Hubris can be deadly if you are a winery owner and are taking a calculated gamble…” “We learn about wine, winemaking, wine growing through experience, through our mistakes and success. This should give us humility when we make mistakes. I was immersed in the fascinating stories about the life of a Napa winemaker when I read, “The learning curve in the making of fine wine is forever. That’s an amazing amount of change, and Tor was there for all of it. The Valley was visited by a small number of wine lovers today, tourism is its major industry. The restaurant scene was diners today, it is Michelin stars. The Napa he arrived to was home to just a couple dozen wineries. Tor moved to Napa in 1976 and worked for Beringer Wines until his 2001 “retirement” when he began making wine under his own label. When I saw he’d put those stories into a book, I had to read it-and I wasn’t thinking about investing. The wine was great, but what made the visit so memorable were Tor’s engaging stories about a career in the Napa wine industry. On one of those trips I had the pleasure of tasting TOR wines with its founder Tor and his wife Susan. Wine has become one of my favorite hobbies, so whenever I have business in San Francisco, I try to extend the trip to spend a couple days in Napa. That’s not why I read Reflections of a Vintner. Those of you familiar with my writing know that I love reading about successful people in varied careers, such as athletes, coaches or business leaders, looking for the similarities to investing success. Reflections of a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in Napa Valley is winemaker Tor Kenward’s story of Napa Valley’s transformation from humble farmland to the nation’s food and wine capital.

Tor wine 2014