“Certainly Joe. I really would like to show you around. I have time this morning. We have to finish
before 11 though. The Fairchild execs will be back then. They are holding some kind of meeting.”
“Would 9:00 AM work?
“See you then.”
“Thanks Ed.” Joe hung up the phone.
Joe was always prompt, almost to a fault. His visit to see the transformation of the winery was no
exception. Joe mentally contrasted the old De Marco Winery with the Gambaro Winery as he drove through
the gate. The original Gambaro Winery, constructed during the Gold Rush, was a mixture of square cut
granite and volcanic ash blocks. Later additions included more cut stone and wood frame construction.
The De Marco Winery originated near the turn of the century when bricks became available from nearby clay
resources. While it had a rather large central section of red brick, like the Gambaro Winery it also
had extensive add-ons of wood frame construction, although not as well kept. The Gambaro Winery was
nestled in rolling hills surrounded by yellow pine forests. The De Marco Winery was located in very
gently rolling terrain with scattered pockets of live oaks.
Joe parked at the wine tasting room and knocked on the winery office door. Ed opened the door and
stepped out, smiling.
“Good to see you again Joe, the old De Marco Winery sure has gone through a lot of changes, what
do you think of the logo?” Ed pointed to a wooden sign hanging above the wine tasting room entrance.
The new logo featured a simple, five pointed red star with radiating red lines.
“It certainly fits the current fashion of simple logos”. Joe pointed to some naked wood framing
visible at one side of the tasting room, “are you adding on to the tasting room?”
“Gettin
g a variance from the County Planning Commission was a real bear, though.”
“What else does Etoile Rouge have coming?”
Ed motioned for Joe to follow as he walked over to one of the larger buildings at the winery.
Walking around the building they came to a recently poured concrete slab crossed by the metal grates of
channel drains. “This will provide additional storage for another 2,000 barrels of wine”.
Ed pointed beyond the slab to an obviously new metal building. “The Fairchild Group has already added
an additional 40,000 gallons of fermentation capacity. They tell me that more is to come.”
“This will make Etoile Rouge one of the largest wineries in this area.”
Ed nodded his head, “That’s why they hired me as a manager. With my MBA and marketing
degrees, they needed someone with real business skills that also knows the wine market.”
Joe looked at Ed, “Good luck finding wine tasting room help”.