The market grows for Colby Red, a wine good for the heart

Colby Groom of Healdsburg has a birthday on Monday and he’s fully expecting that this next year will be even more astonishing and productive than the last. That’s not because he’s turning 14.

Colby is such a kid. He was born with a faulty heart valve and he suffered and endured much to become what he is today: an active, healthy, grateful eighth-grader with a softly ticking mechanical valve in his chest.

He proposed to his dad, extraordinary winemaker Daryl Groom, that they make a wine and sell it to raise money for agencies that serve heart patients or combat heart disease.

The result of Colby’s idea is Colby Red, a blend that took off in a big way a year ago when Walgreens agreed to sell it at more than 4,000 of its drug stores.

Colby has raised even more money for the battle against heart disease by appearing at heart-health events across the country, telling his story and inviting donations to the cause.

The total of nearly $164,000 that came in this year “just blew us away,” Daryl said. And the potential is even greater this year because major retailers across the country and in Canada have signed on to carry Colby Red.

Safeway will sell the tasty, charitable blend in at least five states, and CVS will put it in stores nationwide. Beyond that, Walmart will feature it at some of its stores. And across the border, Colby Red will be sold at liquor stores in British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Colby’s not making and selling the wine himself, obviously, but it was his idea. And he adds hugely to the effort with personal appearances such as the one in April in L.A., where he’ll address 900 people at a Go Red for Women luncheon.

You’ve got to believe that all this is doing the lad’s heart a lot of good.