January 21, 2025 • 27 mins
In episode twenty-nine of the Napa Valley Insider Podcast, Andrew sits down with Chuck McMinn, owner of Vineyard 29 and a passionate advocate for community development in Napa Valley. Chuck shares insights from his Silicon Valley journey to becoming a key figure in three impactful nonprofits: the Napa Valley Vine Trail, the Rail Arts District, and the St. Helena Hospital Foundation.
Episode Highlights:
- From Tech to Terroir: Discover how Chuck transitioned from a groundbreaking Silicon Valley career to owning Vineyard 29 and fostering Napa’s wine culture.
- Building Napa’s Connectivity: Learn how the Vine Trail is connecting communities with its ambitious 47-mile walking and biking path, plus the challenges and successes along the way.
- World-Class Public Art: Explore the Rail Arts District’s transformation into a vibrant corridor of creativity with over 40 art installations.
- Giving Back to Healthcare: Hear about Chuck’s work with the St. Helena Hospital Foundation, supporting state-of-the-art medical care in the region.
- The Future of Napa: Chuck discusses the importance of affordable housing, attracting diverse industries, and empowering the next generation of community leaders.
Support Chuck’s initiatives by donating at VineTrail.org or the Rail Arts District’s website. Every contribution strengthens Napa Valley’s future.
This episode is brought to you by Cuvée, your go-to for Napa Valley experiences. Follow Napa Valley Insider Podcast and Cuvée on Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes content.
Don’t forget to subscribe for more inspiring stories from the people shaping Napa Valley’s future!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the Napa Valley Insider Podcast brought to you by Cuvet, the Napa Winery Guide in
(00:07):
partnership with Highway 29 Media.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back.
I'm Andrew Allison.
This is another episode of Napa Valley Insider.
Today I have a guest.
I'm very excited to hang out with.
Who are you and what do you do?
Chuck McMahon.
I am the owner along with my wife of Vineyard 29, but I spend most of my time on three nonprofits,
(00:35):
the Napa Valley Vine Trail, the Royal Art District Napa, and the St. Louis Hospital
Foundation.
Amazing.
Well, thank you, thank you so very much for jumping on with us today.
I grew up with a father that worked at the Culinary Institute of America.
And so I was very familiar with your property and when I saw that there was a chance to
(00:57):
have you on, I have so much positive recall from all the years I spent running around
the Greystone property in Up Valley.
But let's park that for one second.
How did Chuck McMahon become the legend of Chuck McMahon?
Oh, I don't know if it's a legend, but I'll say that getting into the wine business was
(01:19):
serendipity.
I started my career in Silicon Valley.
My wife and I came out here in 1978 and I didn't know anything about wine at the time.
I went to work at Intel.
I was a product manager in the microprocessor group.
And again, serendipity.
It was my product that was in the first IBM PC in 1981.
(01:41):
And I can say that for me all the way up to Andy Grove, no one knew the impact that that
one design win was going to have on the future of computing and personal computing and everything
that's followed.
And it was a small group.
It was not nearly the biggest group at Intel, but it changed the world.
And I was fortunate to be at the center of that change.
(02:03):
Obviously one of the Silicon Valley icons, you brought up his name.
So I'll just ask, what was it like working for Andy Grove?
It was fantastic.
Andy had a cubicle that was literally 25 yards away from my cubicle.
And I walked by every day and said hi to him.
He at one point got a group of us together as the Guinea pig, excuse me, as the Guinea
(02:25):
pigs for his first book, High Output Management.
So we got-
I've done the book at least a dozen times.
Yeah, it's a great book.
And if you look at the appendix, me and about 12 other people are named.
That's such an amazing way to kick off your intro.
How did you go from Intel to Napa Valley?
(02:48):
So I had a few stops in between a venture-backed startup and then six years in the venture capital
business and it was there that I got into drinking good wines.
Not because of me, but because some of the other partners were into drinking good wines.
I didn't realize you were a VC at one point.
I was.
And then I left actually, I left the VC community to actually do three startups, two of which
went public and one of which went out of business.
(03:10):
So it was-
It's called a batting average, right?
Yeah.
And it was after the first startup, excuse me, the second startup, which was Covad Communications,
that my present to myself when it went public was to put a wine cellar in our house in Silicon
Valley.
And my first outside investor was Dan Lynch and he invited me up to the wine auction in
(03:31):
1999-
Wow.
To fill the wine cellar.
And we just fell in love with the community, with the winemakers, with the winery owners.
By that time I was drinking wines, I was going to the Beltramos and buying a case and sticking
it under the bed, but we decided we were looking for a weekend house up here after that 1999
(03:54):
wine auction.
And the first large format bottle of wine that I ever bought for that wine cellar was
a six liter of Vineyard 29 in November of 1999.
And by February of 2000, friends of friends says, you know, Vineyard 29 might be for sale.
And I saw it one weekend and Anne saw it the next weekend and two days later they accepted
(04:16):
our offer and we were in the wine business.
So you started due diligence with the product.
Yes.
So that was, for those that weren't listening, the Beltramos used to have the most amazing
wine store down in Silicon Valley.
And I believe they've since shut it down-
They have.
And moved to more of a real estate play.
They have.
Wow.
(04:37):
Okay.
So you're up in Napa Valley.
You have just bought Vineyard 29.
