I’m the last person I expected to become a wine lover. The path to a passion began when I moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began taking day trips to Napa Valley. It was cemented after I went on the “Sideways Tour” through the Central Coast. Something finally clicked over that weekend, and from that moment my relationship to wine changed.
When I first got into wine, I did what a lot of people do. “Hey Google, what wineries should I visit?” and wrote down #’s 1, 2, and 3 from the search results, and put them into my GPS. $100B of market cap (at that time) can’t be wrong — right?
To be fair, most of the wineries from the top search results were actually pretty good. But the more often I visited wine country, the more often I began to seek recommendations from other aficionados, and the places they suggested were rarely on the first page of search results. Yet those small detours, more often than not, led me to a varietal, an experience, a style of winemaking that challenged my priors about what I was “supposed” to enjoy.
That journey came full circle the first time I met Robert Kamen. You may not know the name, but you definitely know the movies he’s written: The Karate Kid, The Fifth Element, Taken, The Transporter, and many more. When we walked into his quaint downtown Sonoma tasting room after a recommendation from an industry local, we were greeted by a short, older gentleman, with beads of sweat still glistening on his forehead from his morning bike ride. He gave a brief “hi” and without missing a beat, still donning his skintight biking spandex, Robert launched into the full history of the winery.
The way he tells it, his venture into wine was the ultimate detour. He'd been spending time up on Moon Mountain above the tiny town of Sonoma, enjoying the incredible view that stretches all the way to San Francisco on a clear day, taking occasional puffs from his afternoon joint with the guy who sold it to him (and who also happened to manage a few vineyards). That guy, the now-legendary Phil Coturri, proposed to Robert that he use the proceeds from the sale of his first movie script to buy land and plant grapes.
The rest is history. Robert used all of his script money to purchase the land, nearly 300 acres, for the price of $500K. If you want to talk about a profitable detour, do a quick search for what 1 acre of premier Moon Mountain winemaking land goes for today.
With Phil’s help, Robert planted vines at select locations around his property (mostly Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon), and used Phil’s viticultural expertise to determine best sites, irrigation, and climate management. Robert also needed a winemaker who would be comfortable testing different approaches in order to determine how to get the best from the porous volcanic soil, so he hired “mad scientist” Mark Herold to do the job.
As we sat there and listened to Robert’s story while sipping his delicious Syrah, I was hooked. Robert’s story influenced not just my passion and preferences for wine, but the thesis for both Melier and Golden Gun Ventures. Robert had the capital, but his relationship with (and trust in) Phil Coturri ultimately spurred the detour that delivered a 100X return and some damn good wines. Phil had been around winemaking and viticulture long enough to know that Robert was sitting on a potential goldmine, and just needed the right pieces to fall into place to capitalize on it.
Melier was built on the idea that hidden gems exist in all corners of the wine world; the hard part is finding the ones that speak to you. My partner in the venture, Dan Zepponi, is a 20+ year veteran of the industry, and currently the CEO of Cuvaison Winery and Brandlin Estate. With his guidance, we developed our “try before you buy” concept that gives people the ability to try boutique brands and limited release wines — before spending on a full bottle.
Similarly, at Golden Gun Ventures, my partners and I have spent the past 20 years living in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. We’ve been fortunate to have built our own network of Phil Coturris, who share their own insights about up-and-coming markets, undervalued companies, investment opportunities analogous to what Robert considered while on top of Moon Mountain more than 40 years ago.
I look forward to sharing these opportunities — and bottles — with all of you.
Cheers,
Greg