After spending many years working the market with Michael when he was in town, I can confidently state that he is the hardest working man in the business! After taking over the family winery with no experience at age 22, MIchael has gone from hand selling and delivering each case of wine to…well, still spending an unimaginable amount of time in the market, meeting and revisiting buyers and consumers alike, perhaps with a few less cases to deliver himself these days. 

Always a pleasure to spend the day with, very few people in his position would be crazy enough to keep going so hard after 30 years. Most of our rides between accounts involved Michael opening up his spreadsheet and updating account info in the following manner - 

“Rob, is so and so still at such and such restaurant?” 

“Yes sir.” 

“Looks like they are up/down a few cases from last time.”

 “Uh…”

“Have they tried the Bartolucci Cab recently?”

“Well, you see-”

“Ok, let’s go say hi.” 

And that was that. Never asking for sales, but always growing. Always providing value to his customers, whether it was a staff training, a consumer dinner, or taking a little extra time to talk to that one server that was super enthusiastic, making sure they stopped into the winery should they ever make it that way. It was the least sales focused market work I’d ever have, with the guy that was arguably our most important supplier. 

Why am I even sharing this? Well, we asked Michael to take a slightly different approach to this dinner. Though everything Honig does on a day-to-day winery level is well measured, thoughtful, and generational in nature, we really wanted to share with you the grittier side of things, the journey beginning from almost nothing. We can speak about grape growing, oak usage, and bottle aging all day long, but what does it take to make it in this business? Should anyone in their right mind pursue a career in wine? What are the current challenges, and what does the future hold in California and beyond? 

These questions answered, and more, on a very spooky Friday the 13th dinner at Digress with the man behind the label!

$100pp

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