editor of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, who was visiting the Grotto in his role as “chief evangelist” for Booktour.com. An online community that helps authors and audiences meet, it is the brainchild of Wired magazine founder Chris Anderson, who, thus far, has financed the venture out of his own pocket. I joined Booktour as an author just after the site’s launch in June of 2007, which was the same month my book, The House of Mondavi, was published. I had also met Kevin through reviewer and book marketing guru (guru-ess?) Bella Stander. I’ll be updating my page on Booktour.com shortly, since I’m scheduled to go on a seven-city tour for the release of my paperback on May 1st. But, I’ll admit, Kevin’s explanation for why we all should be using the site was a bit humbling: it’s now got 20,000 events listed for some 6,000 authors who’ve signed up so far. So many writers, so little time…I certainly wish I could make it to hear more authors speak. Despite this promising start, Kevin acknowledged that Booktour.com needs a powerful partner to help “push it over the edge.” He mentioned the company has courted or plans to talk with Amazon, Facebook, Myspace, and the new author’s site that’s generated a lot of buzz, Redroom.com. Which leads me to wonder: What will be the virtual equivalent of a community such as the Grotto? And can online communities for writers ever replace the simple pleasures of sitting around a table, chatting over salads and sandwiches together? ]]> Mondavi as a case study tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.17 2008-04-17T16:15:25Z 2008-05-12T05:16:50Z Harvard case studies probe for the veritas behind business decisions. The Harvard Business School has six case studiesMichael Porter, a Harvard professor who wrote The Competitive Advantage of Nations, a book that I read and found fascinating after being assigned... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com The Harvard Business School shieldHarvard case studies probe for the veritas behind business decisions. The Harvard Business School has six case studiesMichael Porter, a Harvard professor who wrote The Competitive Advantage of Nations, a book that I read and found fascinating after being assigned it many years ago in business school. Although I wouldn’t recommend them as bedtime reading (unless you’re hoping to be lulled to sleep) I purchased them for $6.95 apiece and read each of them carefully as part of my research for The House of Mondavi. In particular, I found the study on the Mondavi’s adventure in Chile, and its creation of the Caliterra brand with the Chadwick's family, to be particularly helpful. My researcher and I found it fun and challenging to match the pseudonyms used in the study to the real executives I’d interviewed for my book. ]]> Brian R. Golden, Henry W. Lane and David T.A. Wesley, who were then at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Another came to me from a professor at U.C. Davis’s famed Department of Viticulture and Enology. As useful as they were in illuminating some of the challenges facing the Mondavis (and, in the interest of full disclosure, I must say that these case studies carry the warning that they “are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management”) I found that even more astute lessons came from my readers. One was Jim Clark, a former McKinsey & Co partner and retired Lucky Stores executive. Jim and I began an email conversation about what could be learned from The House of Mondavi. Eventually, we continued our discussion over a cup of coffee with Jim’s son and my Wall Street Journal colleague Rob Guth. With Jim’s permission, I thought I’d pass along his thoughts on what can be learned from the Mondavi family’s triumphs and mistakes. The following observations are in Jim’s words:
  • The Mondavi story with all its missed business opportunities really is a tragic human story for a family. They're sure rich but there was a clear price. Unhappily, this is not an uncommon tale.
  • A forceful personality and passion count for a tremendous lot ... but at some point others have to join the party and their views and "the facts" must be acknowledged and responded to.
  • The lure of rapid and exuberant growth often bites you in the behind. Too much, fast can backfire.
  • New ventures are never as easy as they first appear ... and they always cost more and take longer than anticipated.
  • Greed often trumps family loyalty and even love when the stakes are big.
  • Vision, passion and plain old hard work do matter and can move mountains, at least in the short term ... Cesare, Robert, Michael proved that, to a point.
  • It is darn hard to pass on a private company to subsequent generations for a variety of reasons that include talent, interest, hunger and passion for the business, an exponentially growing number of people involved ...
  • If you decide to go public as a private company, understand that the game changes, shareholders do matter, and ingrained practices related to operating expenses, capital projects, nepotism and strategy will be subject to change.
  • Public Company Directors are compelled to act and will do so. The Mondavi Directors had guts and the law pushing them (not a bad thing).
  • There is almost always a buyer for a good company/property when it gets in trouble ... and they make something new out of it.
  • Hubris eventually catches up ... in business, families, governments and even nations.
