The opening line in Steve Heimoff’s profile of Greg La Follette in New Classic Winemakers of California reads:
“It has been said of Greg La Follette that he could bring a church to tears about Pinot Noir.”
In the clip below you can get a bit of a feel for how he earned that reputation.
In it Greg speaks passionately about working with Pinot, and it is infectious. At the tasting afterward I heard more people commenting on this bit of the talk than anything else.
Note: All these clips from Flickr are less than 90 seconds. I’m really enjoying the creative constraints. It’s kind of like Twitter for video.
Quick personal aside. I actually know Greg’s parents better than I know him, which is a little surprising given Greg himself is close to 20 years my senior. I met them at a Founder’s Club dinner kicking off last year’s Pinot on the River, my first. I was fortunate to spend a memorable night eating, drinking great Pinot, and chatting with them both.
The wildfires down in Southern California had just torn through the area (their house was spared), but they were undaunted and in great spirits. Both are longtime Pinot on the River vets and they made me feel right at home with their generosity of spirit and unexpected interest in my little winery project. With such great folks, it’s easy to see where Greg’s passion for life and wine comes from.
The other thing you should know about Greg and his label, Tandem, is that it is actually run like a real business. He doesn’t have an endless truckload of cash from which to draw to build his brand. He’s chipping away at it, paying down his debt piece by piece, old school style. Which to me makes his passion all the more authentic.
You can check out the new releases from Tandem here.
More clips Monday.
