Napa Valley Inside Out

Meet Rob McMillan, EVP and Founder of Silicon Valley Bank's Wine Division, based in St. Helena, Napa Valley. His Division is regarded as the leading provider of financial services to the US Fine Wine Business. He is also the author of the highly acclaimed 'Annual State of the Wine Industry Report", and on this episode of "Napa Valley Inside Out" we talk about how baby boomers, millennials, cannabis and much more, play into his 2019...

On this week's episode of Napa Valley Inside Out, I sit down with Sonia Tolbert, Chief Operating Officer of Festival Napa Valley, one of the country's premier summer destination Festivals, and one of the largest cultural institutions in Napa Valley. Sonia tells us about the extraordinary Board of Directors and sponsors that have greatly contributed to the Festival becoming the largest private funder of arts education in Napa Valley...

Meet Mark Harmon, Founder of Auberge Resorts Collection which has resorts in the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, the West Indies, Nicaragua, Greece and Napa Valley. His father, Bob Harmon, and his partner Claude Rouas were the Founders of the world famous Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, Napa Valley, which started out as a restaurant in 1981. Mark shares the history of how that partnership evolved and how their highly successful restaurant...

If you want to hear about all the changes at Solage in Calistoga & Carneros Resort & Spa in Napa, tune into this week's 'Napa Valley Inside Out" as Greg Flynn, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Flynn Properties & Flynn Restaurant Group gives us an update on all the new exciting changes at these two luxury resorts in Napa Valley. To say that Greg Flynn is a success would be an understatement. He has 3 university degrees, a ...

If you're thinking about getting into the wine business be sure to watch this week's "Napa Valley Inside Out" with Jean-Noel Fourmeaux, Founder and Owner of VGS Chateau Potelle. He was sent to Napa Valley in 1980 by the French Government to be a 'spy' for 6 months, following the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting, also known as the "Judgement of Paris" - a landmark event that put the California wine industry and Napa Valley on the map. He was...

Before you build on property in the Napa Valley, particularly off the valley floor, you need to watch this week's "Napa Valley Inside Out" with my guest Joel Dickerson of Madrone Engineering. Joel is a Civil Engineer and we talk about his experiences with helping home owners in the aftermath of the October Wild Fires, Napa County's building rules and regulations, residential permitting challenges, county zoning, the difference...

This week's "Napa Valley Inside Out" guest is Scott Goldie, co-owner of The Napa Valley Wine Train. Scott has over 30 years experience in real estate development and investment business experience. He and his partner Greg Brun and Noble House Hotels purchased the Napa Valley Wine Train and the 17 pieces of real estate that came with it in 2015. We talk about the partnerships they have with businesses in the community that have cont...

Filmmakers and celebrities alike flock to the annual Napa Valley Film Festival, a celebration of film, food and wine, happening November 7- 11, 2018. Senior Marketing Manager Emma Steele joins me on "Napa Valley Inside Out" to talk about the Festival, which celebrities will be in attendance, a summary of some of the movies, current trends in the industry and how technology has changed the landscape. We talk about how they choose th...

Robin Daniel Lail, Grande Dame of Napa Valley, returns to "Napa Valley Inside Out" for Part 2 of our interview. We dive into the sale of her family's winery 'Inglenook', where she grew up which is now owned by Francis Ford Coppola, her extraordinary journey in the wine business from working with Robert Mondavi and Bill Harlan to starting her own label "Lail Vineyards' at the age of 55. Robin shares with us the challenges of startin...

In this edition of "Napa Valley Inside Out" I sit down with the Grande Dame of Napa Valley, Robin Daniel Lail, Founder and Owner of Lail Vineyards. In Part 1 of our interview Robin shares her family's deep history in the wine business. Our conversation starts with her great-granduncle Gustave Niebaum's journey from Helsinki to Napa Valley, and his dream to produce "the finest wines which equal and exceed the most famous vintages of...

On this edition of "Napa Valley Inside Out", I sit down with Bernard Lauper, CEO of MacCorkle Insurance, one of the most successful firms in Northern California.  Twenty eight clients in his firm suffered losses in the California wildfires. Bernard explained the new 'hard market' that we are now in where many of the insurance carriers are not only no longer insuring properties in the wine country and other parts of California,...

I have the pleasure of sitting down with the Mayor of the City of Calistoga, Chris Canning, on this edition of "Napa Valley Inside Out." Chris has been Mayor since 2012 and before that served as Calistoga City Councilman. We talk about the beauty and uniqueness of Calistoga and how it is now only 28 minutes from touch down to downtown with the expansion of the Charles Schulz Airport in Santa Rosa. We look into the future as Calisto...