What year was it and how were you thinking about the business?
Was this going to be a lifestyle play or was this something that you just wanted to transition
your career to?
It was a transition in career.
I had loved startups.
Everything I've been involved in since Intel has been a startup related, whether I was
(05:01):
in one or funding them or starting my own.
And I had done three startups in Silicon Valley.
And so the idea of doing another Silicon Valley startup wasn't all that compelling.
And the serendipity with Vineyard 29 was it was an established brand.
The vineyard was planted by David Abreu.
The wines were made in Grace Family Winery.
(05:23):
And the first five vintages were sold to Dick and Ann's mailing list.
So there was a 500 case brand that was completely sold out.
Wow.
And the reason that the prior two owners were going to sell is they knew that to take the
wine business to the next phase, they needed to build a winery.
And they were in their late 60s and there would be no payoff in their lifetime.
(05:47):
So they were happy to sell the brand to us.
And we bought the brand knowing we were going to build a winery and grow production.
And in the 24 years since then, we've grown from 500 cases to about 10,000 cases a year.
Follow us on Instagram at Kube Collective HQ.
If there's someone in Napa's hospitality scene you'd like to see featured in our industry
(06:08):
interview series, send us a DM.
We're asking the pros where they go.
Whether it's the best burger or the top cocktail, our audience wants to know your favorites
around the valley.
Make sure you follow us on Instagram at Kube Collective HQ.
Link in the show notes.
And when did you make the leap to actually open a tasting room in downtown Napa versus
(06:31):
the invite only that's on your property now?
Yeah, we first made that decision in 2016 and we opened a tasting room in Oxbow.
And that lease was going to be up in 2021 and then COVID hit in 2020.
And for one reason or another, we said, let's move the tasting room to Main Street and I
(06:55):
mean, the first street between the Andaz and the Archery.
A better location for tourists, I think, because more of them are staying on that side of the
river than on the other.
But our decision to go down there was a decision that that's where the center of mass of Napa
Valley is going to end up being.
(07:16):
And I think it's very similar to Bordeaux.
We were in Bordeaux last summer and the change in the last 20 years in the city of Bordeaux
is just jaw dropping how much of an epicenter for the wine business that's become.
When you think about how you made that epicenter decision, what were the indicators that made
(07:36):
you believe that was going to become the epicenter?
The percentage of high end hotel rooms in the valley, there's more than 50% in the city
of Napa and the ever worsening traffic situation of getting up valley on a Friday, Saturday
or Sunday.
And then with the fires in 2020 when we lost half of Meadowood and all of Calistoga Ranch,
(08:01):
that really said that to find a place to stay in Napa Valley is most likely going to be
in and around the city of Napa.
And how involved with Vineyard 29 are you today?
Obviously it's such an important part of your identity, I'd imagine very, in terms of percentage
of daily bandwidth.
Not very much actually, that we were fortunate to have two very long time employees, our
(08:29):
winemaker, Keith Emerson and our controller, Jen Wilkinson.
They've been with us since 2005.
And in 2022, I decided that I would retire and make Keith the president and Jen continued
on in her role and they have been running things for the last two years.
(08:50):
And the reason is I was running out of time to spend with the nonprofits.
Okay, that's a natural transition.
Which of the three nonprofits should we kick off with first?
I'd love to learn about the St. Helena Hospital and how you support that.
Sure.
So I was on the hospital foundation board.
(09:11):
That was the very first philanthropic board that I got on ever in my life.
And I credit them totally with helping me figure out how to ask people for money and
how open and enthusiastic this community is for supporting others in the community.
(09:32):
And so the St. Helena Hospital is owned by Adventist Health.
So is it a seventh day Adventist run organization?
Yeah.
There are seventh day Adventist employees and seventh day Adventist church contributions
to the overall organization.
But it is open to all faiths.
It has employees of all faiths.
(09:54):
But it has a very, very caring philosophy that I think is reflected in the great customer
satisfaction scores that the hospital gets.
And it has a fantastic set of doctors.
It's the only five-star hospital in the county.
So they get very good marks.
(10:15):
Yeah.
For the size of the property, it's actually quite compelling.
From the work that you do for them, is there specific initiatives that you look to fundraise
for or is it?
Mostly for capital equipment that the hospital might need.
Like MRI machine.
A hybrid operating room that allows imaging in the operating room.
(10:38):
A brand new state of the art CT scanner.
But then also building infrastructure.
The cancer center and the outpatient surgery center is a two-floor building that was 50%
funded by contributions from the foundation and 50% by Adventist Health.
Wow.
And I don't think many people realize how old the hospital is.
(11:01):
So I'd imagine that some of the actual upkeep is actually quite significant to...
So every building...
So there's no buildings left from 1867 when it was open.
But it's been around for a long time.
And so yes, I mean, there's constant...
Mostly technology improvements that need to be made because something new and better for
(11:23):
healthcare is coming out all the time.
On to your next charitable endeavor, I would love to ask just a little bit about the Vine
Trail.
Yeah.
You have been the figurehead and face of the Vine Trail, which I think is, in my opinion,
one of the most important community contributions that anybody's made because of the connectivity
(11:47):
that it brings and the tissue that it allows.
Why this?
So when I first came to Silicon Valley, we couldn't afford two cars.
