You might not think of Joel Peterson as a transformation story — he grew up in a wine-loving family, and he started Ravenswood in his 20s then stuck with it until he made millions from a wine that’s become a household name.
But I think the way it happened speaks to evolution and passion. And since it’s my blog, I not only get to decide that it’s a fit, I get to show off a picture of me and John with Joel at the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival in Sonoma.
I’ve read this San Francisco Chronicle article about Joel several times and something new always jumps out when I re-read it.
First of all, when he started Ravenswood, it seemed like a long shot. It was not a foregone conclusion that he’d be able to pay the rent making wine.
He started out as a part-time, small-time winemaker, making single-vineyard Zinfandels in the 1970s when the grape had little respect.
In 1976, at the age of 29, he and business partner Reed Foster, whom he met in that group, started Ravenswood with $4,000, no vineyards and no winery. For labor, they called all their friends to help for free.
“I went through a lot of friends in the first year,” Peterson says.
If you’ve spent any time at all buying wine in the last decade, chances are you’ve seen Ravenswood wherever you shop. So it might come as a surprise to you that Joel has not been raking it in like the Gallo family. He kept his day job while he worked on wine on the side. For most of his life, he was a hypenate — a scientist-winemaker.
For the first 15 years of the winery, the loquacious Peterson earned his living in a job with almost no conversation required, working in the clinical laboratory at Sonoma Valley Hospital from 1977 through 1992. (He didn’t draw his first salary from the winery until 1991.)
“Microbiology is very meditative,” Peterson says. “Your only responsibility is to the petri dish in front of you.”
Still, for a guy who’s clearly got patience, he didn’t do it all just for the love of the grape.
“This is a business. At the end of the day I can’t do what Helen Turley does,” says Peterson, referring to one of California’s most-sought-after winemaking consultants for top-end wines. “I can’t tell people … it doesn’t matter if we make money. Because it does. Otherwise it becomes a hobby, unless you charge exorbitant prices for it. But I’ve never wanted to put wine up on a pedestal. Wine should be part of your everyday life.”
In 2001, two years after going public, Ravenswood was bought by Constellation Brands for $148 million. Peterson, whose hair reached his hindquarters in the winery’s early years, was the largest stockholder, making him that rare bird many students at UC Davis’ Department of Viticulture and Enology aspire to become — a winemaker-turned-multimillionaire.
And the evolution continues. When he sold to Constellation, he became part of a corporate operation.
Peterson still loves what he now calls a “brand.” He has proven to be surprisingly good at, and interested in, being a corporate executive — albeit one who wears Hawaiian shirts and cowboy hats.
“I always said I would never own a vineyard,” Peterson says, while walking among his vines, but being a multimillionaire can change one’s point of view.
To learn more about Joel Peterson’s evolution to California wine elder statesman:
A 20-minute podcast about his career path: http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/eating-drinking-places-eating/4301732-7.html
His corporate profile on the Ravenswood site: http://www.ravenswood-wine.com/about/winemaker.asp
A profile that compares Ravenswood to U2, telling the story of Constellation’s acquisition of Ravenswood: http://www.starchefs.com/wine/starvintners/html/ravenswood/index.shtml
Gremolata talks to Joel: http://www.gremolata.com/Articles/101-Joel-Peterson–Ravenswoods-Zin-Master.aspx