]]> Yes, Chef! tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.16 2008-04-11T13:45:52Z 2008-05-12T05:16:30Z Gareth Blackstock, aka Lenny HenryPhoto from Siegler.net Some people find gardening shows relaxing. Others love watching playful otters frolic with each other in nature documentaries. Give me the red meat and raw savagery of the kitchen anytime. First, I... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Gareth Blackstock Gareth Blackstock, aka Lenny Henry
Photo from Siegler.net Some people find gardening shows relaxing. Others love watching playful otters frolic with each other in nature documentaries. Give me the red meat and raw savagery of the kitchen anytime. First, I tore through Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, which I found hugely enjoyable and not a little bit scary. I’m assured by his longtime spokeswoman, Rosemarie Morse, that these days it’s safe to order fish in restaurants on Monday. In recent weeks, I began watching the BBC series from the 1990s called “Chef!,” starring the British comedian Lenny Henry as the character Gareth Blackstock, a chef in a two-Michelin starred restaurant in the fictional Le Chateau Anglais in the English countryside.]]> Gordon Ramsay, seems to delight in finding new ways to verbally eviscerate his staff. Yet he, in turn, is kept in line by his wife and business partner, Janice Blackstock, a character played regally by the actress Caroline Lee Johnson. Written by Peter Tilbury, who also plays the role of the restaurant manager, “Chef!” hilariously explores such business and marketing issues as brand extension (a line of Gareth Blackstock dishes, such as boiled-in-the-bag beef bourguignon) and the management challenge of coping with an alcoholic sous chef. Perhaps my favorite episode so far, though, is the one in which Gareth Blackstock is invited to compete in Lyons against a constellation of French culinary stars for a prestigious award. In an echo of the “Judgment of Paris,” the famous 1976 wine tasting in which French experts ranked American wines the best over vintages from famous French chateaux, Gareth – a “Rosbif” – beats out a bevy of “Frog” rivals using a wine produced in the Chilterns, the gentle hills outside of London where the Prime Minister’s country residence, Chequers, is located. Is there really wine being made in the Chilterns? When my family and I lived in London in the 1990s, I was aware of wine being made in the Cornwall area, which is warmer than most other parts of the U.K. Yes, indeed: There is a Chiltern Valley Winery & Brewery, as well as apparently a Thames & Chilterns Vineyards Association. Should we thank global warming for this surprising development?]]> Twenty-six generations….and counting: The Antinori wine dynasty tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.15 2008-04-09T07:00:16Z 2008-05-12T05:16:16Z The Palazzo Antinori in Florence, Italy. Imagine a family business that has passed from one generation to the next twenty-six times, surviving everything from the scourge of Bubonic plague, to the invasion of Napoleon, two world wars, and even the... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com The Palazzo AntinoriThe Palazzo Antinori in Florence, Italy. Imagine a family business that has passed from one generation to the next twenty-six times, surviving everything from the scourge of Bubonic plague, to the invasion of Napoleon, two world wars, and even the birth and death of the wine cooler. The Wall Street Journal’s deputy bureau chief for Southern Europe, Gabriel Kahn, profiled such an enterprise in a fascinating story this weekend: “For more than six centuries, the Antinori family has managed one of the most delicate feats in business: passing on a company from one generation to the next,” he writes. Succession planning is one of the obstacles that trips up so many family businesses, leading the vast majority to break up, fail, or pass out of family hands by the third generation. Italy’s storied Antinori family, which now owns wineries in Tuscany, Napa Valley, Hungary, and Chile, is a remarkable exception. “This is not textbook management,” notes Harvard’s John A. Davis in the article. “Some of its planning, some of it is just luck.” Even so, the success of the Antinoris has made them into a fascinating case study for other vintners, including Napa Valley’s H. William Harlan II, the founder of Harlan Estate.]]> The House of Mondavi, I had the pleasure of interviewing Piero Antinori, his daughter Allegra, and their long-time managing director, Renzo Cottarella, at the sprawling annual trade fair of the Italian wine industry, VinItaly, which is held in Verona each year. Since then, the Antinoris have since partnered with Washington State’s Ted Baseler, CEO of Chateau Ste. Michelle vineyard, to purchase one of the great wineries of the Napa Valley, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. I was particularly struck by Piero Antinori’s account in the Journal piece of the tough economics of the wine business and why wineries weren’t necessarily suited to be part of publicly traded companies, an issue that emerged in my reporting of the forced sale of the Robert Mondavi Corp. In the mid-1980s, Piero sold a large minority stake in his business to Britain’s Whitbread PLC, a publicly traded British company which made most of its money from breweries. It was an unhappy marriage on both sides and Whitbread became frustrated with its investment in Antinori. “Our investments are so slow in coming,” Piero said. “You put a vine in the ground and the first cash flow you see is a decade later.” Publicly listed companies, he adds, “just don’t have the stomach for it.” Tell that to the Sands brothers at Constellation, a publicly traded company which in the past few years, after a spate of global acquisitions, has become the world’s biggest wine producer.]]> The Aging King of the Napa Valley tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.14 2008-04-07T14:28:58Z 2008-05-12T05:15:59Z California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger greets Margrit and Robert Mondavi at the December ceremony inducting Robert into California's Hall of Fame.AP Photo by Steve Yeater One of the questions I’m often asked when I talk at library fundraisers or with book... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Robert and Margrit meet Gov. SchwarzeneggerCalifornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger greets Margrit and Robert Mondavi at the December ceremony inducting Robert into California's Hall of Fame.