So I rode my bike to work from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to Intel.
But by the time we got to Napa Valley, the bike tires were flat.
(12:09):
We lived on the top of a hill.
But my wife and I enjoy to rent bikes whenever we go visit someplace else in the world.
We just think it's a great way to get up close and personal with the community that we're
in.
We've done that in Vancouver and Lake Lucerne and the Outer Banks and Kiowa Island and Virginia
to DC.
(12:31):
And so when we came back to Napa Valley, I could never understand why we didn't have
a trail through our community, which is arguably as beautiful or more beautiful than some of
those.
And everybody said it...
So I asked people and they said, everybody said it was a great idea, but oh, those land
people, they'll never let you do that.
(12:53):
And I'm a land people, we own a winery, we own vineyards.
The Vine Trail goes through two of my properties and it will go through a third.
And I just...
I didn't believe that story.
And when the Napa Valley Vintners asked me to run their community outreach committee
in 2008, the spring of 2008, I said, I'm gonna test this theory.
(13:20):
That's the land people.
I said, I'll take on that role, but I'm going to propose that we do a vine trail for the
community.
And they, within 24 hours said, absolutely.
And we decided over the course of that summer that it didn't make sense for it to be a committee
of the Vintners.
It needed to be something that involved the entire community.
So the Vintners and the grape growers and the land trust each contributed $5,000 to
(13:46):
start the nonprofit.
And one of the reasons that the Vintners were so enthusiastic was that at the time, Tom
Shelton, who was the former president of Phelps, was dying of cancer.
And he had tried to do this in the 90s and it didn't get off the ground.
But Tom was very excited about this and asked that any charitable donations at his celebration
(14:15):
of life go to the Vine Trail.
So we formed the Vine Trail in September as a nonprofit and we raised our first $50,000
in October at his celebration of life.
And that was 16 years ago.
Please consider donating to the Napa Valley Vine Trail.
The Napa Valley Vine Trail is working to create a 47 mile walking and biking path that connects
(14:37):
Vallejo to Calistoga.
This safe scenic trail is designed to bring communities together, promote health and wellness,
and encourage sustainable transportation in the Napa Valley.
Your donation directly supports the design, construction, and maintenance of this incredible
pathway, ensuring it remains a resource for residents and visitors alike for generations
to come.
Every contribution helps us get closer to completing this vision of a connected, active,
(14:59):
and thriving Napa Valley.
Visit vinetrail.org today to make a lasting impact.
That's vinetrail.org.
Cheers.
When you think about some of the things that have led to the success that you've achieved
thus far, realizing that you still have much to go, what are some of the values or tenets
(15:20):
that have been important to you to not flex on?
So we had five guiding principles that we created at the beginning of the Vine Trail
and that we stated that we would adhere to.
And the first is that we would be open and inclusive and that any organization in Napa
Valley who believed in the goal could be on our board.
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And we now have over 30 organizations and another half a dozen individuals who are our
committee chairs that are on our board.
And if somebody else that's listening to this says, I really want my organization to get
involved, we're happy to add them to the boards.
So a big table so that everybody has heard and everybody has an opinion.
The second is that we would not take any vineyard land out of production.
(16:05):
That if we had to take individual vines out, that we would compensate the landowner and
try to replant a vine on their property.
But in general, it wasn't the vines or the trail, it was vines and the trail.
The third was that we were not going to use eminent domain.
That this all had to be done voluntarily on the part of landowners.
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The fourth was that we were going to provide an endowment for maintenance because many,
many times these public works projects, they can raise the money to construct, but they
can't raise the money to keep it up.
And that then falls back on the landowners to pick up the garbage and sweep it and take
care of the tree limbs that fall down.
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And that didn't seem fair.
And the final was that the trail had to be world class.
That the rest of everything that we do in Napa Valley is world class.
So the trail had to be world class.
No cutting corners to save a dime if it wasn't going to create a world class trail.
How do you think about the endowment and are you starting to ask or have you over the years
(17:14):
started to ask people to contribute their estate to the endowment?
So that's kind of two different questions.
But the first is we have already started to build the endowment as we raise capital funds
for construction or for the design.
We put some of those funds aside into a maintenance endowment, which sits at about $800,000 or
$900,000 at the moment.
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The second thing we do is that we encourage people in the community to adopt a mile of
the trail.
The cost of maintenance is $15,000 per mile per year.
And we split that between the jurisdictions and us.
We commit to put in $7,500.
They commit to put in $7,500.
But they also, those jurisdictions, and there's 14 different jurisdictions that the trail
(17:59):
goes through, those jurisdictions give the Vine Trail the right to run and adopt this
trail program.
And if we can get someone to adopt a trail section for $15,000 per mile per year, it
offsets half of our costs and half of their costs.
So everybody wins.
We get a trail that's maintained.
Grateful donors get their name recognized in front of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs
(18:24):
a year.
And we guarantee that the trail is going to be maintained.
The second part of your question, which is about estates, is that we do have a fledgling
program in gifts out of estates that can be used in the...
So when your estate is liquidated, you can have some of those funds come to the Vine
(18:47):
Trail.
And that's kind of a one-off thing.
There's not really a cookie cutter approach to that.
