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w i n t e r 2 0 1 7 | 3 7 "quality endures" My dad's motto has always been Chimney Rock Winery is a jewel in Stags Leap District, Napa Valley. PHOTO COURTESY OF TERLATO WINES S uccess in winemaking is widely variable, yet it still attracts more than a few participants. So why are so many lured to become part of this business? For the Terlato family, the purchase of our first winery was the realization of a young man's dream to one day become a winery owner. That man was my father, Tony, and his dream began more than 60 years ago. In 1955, in his father's wine retail store in Chicago, he developed his passion for wine and launched his career in the industry. He then created success in wine retail, local distribution and national importing with me and my brother Bill at his side, where we evolved into our own roles over time. In 1996, after more than 40 years in the wine industry, our family pur- chased Rutherford Hill Winery—our first foray into winery and vineyard ownership. And today, I'm fortunate to be able to share a little of what our family has learned throughout our journey. Sucess in winery ownership lies in a laser-like focus on the details. HONOR THE PAST We purchased Rutherford Hill Winery because of its prime location in Napa Valley's famed Rutherford appellation, important reputation and distinction of being one of the first California wineries to focus on Merlot. My dad's motto has always been "quality endures"—a motto we stuck to at Rutherford Hill. In the months following our purchase of the winery, we tasted wines from each vineyard block in barrel in our caves. Though many of the wines were nice, not all were up to our standards. So we declassified and sold off 15,000 cases of wine in bulk. We then invested $12 million in building a "winery within a winery," a facility that gave us the opportunity to keep our wines vinified separately and stored in small lots. We also improved and rebuilt more than a linear mile of cave storage, which allows us to store and age our wines with per- fect climate control: naturally and sustainably cooled and humidified. We also leveraged our more than 40 years of experience in the wine business as we worked to produce the quality of wines we had envisioned. Through our years in the industry, we had developed close relationships with some of the most successful winemaking families in the world—and many of them were incredibly generous in sharing their knowledge of farming, vineyard management and winemaking.