TM: These are the things you do when you're a small producer. At a ten-thousand-case winery, you can afford a single vineyard manager [whereas we can't]. But all those things layer on our ability to succeed; it really is about Ariel's connections.
PR: Ariel used to be the chairperson of the Mount Veeder Appellation Council. At [the Napa Valley with Altitude] event where you first met us and we met you, that was the latest generation of events that we're trying to do with the appellation. And it was a brilliant idea proposed by one of the wineries up in Spring Mountain, to do that. Back in the day, I remember that when Ariel was chairperson of the council, during the Wine Spectator California Wine Experience, there was a Mount Veeder dinner hosted by Donald Hess in San Francisco. And I think because of that, and all the work she did to help launch the appellation, (and because there's a lot of family wineries here, even from back then) Ariel still gets the respect and the residual goodwill of the mountain.
AR: However, I have noticed the change. I've noticed there's a new group of farmers on this mountain who've bought in, and who are much more private and competitive. I'm not complaining; I think it's a classic way that people start businesses. There's much more of, 'I'm not sharing my secrets!' Whereas in the old days we were all new to it and learning on the job and experimenting on the mountain, so there was more [sharing and dialogue] like, 'Well, what grows best on Mount Veeder? Tell me about that clone!' etc.
"Some people make what they do seem more mysterious. People who are confident in the quality of their work and the land that they farm don't have secrets."
TM: That's always been bizarre to me. Because there are no secrets in this business — that's absurd — yet some people make what they do seem more mysterious and important. People who are confident in the quality of their work and the land that they farm don't have secrets.
AR: I believe in 'paying it forward.' You get out what you put in.