It depends very much on the estate that we're talking about.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously, organizations of different sizes and scales, but the Catholic Church
is one of the largest landowners in the country because so many people over all of these years
(19:07):
have just donated their home if they didn't have a next of kin or whatnot.
How do you think about the biggest challenges between here and getting over the finish line
with a 100% complete trail?
Right.
In our first 16 years, we've gotten to 75% complete.
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We're 33 miles out of 47.
We just opened the eight mile section between St. Elaine and Calistoga in August.
Congrats again.
I was there.
Yeah.
Thank you.
It was a great day.
And then we are opening the section between the Vallejo Ferry Terminal and American Canyon
on March 14th.
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And that then leaves only two gaps.
The biggest gap is the gap between Yonfille and St. Helena.
That's 11 miles.
And then a small gap between the new Costco and Airport Boulevard of three miles.
And we have the Vine Trail has contributed about 25 cents on the dollar across design
(20:12):
and construction of the trail.
In particular, we put a lot of money up front to try to do preliminary engineering to get
us in a position to get grants.
And I can say we have grants for both, the design of both of those two sections.
We have a $6 million grant that Mike Thompson got us through the federal budgeting process.
(20:34):
And we just got a $750,000 grant for the small connection between Costco and Airport Boulevard.
So we, by the end of next year, should have the design for 100% of the trail done.
And what remains is the answer to your question, the biggest obstacle is getting the grant
money.
(20:54):
The grants are very, very competitive.
We in this last round of grant money, there were several hundred applications.
The cutoff score was 95 and 16 projects were funded.
Our score was 89.
So we were close, but not close enough.
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The year before they had more money, the cutoff was 89 or 90.
We were 87.
So we were close again.
But that's the biggest issue is get it at this point.
We have all the money to do the design.
The other piece that we have that I just, again, I'm just so thankful to our community
is we have, for the most part, the right of way that we need.
(21:38):
This section between Yonfil and St. Elaine is going to go through 44 private landowner
properties.
Wow.
And we have almost all of those 44 saying yes.
Let me see the final design, but I think this is a great idea.
And a shout out goes to the Wine Train, who is the biggest of those, 40% of the right
(22:06):
of way between Yonfil and St. Elaine will be on their right of way.
Wow.
That's incredible.
I knew the train was an anchor component in the Vine Trail for all the reasons.
And maybe that's a natural transition to the rail art district that you did mention.
So I recognize the Vine Trail is probably the vast majority of your bandwidth that you
(22:27):
proactively are working on.
But tell me a little bit about the rail arts district.
Well, so the rail art district is the two miles corridor of the Vine Trail and the Wine
Train tracks through downtown Napa, from the train station to where the tracks cross Highway
29.
And it's not world class.
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It's the back end, the backside of warehouses and razor wire and weeds and old tires.
And the Vine Trail and the Wine Train started an informal committee to see if we could make
it world class.
And that evolved into the rail art district, which is its own nonprofit.
And since 2019, in the last five years since we've been formed, we've put 40 art installations
(23:13):
into that corridor.
And we have plans for, I mean, it could take hundreds.
We have artists that are calling us or emailing us every month to say, can I come do something
in the district?
When you think about what's really challenging Napa Valley at a macro level, as the business
(23:34):
person that you are, where can you see areas that Napa Valley could use some self-improvement?
Well, I think that we're pricing families out of Napa Valley.
But our school enrollment is diminishing because people can't afford houses.
(23:57):
And I think we need to create more housing and more housing that's affordable to families.
The other thing is we need to attract young, non-wine, non-hospitality oriented individuals
and businesses.
And one of the things that we've committed to within the rail art district is to help
(24:18):
to do that.
Originally, the corridor was just the two miles along the railroad tracks, but the city
of Napa had a plan or an idea to create a makers district.
It was called Napa Makes that was going to encourage the location of artists, artisans
(24:41):
in the area between Saskal and Yehomai, Vallejo and Lincoln.
And the rail art district goes right through that and it's the most commercial portion
of the rail art district's two mile run.
(25:02):
So at the last maker meeting, the makers and the city decided that we should combine forces.
And the rail art district was totally enthusiastic about doing that.
So we have incorporated that.
We have added a maker committee.
We've added some board members from the community to actually go from a plan to have artists
(25:25):
located there to actually making it happen.
How are you thinking that this community organizing that you've been at the heart of can be taught
to the next generation?
I guess I would say that for the most part, I find that people are too worried about failing
(25:51):
and that my experience is that if you get a great group of people together, smart people
together who believe in a cause, you'll figure out a solution.
But going into any of the startups I've ever been involved in, I've never known the answer
or how to get there.
I just knew that if we worked hard enough, that we'll figure out the answer.
(26:11):
So I would encourage anybody in any community to raise their hand and say, I believe in
this cause.
Does anybody else support it?
And you'll find that you'll have dozens of people or hundreds of people who say, that's
a great idea.
I'd like to be involved.
Wow.
I think that is probably a great place to wrap up.
(26:32):
Time that you've spent with us today is very valuable.
You've contributed so much to Napa Valley, beyond your work.
Chuck, how can everybody get a hold of you or where can they see your work?
The easiest thing to do is to get out and get some sneakers on or a bicycle and travel
on the Vine Trail like the hundreds of thousands of people that are doing it every year.
(26:53):
But if you want me in particular, it's chuck at Vineyard29.com.
