Triones back in the wine business
A decade after leaving the winemaking business, the Trione family has returned with a new generation at the helm.
This month, the wealthy Sonoma County clan unveiled their new multi-million dollar boutique winery in Geyserville, just down the road from the Geyser Peak Winery they sold in 1998.
While the family never ceased growing grapes on more than 750 acres of vineyards in the Alexander and Russian River valleys, the opening of Trione Vineyards & Winery marks their return to the business of making wine after a 10-year hiatus.
Growing grapes is a satisfying business, but there is something even more rewarding about turning those grapes into your own wines, said Mark Trione, who manages the family's extensive vineyard holdings.
"Being out of the wine business, you just miss the fun part of it, which is the consumer," he said.
Trione, 59, and his brother Victor, 61, are partners in Vimark, the family's vineyard management and real estate development firm. Their father, financier Henry Trione, 88, is retired.
Their last venture in the wine business was wildly successful. They purchased Geyser Peak in 1982 from the Schlitz Brewing Co. for $20 million, investing heavily in improving the quality of the wines. Sixteen years later, the family sold the winery and brand to the conglomerate Fortune Brands for $100 million.
But they didn't sell all of the Geyser Peak portfolio. In addition to the vineyards, the family kept a small piece of property just east of Highway 101 south of Geyserville where the historic Nervo winery had stood since 1908.
Constructed beside the rail line by Frank Nervo, the old stone winery had been used by the Triones for wine storage. It also served as the home for the tasting room of Geyser Peak's less expensive sister brand, Canyon Road.
They agreed to lease the property to Fortune Brands, but two years ago announced plans to build their own winery on the site. In addition to their own desire to return to the winemaking, both Mark and Victor have children interested in the wine business.
Mark Trione's daughter, Denise, was particularly eager to lead to the new generation of Triones into the business. She left her job at Luther Burbank Savings Bank, which was founded by her father and uncle in 1983, to work at a high-end wine bar in Sacramento called 58 Degrees & Holding.
For three years, she learned everything she could about the retail wine business while helping the family plan the new winery. She is now its director of marketing.
The goal of the winery has always been to craft wines that are the highest expression of the grapes the family grows. That's still the case, but they've had to alter their original plans somewhat along the way.
One significant change is that the old stone winery won't be used for winemaking or storage as originally envisioned. Winemaker Scot Covington explained that he worried about the possibility that making wine in the old building -- which has exposed rock walls and ancient redwood framing -- might increase the risk of the wines becoming tainted with TCA, a contaminant that causes undesirable flavors known as "cork taint."
Temperature control was another challenge. The family planned to make wine on the first floor and host special events on the second. But with a large central staircase joining the two, keeping the temperatures separate between two spaces proved virtually impossible, he said.
Instead they expanded the size of the adjoining winery room by 10 percent and squeezed some additional storage in it, Covington said.
The slumping economy has forced the winery to rethink its once lofty goals for what it could charge for its wines. Instead of wines they once thought might bring upwards of $100 a bottle, the winery has come to market with more modest pricing of $23 per bottle for sauvignon blanc to $64 for reserve cabernet sauvignon.
"The pricing has come down from our dreams," Covington said.
Production goals are a little higher, as well. Originally planned for 10,000 cases, the winery is permitted for 25,000 cases, though Covington said he only expects to make 15,000 cases in the short term.
Denise Trione said they realized that it would have been "presumptuous" for a new brand to come to market with higher prices in the current economic climate. The winery hopes to sell a significant percentage -- perhaps 70 percent -- of its wines directly to restaurants and consumers, she said.
The way restaurants increase prices, the winery's original price goals risked overshooting the market, she said. There's always time to raise prices, but reducing them is not good for a brand, she said.
The wine labels contain three running horses, an homage to her father's love of the game of polo, she said. They also evoke the kind of rustic elegance the family wants people to experience when they visit, she said.
While he will have no direct role in the winery, Henry Trione said he recently was given a fancy set of winery business cards with the title "consultant."
"So I said, 'How many free cases of wine do I get?' " Trione recalled. "And they said 'None, you have to buy it like everyone else.' "