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64 / the tasting panel / july 2009 In The Business Sticking With It B ill Price was born William S. Price III in Los Angeles, but he spent a lot of his childhood in Hawaii. "There aren't a lot of guys with 'III' after their names over there," says the 53-year-old entrepreneur, "so they called me 'Billy Three Sticks.'" The nickname would later lend itself to Price's Sonoma-based wine project, Three Sticks. Although he exudes a youthful enthusiasm, the Stanford and Berkeley law graduate has a long and distinguished history in the wine business. He was a founding partner of Texas Pacifi c Group (now TPG Capital LP), a private equity fi rm that, among other holdings, acquired Beringer Vineyards from Nestlé in 1996 and turned it into a portfolio that eventually included Chateau St. Jean, Stags' Leap Winery and Souverain. They sold Beringer Wine Estates to Australian giant Foster's in 2000; the fi gures have been widely publicized, but let's just say the ROI was impressive. When the famed Durell Vineyard in south- western Sonoma Valley came on the market in 1998, Bill Price snapped it up and cre- ated the Three Sticks label to showcase the vineyard's impressive fruit. The fi rst vintage of Three Sticks Pinot Noir arrived in 2002. (Price still sells coveted Durell grapes to 28 other wineries—an almost miraculous feat, considering that the vineyard only has 100 planted acres.) In addition to sole ownership of Three Sticks, Price has an interest in two other California wineries, Kistler and Buc- cella, both cult-status boutiques, and his new Vincraft investment group is currently seek- ing out further opportunities in the arena of California high-end wine. THE TASTING PANEL recently spoke at length with Price and veteran Sonoma wine- maker Don Van Staaveren, who crafts the wines, over lunch at West Hollywood's Ago restaurant. Van Staaveren—who honed his craft at Chateau St. Jean and Artesa, among other wineries, and joined Price's project in 2005—insists on a Burgundian approach to the Three Sticks Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. "Our philosophy of winemaking is delib- erately focused on the vineyard," says Van Staaveren; "we're trying to bring out the es- sence of Durell Vineyard." To that end, after a rigorous triage, the fruit is de-stemmed only. "I haven't crushed a grape since 1990," says the tradition-minded Van Staaveren. "It's very much hands-off winemaking." The Three Sticks Pinot Noir showcases Durell Vineyard fruit. Bill Price's Sonoma-based Three Sticks has what it takes to succeed story and photos by David Gadd 64 / the tasting panel / july 2009