And if you want to make a donation to the Vine Trail, where can you do that?
Vine Trail, St. Louis in the hospital, rail art district, go to their websites, click
on the donate button and we'll take care of it.
Or give me a call.
I'd be happy to come and pick up your check personally.
Thank you.
(27:13):
It all adds up.
Again, I'm Andrew Allison.
This is the Napa Valley Insider Podcast.
I'm the CEO of Cuvée, we make the Napa Winery Guide app.
Thank you very much.
Cheers.
The Napa Valley Insider Podcast has been brought to you by Cuvée, the Napa Winery Guide.
Download the app for iPhone today and start planning your perfect wine country adventure.
Find out more at CuvéeApp.com.
(27:34):
Cheers.
This is the Napa Valley Insider Podcast brought to you by Cuvet, the Napa Winery Guide in
(00:07):
partnership with Highway 29 Media.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back.
I'm Andrew Allison.
This is another episode of Napa Valley Insider.
Today I have a guest.
I'm very excited to hang out with.
Who are you and what do you do?
Chuck McMahon.
I am the owner along with my wife of Vineyard 29, but I spend most of my time on three nonprofits,
(00:35):
the Napa Valley Vine Trail, the Royal Art District Napa, and the St. Louis Hospital
Foundation.
Amazing.
Well, thank you, thank you so very much for jumping on with us today.
I grew up with a father that worked at the Culinary Institute of America.
And so I was very familiar with your property and when I saw that there was a chance to
(00:57):
have you on, I have so much positive recall from all the years I spent running around
the Greystone property in Up Valley.
But let's park that for one second.
How did Chuck McMahon become the legend of Chuck McMahon?
Oh, I don't know if it's a legend, but I'll say that getting into the wine business was
(01:19):
serendipity.
I started my career in Silicon Valley.
My wife and I came out here in 1978 and I didn't know anything about wine at the time.
I went to work at Intel.
I was a product manager in the microprocessor group.
And again, serendipity.
It was my product that was in the first IBM PC in 1981.
(01:41):
And I can say that for me all the way up to Andy Grove, no one knew the impact that that
one design win was going to have on the future of computing and personal computing and everything
that's followed.
And it was a small group.
It was not nearly the biggest group at Intel, but it changed the world.
And I was fortunate to be at the center of that change.
(02:03):
Obviously one of the Silicon Valley icons, you brought up his name.
So I'll just ask, what was it like working for Andy Grove?
It was fantastic.
Andy had a cubicle that was literally 25 yards away from my cubicle.
And I walked by every day and said hi to him.
He at one point got a group of us together as the Guinea pig, excuse me, as the Guinea
(02:25):
pigs for his first book, High Output Management.
So we got-
I've done the book at least a dozen times.
Yeah, it's a great book.
And if you look at the appendix, me and about 12 other people are named.
That's such an amazing way to kick off your intro.
How did you go from Intel to Napa Valley?
(02:48):
So I had a few stops in between a venture-backed startup and then six years in the venture capital
business and it was there that I got into drinking good wines.
Not because of me, but because some of the other partners were into drinking good wines.
I didn't realize you were a VC at one point.
I was.
And then I left actually, I left the VC community to actually do three startups, two of which
went public and one of which went out of business.
(03:10):
So it was-
It's called a batting average, right?
Yeah.
And it was after the first startup, excuse me, the second startup, which was Covad Communications,
that my present to myself when it went public was to put a wine cellar in our house in Silicon
Valley.
And my first outside investor was Dan Lynch and he invited me up to the wine auction in
(03:31):
1999-
Wow.
To fill the wine cellar.
And we just fell in love with the community, with the winemakers, with the winery owners.
By that time I was drinking wines, I was going to the Beltramos and buying a case and sticking
it under the bed, but we decided we were looking for a weekend house up here after that 1999
(03:54):
wine auction.
And the first large format bottle of wine that I ever bought for that wine cellar was
a six liter of Vineyard 29 in November of 1999.
And by February of 2000, friends of friends says, you know, Vineyard 29 might be for sale.
And I saw it one weekend and Anne saw it the next weekend and two days later they accepted
(04:16):
our offer and we were in the wine business.
So you started due diligence with the product.
Yes.
So that was, for those that weren't listening, the Beltramos used to have the most amazing
wine store down in Silicon Valley.
And I believe they've since shut it down-
They have.
And moved to more of a real estate play.
They have.
Wow.
(04:37):
Okay.
So you're up in Napa Valley.
You have just bought Vineyard 29.
What year was it and how were you thinking about the business?
Was this going to be a lifestyle play or was this something that you just wanted to transition
your career to?
It was a transition in career.
I had loved startups.
Everything I've been involved in since Intel has been a startup related, whether I was
(05:01):
in one or funding them or starting my own.
And I had done three startups in Silicon Valley.
And so the idea of doing another Silicon Valley startup wasn't all that compelling.
And the serendipity with Vineyard 29 was it was an established brand.
The vineyard was planted by David Abreu.
The wines were made in Grace Family Winery.
(05:23):
And the first five vintages were sold to Dick and Ann's mailing list.
So there was a 500 case brand that was completely sold out.
Wow.
And the reason that the prior two owners were going to sell is they knew that to take the
wine business to the next phase, they needed to build a winery.
