Those outside of the industry often seem to focus on the winemaker as the primary person in a winery operation. Maybe it is easiest to condense the focus on one person that represents the organization, and that is all well and good. But let’s not forget that there are many, many folks who work behind the scenes in wineries all over the world in a variety of capacities who, in the end, make it all happen. At Cima Collina, Doug is one of those people.

Doug likes to say that he was dragged into this project mostly because, among other things, he’s my husband. But really, he wanted to do this, he just had no idea at the time of his true potential or that this is really his true calling. It all started when I needed help setting the winery up—“Could you pick this up at the hardware store?”. Then it was “Could you go in and do a punchdown?”, then “Would you mind plumbing the rest of the glycol system?”, etc., etc. and, as you might expect, it eventually turned into a full-time, don’t have time for anything else kind of thing.

In his previous life, Doug had been involved with wine for quite a long time, mainly on the beverage service end of things in San Francisco during the 90’s doing bar and wine list management at swanky restaurants. He got an opportunity to learn about the wineries from which he purchased wine, and got to taste a good deal of wine as well. All in all, it was a chance to not only discover what was out there, but also to refine his palate. But as the world turns, things change, situations change, and he eventually found himself in the Carmel area.

Fast Forward to March, 2006. What does Doug do now? Well, his official title is Cellarmaster, in that he’s in charge of making sure we all stay in line when it comes to cleaning up in the cellar, making sure all the barrels are topped and in good working order, making sure tanks, fittings, etc. are clean, insuring, bascially, that all goes smoothly in cellar operations. Additionally, we bounce ideas off each other all of the time whether it is winemaking, marketing, sales, etc. He’s the one that gets up and goes to the winery at 2 in the morning when there’s a problem with the alarm, and recently he has become, as his unofficial title would suggest, Cima Collina’s one and only salesperson.

Yes: we do all of our own California distribution and sales. If a retail or restaurant account needs more wine they call us and we deliver directly. And the reason that account has the wine at all is because Doug hit the pavement, put himself out there and made the sales call. The best thing about it all: he likes doing it

It might seem pretty easy when one thinks about selling wine: hobnobbing with chefs, tasting wine, talking about wine, etc. Let me guarantee you it is not. The wine industry on a global scale is bigger than ever these days, which boils down to it being a very highly competitive marketplace right now. The restaurant industry is booming more than ever as well, which means restauranteurs are some of the busiest, around-the-clock, never stop folks I know. What does Doug have to do with when he goes out on sales calls? He has to get the wine buyer’s attention. If he gets their attention, then he has to make an impression in a matter of a minute or less. If that works then the buyer has to like the wine. If they like the wine then they have to like the price. If the price is good, then they have to work on where the wine will fit on the wine list and when the wine list will be reprinted so that we are included on it. He has to accomplish this all with many times at least 1 or 2 distributor reps, each with porfolios of 30, 60 or 100 wines, breathing down his neck waiting for their shot. But the job doesn’t stop there because after all that, he’s got to maintain the accounts as well which means making sure the wine actually makes it on the wine list, calling to make sure they haven’t run out of wine, and if they have, then delivering more. It is a non-stop effort.

Why does Doug do sales for Cima Collina? Why not farm it out to a distributor? We find nothing wrong with distributors, it is just that for this winery operation, it is important that we keep as much control over the finished product as possible, which includes whose hands finally pour it to the consumer. Since our main market is relatively close to the winery, it also doesn’t seem to make much sense to send the wine to sit in a distributor’s warehouse faraway, just to come back here. We think we can make a little more money doing it this way and at the same time keeping prices as low as we can. Lastly, small wineries such as Cima Collina tend to get lost in a distributor’s portfolio, so we want to take on full responsibility—from beginning the the very end—the insure the success of the winery.

So, the results of Doug’s hard work? So far, here’s where you can find us:

Clementine’s Kitchen
Shopper’s Corner, Santa Cruz
Deluxe Foods, Aptos
Uncorked, Saratoga
Kuleto’s, Los Gatos
Star Market, Salinas
The Bountiful Basket, Carmel
Sierra Mar at Post Ranch, Big Sur
Passionfish, Pacific Grove
Monterey Fish House
Village Fish House
Paradise Wine Bar
Grasing’s, Carmel-by-the-Sea
La Playa, Carmel-by-the-Sea
Bixby’s Martini Bistro, Carmel
Bahama Billy’s, Carmel
Taste of Monterey

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