Attack of the winemaking reality TV stars(1)
Kendall-Jackson's Rick Tigner goes Undercover, the Bachelor takes Unfiltered on a group date, and a Real Housewife wants our attention. Plus, some Barsac vineyards survive a run-in with gypsies
The real Rick Tigner (left) had Kendall-Jackson employees fooled as Jake, the braces-wearing cowboy wannabe with the handlebar moustache.
• Kendall-Jackson president Rick Tigner was the subject of CBS’s Undercover Boss this past Sunday, and the wine world has been giving his emotional performance rave reviews. (WineSpectator.com members can check out James Laube's thoughts in his latest blog entry.) Tigner put on a disguise (braces and some questionable facial hair) and pretended to be a potential employee at Kendall-Jackson, trying his hand at vineyard work, deliveries, working the bottling line and as a tasting room employee. Predictably, most of his experiences didn’t go so well (thankfully, Tigner already has a job). We were impressed by the honest (albeit limited) depiction of some of the less-glamorous aspects of the wine industry, including a startling look at how vineyard crews and their managers don't always speak the same language—literally. Tigner was emotionally moved by the experience, as were we, by how much the late founder Jess Jackson had been a mentor and father figure to him. In the end, Tigner made some changes, rewarded good behavior, and restored 401k benefits company-wide. "It was a really great experience," Tigner told Unfiltered. "Jess told me that the best leaders don't fly at 30,000 feet but rather three feet—sometimes it takes a lot of hands-on work to learn how to make an organization even better." Amen, boss.
Envolve winery owners Danny Fay (left), Mike Benziger (center) and Ben Flajnik joined us for lunch this week. No roses exchanged hands.