And they were in their late 60s and there would be no payoff in their lifetime.
(05:47):
So they were happy to sell the brand to us.
And we bought the brand knowing we were going to build a winery and grow production.
And in the 24 years since then, we've grown from 500 cases to about 10,000 cases a year.
Follow us on Instagram at Kube Collective HQ.
If there's someone in Napa's hospitality scene you'd like to see featured in our industry
(06:08):
interview series, send us a DM.
We're asking the pros where they go.
Whether it's the best burger or the top cocktail, our audience wants to know your favorites
around the valley.
Make sure you follow us on Instagram at Kube Collective HQ.
Link in the show notes.
And when did you make the leap to actually open a tasting room in downtown Napa versus
(06:31):
the invite only that's on your property now?
Yeah, we first made that decision in 2016 and we opened a tasting room in Oxbow.
And that lease was going to be up in 2021 and then COVID hit in 2020.
And for one reason or another, we said, let's move the tasting room to Main Street and I
(06:55):
mean, the first street between the Andaz and the Archery.
A better location for tourists, I think, because more of them are staying on that side of the
river than on the other.
But our decision to go down there was a decision that that's where the center of mass of Napa
Valley is going to end up being.
(07:16):
And I think it's very similar to Bordeaux.
We were in Bordeaux last summer and the change in the last 20 years in the city of Bordeaux
is just jaw dropping how much of an epicenter for the wine business that's become.
When you think about how you made that epicenter decision, what were the indicators that made
(07:36):
you believe that was going to become the epicenter?
The percentage of high end hotel rooms in the valley, there's more than 50% in the city
of Napa and the ever worsening traffic situation of getting up valley on a Friday, Saturday
or Sunday.
And then with the fires in 2020 when we lost half of Meadowood and all of Calistoga Ranch,
(08:01):
that really said that to find a place to stay in Napa Valley is most likely going to be
in and around the city of Napa.
And how involved with Vineyard 29 are you today?
Obviously it's such an important part of your identity, I'd imagine very, in terms of percentage
of daily bandwidth.
Not very much actually, that we were fortunate to have two very long time employees, our
(08:29):
winemaker, Keith Emerson and our controller, Jen Wilkinson.
They've been with us since 2005.
And in 2022, I decided that I would retire and make Keith the president and Jen continued
on in her role and they have been running things for the last two years.
(08:50):
And the reason is I was running out of time to spend with the nonprofits.
Okay, that's a natural transition.
Which of the three nonprofits should we kick off with first?
I'd love to learn about the St. Helena Hospital and how you support that.
Sure.
So I was on the hospital foundation board.
(09:11):
That was the very first philanthropic board that I got on ever in my life.
And I credit them totally with helping me figure out how to ask people for money and
how open and enthusiastic this community is for supporting others in the community.
(09:32):
And so the St. Helena Hospital is owned by Adventist Health.
So is it a seventh day Adventist run organization?
Yeah.
There are seventh day Adventist employees and seventh day Adventist church contributions
to the overall organization.
But it is open to all faiths.
It has employees of all faiths.
(09:54):
But it has a very, very caring philosophy that I think is reflected in the great customer
satisfaction scores that the hospital gets.
And it has a fantastic set of doctors.
It's the only five-star hospital in the county.
So they get very good marks.
(10:15):
Yeah.
For the size of the property, it's actually quite compelling.
From the work that you do for them, is there specific initiatives that you look to fundraise
for or is it?
Mostly for capital equipment that the hospital might need.
Like MRI machine.
A hybrid operating room that allows imaging in the operating room.
(10:38):
A brand new state of the art CT scanner.
But then also building infrastructure.
The cancer center and the outpatient surgery center is a two-floor building that was 50%
funded by contributions from the foundation and 50% by Adventist Health.
Wow.
And I don't think many people realize how old the hospital is.
(11:01):
So I'd imagine that some of the actual upkeep is actually quite significant to...
So every building...
So there's no buildings left from 1867 when it was open.
But it's been around for a long time.
And so yes, I mean, there's constant...
Mostly technology improvements that need to be made because something new and better for
(11:23):
healthcare is coming out all the time.
On to your next charitable endeavor, I would love to ask just a little bit about the Vine
Trail.
Yeah.
You have been the figurehead and face of the Vine Trail, which I think is, in my opinion,
one of the most important community contributions that anybody's made because of the connectivity
(11:47):
that it brings and the tissue that it allows.
Why this?
So when I first came to Silicon Valley, we couldn't afford two cars.
So I rode my bike to work from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to Intel.
But by the time we got to Napa Valley, the bike tires were flat.
(12:09):
We lived on the top of a hill.
But my wife and I enjoy to rent bikes whenever we go visit someplace else in the world.
We just think it's a great way to get up close and personal with the community that we're
in.
We've done that in Vancouver and Lake Lucerne and the Outer Banks and Kiowa Island and Virginia
to DC.
(12:31):
And so when we came back to Napa Valley, I could never understand why we didn't have
a trail through our community, which is arguably as beautiful or more beautiful than some of
those.
And everybody said it...
So I asked people and they said, everybody said it was a great idea, but oh, those land
people, they'll never let you do that.
(12:53):
And I'm a land people, we own a winery, we own vineyards.
The Vine Trail goes through two of my properties and it will go through a third.
And I just...
