The Posters (Part 5)

What do you get your daughter for her 21^st birthday?

I got my daughter, Dawn, her very own poster.

We moved to Sonoma in 1977. For the next 23 years we lived in a tiny 864 square foot house on two acres of land. Bob and Mary Bonino were our landlords, and they lived on the property with Mary’s mother, Josephine. We moved in when Dawn was seven and they quickly treated her like the granddaughter they never had.

The house was so small, we couldn’t fit beds into it, so we were forced to use futons, which could be folded up into couches when we weren’t sleeping. Despite its size, that house saw more than its share of entertaining. We would either crowd our guests into the tiny kitchen for a multi-course dinner or, if the weather permitted, we would dine outside on the porch. Underneath the house was an old root cellar, which created a perfect space for my wine cellar. Bob Bonino helped me make the racks, and I quickly filled them with hundreds of bottles.

Because I was often busy at the stove preparing the meal, I would ask our guests to go down to the cellar and pick out a few bottles of wine. Nothing was sacred. They could select whatever struck their fancy, so long as they didn’t lose themselves in indecision, depriving those of us waiting in the house for some wine. That tradition led to the poster idea, “Every time a friend comes to visit . . . he wants to play in Daddy’s cellar.”

Dawn and I went to a fancy women’s clothing store in town where she selected a dress. We set up a little table, placed flowers, candles, a corkscrew, and a bottle of Cutler Cellar on it, and Ron Zak started taking pictures. It was not an easy shoot because it was freaking cold. Every 10 minutes or so, Dawn and Ron would run up into the house to warm themselves by the heater. It was so cold that the melted wax we used to keep the candles straight kept freezing, and the candles constantly tilted over.

Ron took dozens of photos capturing Dawn in dramatic poses and with a wide series of expressions. He made 8x10s of several selections, and it became difficult to select one for the poster. Here are three shots that didn’t make the cut. On the far left, the candles are almost straight. The other two shots, not so much.

Once we selected the photo, we got Chuck House involved. He created a sophisticated effect by using gold print and borders around the photo and the poster, but it still wasn’t working, until he placed the script “E” to start the caption. Suddenly, as if by magic, everything fell into place and we had a beautiful poster.

My Goddaughter, Naiomi Kaufman got her poster when she was three. Her father, Ray Kaufman and I have been friends for 60 years. We met in college where we were very politically active. After several arrests, court trials, and graduation, we couldn’t wait to leave Los Angeles. Ray ended up in Asia for seven years. I ended up in Wine Country.

Ray returned from his sojourn with a Japanese wife. He tried living in Los Angeles, but it wasn’t to his liking. I invited him to come visit us in Sonoma. He liked the area, was fascinated with the wine business, and eventually moved here. Ray went on to become co-winemaker at Laurel Glen Vineyard, working alongside Patrick Campbell. He started a wine export company which placed virtually every well-known California winery into Europe and Asia, and he purchased a 60-year-old Malbec vineyard in Argentina using it to create his Adelante brand.

Meanwhile, at Gundlach Bundschu, in addition to all the varietal wines we made, we introduced two blends: Sonoma Red and Sonoma White. Grapes from our youngest plantings, vines growing in our weakest soils, barrels that didn’t fit into our varietal program, and plain extra wine went into those blends. The wines were delicious and verry inexpensive.

I believe Jim Bundschu had become fond of looking up famous quotes from well-known people. He would regale us with sayings from Mark Twain, Carl Sandburg or Ben Franklin. McCullough said we should put the sayings on our corks, so we did, but only on the Sonoma Red and Sonoma White wines. It was great fun.

We selected ten different quotes every year, and we called the corks “Fortune Corks.” We invited everyone to come up with quotes we could put on the corks. Year after year, we were flooded with celebrated quotes from waiters, salespeople, and wine shop owners. It made them feel connected to the winery, especially if one of their quotes was printed on an actual cork.

• Leave the kids the land and the money. Drink the wine yourself.
• Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.
• A woman drove me to drink. I never had the courtesy to thank her.
• If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.
• If you want your place in the sun, expect a few blisters.

After a couple of years, we realized that many people drank our Sonoma Red and White without noticing the fortunes on the cork. We needed to let them know. Perfect excuse for another poster. I glued hundreds of fortune corks onto a sheet of plywood, then we enlisted Naiomi to be our model. She sits, dressed in full kimono, in front of the wall of fortune corks. She holds a gigantic fortune cookie.

Children seek fortune in cookie. Wise adult look elsewhere.

Sonoma Red and Sonoma White

A fortune on every cork. Great wine in every glass.

I got Naiomi to autograph and date several posters as soon as she learned to write. I saved those posters and presented them to her upon her graduation from high school. Naiomi is now an attorney collaborating with a small private clientele living in San Diego, but she still visits for Thanksgiving, Turkey Taco Day, and Christmas.

The first territory that McCullough assigned me was Denver and the state of Colorado. Because he had lived and worked there for years, I walked into a large group of his friends, all of whom loved wine. Footers Restaurant was one of the top wine accounts in Denver. It was owned by Jimmy Lambatos, who went on to start Quiznos sandwich shop. Running the bar and serving as prime wine buyer was Lisa Weber. Lisa loved Gundlach Bundschu wines, enjoyed our humorous approach, and appreciated my doing winemaker dinners at the restaurant.

Lisa wanted to learn more about how wine was made. She worked out a deal to stay with Andy Cutter at Duxoup Wine Works in the Dry Creek Valley to experience harvest. She stopped by the house to visit and told me that something had come up. Andy Cutter wouldn’t be able to host her. I invited her to stay with us and learn about harvest at Gundlach Bundschu. She accepted the invitation, even though our small house required her to sleep on the couch.

Dawn was still living at home. She and Lisa hit it off and became good friends. I told Dawn it was like having an older sister. After a few weeks staying and helping during crush, Lisa returned to Denver and Footers. Just to show how our posters had infiltrated the thinking of our customers, for Gundlach Bundschu’s 130 anniversary, Lisa and Jimmy Lambatos sent a photo with a caption that could have been a great poster. Jimmy is lying flat on a bar with a funnel in his mouth. Lisa is pouring our wine into the funnel. The caption reads. “Even after 130 years, Gundlach Bundschu can still lay you out on the bar!”

Lisa eventually moved out to California and became a sort of surrogate daughter. She would come for all holidays and major social occasions. She’d help pick and produce Guerrilla Vino wine, and most importantly she agreed to edit all my writing from the Tequila Lover’s Guide through all the Jake Lorenzo books and most anything else I chose to tackle.

Eventually, Lisa moved to Washington State, near Dawn, and has recently retired from work. She spends her days walking in forests and along trails photographing anything of interest and sharing it with friends on Facebook.