AP Photo by Steve Yeater One of the questions I’m often asked when I talk at library fundraisers or with book groups about The House of Mondavi is how Robert Mondavi is doing. Still referred to respectfully as “Mr.” by some of his former employees, Robert Mondavi will celebrate his 95th birthday on June 14th of this year. But it’s unlikely to resemble the birthday parties of decades past – such as at the one to celebrate his 85th birthday in 1998. “Mr.” donned sunglasses, burst onto the stage, and started jamming with the band. Since the takeover of the Robert Mondavi Corp. in late 2004, he’s had a series of health scares resulting in trips to the hospital. And although he and his wife Margrit still attend many functions and can be spotted dining out at restaurants such as Redd in Yountville, Mr. Mondavi is now confined to a wheelchair and doesn’t say much anymore.]]> Auction Napa Valley, the big June fundraiser for Napa non-profit groups organized by the Napa Valley Vintners Association, will feature a tribute lot called “It’s Only the Beginning,” donated by the J. Davies Vineyards, Staglin Family Winery, Joseph Phelps Vineyards, and other wineries and chefs in honor of Robert Mondavi. The lot comprises an event for 90 guests which will take place June 28th at Robert Mondavi’s brainchild, Copia. A five-course dinner cooked by Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters, and others will be served, and tributes to Robert delivered by his brother Peter Mondavi Sr. and others. Starting bid: $10,000 per individual ticket, or $80,000 for a table of ten. Based on last year’s event, in which the Staglin lot sold for a record $1 million, this year’s offering should do very well as a sentimental favorite. I haven’t visited with Mr. Mondavi or Margrit in quite some time. And I’m sorry to say that $10,000 for a seat is a little beyond my budget. But for a lovely and very poignant description of the aging king of the Napa Valley, read Jim Laube’s blog posting of March 29. Jim, a senior editor at Wine Spectator who was written about Napa Valley for decades, spent an evening recently at the Mondavis’ home on Wappo Hill, best known for the indoor swimming pool that is the centerpiece of its living room. Jim’s posting drew many comments, including from his boss Marvin Shanken. But the comment I enjoyed the most was from someone who had not appreciated Jim’s 2003 criticisms of the Mondavis’ problems, which in retrospect proved prescient. Wrote reader Richard Hutchinson from Chicago:
"A couple of years ago Mr. Laube harshly criticized some of the wines being made at R. Mondavi. Specifically those of Tim Mondavi. At the time I thought … ‘What they (sic) hell is his problem.’ This is the Mondavi family and you probably don’t even know them or they somehow slighted you. With this blog I get it…James Laube was doing his job!!! A true friend or true business associate tells his boss the truth. I apologize James. I was wrong…”
How often does that happen to a journalist who is trying to do his job? ]]> Vinography – 2008 Best Wine Blog Award tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.13 2008-04-01T14:19:41Z 2008-05-12T05:15:41Z Suggested wine pairing? Ask the go-to guy.Photo by justinsomnia.org Alder Yarrow and I had lunch together today at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. After noting the $100-plus bottles of Shafer Hillside Select, Quintessa, and Blackbird Vineyards wines... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com taylors-refresher-bacon-cheeseburger.jpgSuggested wine pairing? Ask the go-to guy.