I didn't believe that story.
And when the Napa Valley Vintners asked me to run their community outreach committee
in 2008, the spring of 2008, I said, I'm gonna test this theory.
(13:20):
That's the land people.
I said, I'll take on that role, but I'm going to propose that we do a vine trail for the
community.
And they, within 24 hours said, absolutely.
And we decided over the course of that summer that it didn't make sense for it to be a committee
of the Vintners.
It needed to be something that involved the entire community.
So the Vintners and the grape growers and the land trust each contributed $5,000 to
(13:46):
start the nonprofit.
And one of the reasons that the Vintners were so enthusiastic was that at the time, Tom
Shelton, who was the former president of Phelps, was dying of cancer.
And he had tried to do this in the 90s and it didn't get off the ground.
But Tom was very excited about this and asked that any charitable donations at his celebration
(14:15):
of life go to the Vine Trail.
So we formed the Vine Trail in September as a nonprofit and we raised our first $50,000
in October at his celebration of life.
And that was 16 years ago.
Please consider donating to the Napa Valley Vine Trail.
The Napa Valley Vine Trail is working to create a 47 mile walking and biking path that connects
(14:37):
Vallejo to Calistoga.
This safe scenic trail is designed to bring communities together, promote health and wellness,
and encourage sustainable transportation in the Napa Valley.
Your donation directly supports the design, construction, and maintenance of this incredible
pathway, ensuring it remains a resource for residents and visitors alike for generations
to come.
Every contribution helps us get closer to completing this vision of a connected, active,
(14:59):
and thriving Napa Valley.
Visit vinetrail.org today to make a lasting impact.
That's vinetrail.org.
Cheers.
When you think about some of the things that have led to the success that you've achieved
thus far, realizing that you still have much to go, what are some of the values or tenets
(15:20):
that have been important to you to not flex on?
So we had five guiding principles that we created at the beginning of the Vine Trail
and that we stated that we would adhere to.
And the first is that we would be open and inclusive and that any organization in Napa
Valley who believed in the goal could be on our board.
(15:42):
And we now have over 30 organizations and another half a dozen individuals who are our
committee chairs that are on our board.
And if somebody else that's listening to this says, I really want my organization to get
involved, we're happy to add them to the boards.
So a big table so that everybody has heard and everybody has an opinion.
The second is that we would not take any vineyard land out of production.
(16:05):
That if we had to take individual vines out, that we would compensate the landowner and
try to replant a vine on their property.
But in general, it wasn't the vines or the trail, it was vines and the trail.
The third was that we were not going to use eminent domain.
That this all had to be done voluntarily on the part of landowners.
(16:27):
The fourth was that we were going to provide an endowment for maintenance because many,
many times these public works projects, they can raise the money to construct, but they
can't raise the money to keep it up.
And that then falls back on the landowners to pick up the garbage and sweep it and take
care of the tree limbs that fall down.
(16:49):
And that didn't seem fair.
And the final was that the trail had to be world class.
That the rest of everything that we do in Napa Valley is world class.
So the trail had to be world class.
No cutting corners to save a dime if it wasn't going to create a world class trail.
How do you think about the endowment and are you starting to ask or have you over the years
(17:14):
started to ask people to contribute their estate to the endowment?
So that's kind of two different questions.
But the first is we have already started to build the endowment as we raise capital funds
for construction or for the design.
We put some of those funds aside into a maintenance endowment, which sits at about $800,000 or
$900,000 at the moment.
(17:37):
The second thing we do is that we encourage people in the community to adopt a mile of
the trail.
The cost of maintenance is $15,000 per mile per year.
And we split that between the jurisdictions and us.
We commit to put in $7,500.
They commit to put in $7,500.
But they also, those jurisdictions, and there's 14 different jurisdictions that the trail
(17:59):
goes through, those jurisdictions give the Vine Trail the right to run and adopt this
trail program.
And if we can get someone to adopt a trail section for $15,000 per mile per year, it
offsets half of our costs and half of their costs.
So everybody wins.
We get a trail that's maintained.
Grateful donors get their name recognized in front of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs
(18:24):
a year.
And we guarantee that the trail is going to be maintained.
The second part of your question, which is about estates, is that we do have a fledgling
program in gifts out of estates that can be used in the...
So when your estate is liquidated, you can have some of those funds come to the Vine
(18:47):
Trail.
And that's kind of a one-off thing.
There's not really a cookie cutter approach to that.
It depends very much on the estate that we're talking about.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously, organizations of different sizes and scales, but the Catholic Church
is one of the largest landowners in the country because so many people over all of these years
(19:07):
have just donated their home if they didn't have a next of kin or whatnot.
How do you think about the biggest challenges between here and getting over the finish line
with a 100% complete trail?
Right.
In our first 16 years, we've gotten to 75% complete.
(19:28):
We're 33 miles out of 47.
We just opened the eight mile section between St. Elaine and Calistoga in August.
Congrats again.
I was there.
Yeah.
Thank you.
It was a great day.
And then we are opening the section between the Vallejo Ferry Terminal and American Canyon
on March 14th.
(19:48):
And that then leaves only two gaps.
The biggest gap is the gap between Yonfille and St. Helena.
That's 11 miles.
And then a small gap between the new Costco and Airport Boulevard of three miles.
