Defunct Santa Clara Valley Wine Growers’ Association may start
up again in near future
Gilroy – After the scandal that ended the Santa Clara Valley Wine Growers’ Association, local wineries cooled on the idea of “officially” working together. But persistent pushing by local winery owner Carlo Fortino may revitalize the nonprofit organization.
Fortino said he’s excited by the new blood in the South County winery scene and added the more wineries that work together the more exposure they’ll garner. Fourteen wineries will be attending a meeting at Guglielmo Winery Monday to look over a brochure that should be finished in time to be distributed at the Garlic Festival.
“We kind of tripped a little bit, so some of the wineries are a little slow (to join in),” said Fortino. “But we have most of them together now.”
The association disbanded in 2003 when it was threatened with a lawsuit by its one paid employee. It then declared bankruptcy in October of that year, effectively ending the 56-year-old nonprofit’s existence.
Since the demise of the association the wineries worked loosely together putting on such events as the Spring Wine Festival held at Casa de Fruta each April. Even so, many of the wineries have become comfortable with advertising over the Internet with their own personal Web site rather than a generic association site.
Fortino said he is looking into many ways the local wineries can market themselves to the public. He said he wants to bring back “Passport Weekends” where people can buy a winery passport for a one-time fee of about $15 and taste the wines from each of the participating wineries. He also said many of the local wineries will be participating in the annual Spring Wine Festival this April.
Mike Sampognaro recently bought Pedrizzetti Winery and said he has noticed that the local wineries seem to be working toward a common goal.
“I get the impression that they’re trying to work together, but I haven’t had much time to find out,” said Sampognaro, whose winery will be featured in the brochure.
Sampognaro added he’s the new guy on the block and still doesn’t know exactly what’s going on. But Fortino said it is the new owners like Sampognaro who have him rejuvenated to try and round up the wineries to work together again.
Fortino said the winery owners in the South County are not rich and need to work together to gain more exposure.
“We’re not all Napa,” he said. “I can’t build a cave or mansion on my property for you to come taste my wine.”
Steve Beck, director of sales and marketing for Solis Winery, said he’s hopeful the new winery owners will bring something new to the table because working with a large group of wineries doesn’t always work out.
“It has its ups and downs. There’s just so many dynamics with that group. You have people who have been in the business for 30 years and you have people (who are new to the business),” he said. “The dynamics are hard only because people who have been in the industry for so long say, ‘Oh we’ve tried that, it’s failed, we don’t want to try that again.’ ”
Beck said he meets people everyday that have lived in Gilroy all their lives and never knew there were wineries on Hecker Pass, where Hecker Pass and Solis wineries are located.
“People would rather go to Napa than find out what’s in their own backyard,” Beck said. He added that the association is “sleeping at the moment (but) it will be awoken and come back.”