Photo by justinsomnia.org Alder Yarrow and I had lunch together today at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. After noting the $100-plus bottles of Shafer Hillside Select, Quintessa, and Blackbird Vineyards wines on offer at a take-out place that serves $8.99 burgers and $3.99 hotdogs wrapped in paper, Alder modestly mentioned that he’d just heard that morning that his brainchild, Vinography, had been named the best overall wine blog in 2008 by Tom Wark’s American Wine Blog Awards. I started reading Vinography a few years ago after meeting Alder at the very first Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in 2006. We were both participants then; Alder has gone on to be one of the most generous and well-liked speakers at the 2007 and 2008 Symposiums. A corporate web designer and consultant during the day, Alder started Vinography in 2004 after realizing he had become the “go-to guy” for his friends who wanted wine or restaurant recommendations in the San Francisco Bay Area.]]> "Messages In A Bottle: The Better Half of My Palate I heard my wife say something unbelievable last week. It just sort of popped out, casually, as we were putting the final touches on a simple Tuesday night pasta dinner. 'Honey, I’m worried that we’re not buying enough good red wine to lay down for the long term.' I nearly dropped my plate. This was the wine lover’s equivalent to any number of preposterous fantasies: the sports fan whose wife requests a much bigger TV and matching tattoos of his favorite team; the meat lover’s vegan girlfriend who suddenly offers to make prime rib at home; or the oversexed Woody Allen type whose wife suggests they start swinging with supermodels. I’m the luckiest man alive." You can read the entire posting on Alder’s blog. As he admits, his writing has come a long way since his earliest posts more than three years ago. Likewise, the world of wine blogging has matured: there are now more than 700 wine blogs on the internet, according to Tom Wark, himself the author of the blog Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog. I must admit that I couldn’t resist asking Alder to recommend his favorite Sonoma pinots to me for a gift to bring a friend in New York I’ll see later this week. His suggestions: a single-vineyard bottle from Rochioli Vineyards & Winery or a bottle of a wine produced by the neighboring Williams Selyem winery. Thanks, go-to guy! ]]> The Poet-Farmer of the Napa Valley – Warren Winiarski tag:www.juliaflynnsiler.com,2008:/blog//1.12 2008-03-30T21:52:37Z 2008-05-12T05:15:12Z After a quiet lunch in Rutherford yesterday, I drove back home along the Silverado Trail. As rain droplets began hitting my windshield, I passed the modest sign for the winery whose founder, to me, is an almost perfect example... http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com Warren Winiarski After a quiet lunch in Rutherford yesterday, I drove back home along the Silverado Trail. As rain droplets began hitting my windshield, I passed the modest sign for the winery whose founder, to me, is an almost perfect example of the idealism of many of the early vintners who came to Napa Valley, searching for an Arcadian life. Warren Winiarski gave up his job as a lecturer at the University of Chicago, packed up his family in their station wagon, and moved to Napa Valley to begin again as a winemaker. After a short stint at Souverain Cellars, he joined the new Robert Mondavi Winery, working through the first two crushes in 1966 and 1967 before starting a winery of his own on Howell Mountain.]]> 1976 Paris Tasting – an event which put Napa on the map and guaranteed the fame of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, the small winery he founded with his wife Barbara. More than four decades after that famous tasting, the Winiarskis decided last July to sell to Italy’s Piero Antinori and Ted Baseler of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for $185 million. The news of the sale shocked the wine world. But I saw the Winiarski’s decision as an elegant solution to a problem facing many of the Valley’s pioneering vintners: how to handle succession at their beloved wineries when their children aren’t either interested or necessarily the very best candidates for running it in the future. Jon Bonne, the San Francisco Chronicle’s wine editor, had a wonderful feature on Warren in yesterday’s paper, titled “After the Leap.” Elegiac in tone, Jon’s piece noted that of Warren and Barbara’s three children “none were obviously on track to step into their father’s shoes.” What ensued was a lot of soul-searching, he reports, particularly in the shadow of the Robert Mondavi Corp.’s forced takeover by Constellation Corp. in 2004, after the Mondavi family struggled for many years with who should succeed founder Robert Mondavi at the company. Warren, who is now 79, was kind enough to grant me two long interviews for The House of Mondavi, as well as several sessions of follow-up questions and fact-checking. He suggested I look at the Mondavi story through the lens of some of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Of all of the hundreds of people I talked to for my book, Warren was one of my favorites. So when I read in Jon’s piece yesterday of Warren’s plans to teach Macbeth at St. John’s College this summer, where he has lectured during summer programs for many years, I couldn’t help smiling.]]>