And we have the Vine Trail has contributed about 25 cents on the dollar across design
(20:12):
and construction of the trail.
In particular, we put a lot of money up front to try to do preliminary engineering to get
us in a position to get grants.
And I can say we have grants for both, the design of both of those two sections.
We have a $6 million grant that Mike Thompson got us through the federal budgeting process.
(20:34):
And we just got a $750,000 grant for the small connection between Costco and Airport Boulevard.
So we, by the end of next year, should have the design for 100% of the trail done.
And what remains is the answer to your question, the biggest obstacle is getting the grant
money.
(20:54):
The grants are very, very competitive.
We in this last round of grant money, there were several hundred applications.
The cutoff score was 95 and 16 projects were funded.
Our score was 89.
So we were close, but not close enough.
(21:16):
The year before they had more money, the cutoff was 89 or 90.
We were 87.
So we were close again.
But that's the biggest issue is get it at this point.
We have all the money to do the design.
The other piece that we have that I just, again, I'm just so thankful to our community
is we have, for the most part, the right of way that we need.
(21:38):
This section between Yonfil and St. Elaine is going to go through 44 private landowner
properties.
Wow.
And we have almost all of those 44 saying yes.
Let me see the final design, but I think this is a great idea.
And a shout out goes to the Wine Train, who is the biggest of those, 40% of the right
(22:06):
of way between Yonfil and St. Elaine will be on their right of way.
Wow.
That's incredible.
I knew the train was an anchor component in the Vine Trail for all the reasons.
And maybe that's a natural transition to the rail art district that you did mention.
So I recognize the Vine Trail is probably the vast majority of your bandwidth that you
(22:27):
proactively are working on.
But tell me a little bit about the rail arts district.
Well, so the rail art district is the two miles corridor of the Vine Trail and the Wine
Train tracks through downtown Napa, from the train station to where the tracks cross Highway
29.
And it's not world class.
(22:49):
It's the back end, the backside of warehouses and razor wire and weeds and old tires.
And the Vine Trail and the Wine Train started an informal committee to see if we could make
it world class.
And that evolved into the rail art district, which is its own nonprofit.
And since 2019, in the last five years since we've been formed, we've put 40 art installations
(23:13):
into that corridor.
And we have plans for, I mean, it could take hundreds.
We have artists that are calling us or emailing us every month to say, can I come do something
in the district?
When you think about what's really challenging Napa Valley at a macro level, as the business
(23:34):
person that you are, where can you see areas that Napa Valley could use some self-improvement?
Well, I think that we're pricing families out of Napa Valley.
But our school enrollment is diminishing because people can't afford houses.
(23:57):
And I think we need to create more housing and more housing that's affordable to families.
The other thing is we need to attract young, non-wine, non-hospitality oriented individuals
and businesses.
And one of the things that we've committed to within the rail art district is to help
(24:18):
to do that.
Originally, the corridor was just the two miles along the railroad tracks, but the city
of Napa had a plan or an idea to create a makers district.
It was called Napa Makes that was going to encourage the location of artists, artisans
(24:41):
in the area between Saskal and Yehomai, Vallejo and Lincoln.
And the rail art district goes right through that and it's the most commercial portion
of the rail art district's two mile run.
(25:02):
So at the last maker meeting, the makers and the city decided that we should combine forces.
And the rail art district was totally enthusiastic about doing that.
So we have incorporated that.
We have added a maker committee.
We've added some board members from the community to actually go from a plan to have artists
(25:25):
located there to actually making it happen.
How are you thinking that this community organizing that you've been at the heart of can be taught
to the next generation?
I guess I would say that for the most part, I find that people are too worried about failing
(25:51):
and that my experience is that if you get a great group of people together, smart people
together who believe in a cause, you'll figure out a solution.
But going into any of the startups I've ever been involved in, I've never known the answer
or how to get there.
I just knew that if we worked hard enough, that we'll figure out the answer.
(26:11):
So I would encourage anybody in any community to raise their hand and say, I believe in
this cause.
Does anybody else support it?
And you'll find that you'll have dozens of people or hundreds of people who say, that's
a great idea.
I'd like to be involved.
Wow.
I think that is probably a great place to wrap up.
(26:32):
Time that you've spent with us today is very valuable.
You've contributed so much to Napa Valley, beyond your work.
Chuck, how can everybody get a hold of you or where can they see your work?
The easiest thing to do is to get out and get some sneakers on or a bicycle and travel
on the Vine Trail like the hundreds of thousands of people that are doing it every year.
(26:53):
But if you want me in particular, it's chuck at Vineyard29.com.
And if you want to make a donation to the Vine Trail, where can you do that?
Vine Trail, St. Louis in the hospital, rail art district, go to their websites, click
on the donate button and we'll take care of it.
Or give me a call.
I'd be happy to come and pick up your check personally.
Thank you.
(27:13):
It all adds up.
Again, I'm Andrew Allison.
This is the Napa Valley Insider Podcast.
I'm the CEO of Cuvée, we make the Napa Winery Guide app.
Thank you very much.
Cheers.
The Napa Valley Insider Podcast has been brought to you by Cuvée, the Napa Winery Guide.
Download the app for iPhone today and start planning your perfect wine country adventure.
Find out more at CuvéeApp.com.
(27:34):
Cheers.
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