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THE MESSAGE 20 / the tasting panel / april 2014 Making His Marque PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT THE VOICE OF FIVE GENERATIONS W e caught up with the charming and affable James Espey, O.B.E., over lunch at Doma in Beverly Hills, where the veteran spirits industry leader gave us a signed copy of his new book, Making Your Marque: 100 Tips to Build your Personal Brand and Succeed in Business. "There's no mentoring today," said Espey, who is determined to pass along his knowledge and experience to the next generation. In his 50 years in the business, Espey has been at the forefront of innovation for billion-dollar brands, having created Malibu, Johnnie Walker Blue, The Classic Malts and Baileys Irish Cream. He was also the creator of The Keepers of the Quaich and received an O.B.E. in 2013. In 2008, Espey launched The Last Drop, a spirits company that sources and bottles extraordinary and exclusive spirits. Over lunch with The Last Drop's Director, Ben Howkins, and reps from their U.S. importer, Infinium Spirits, we tasted their dazzling The Last Drop Vintage Cognac 1950 ($2,999) and their sub- lime The Last Drop 50 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky ($3,999). Full of ad hoc advice and amusing anecdotes, Making Your Marque is available on Amazon.com. —David Gadd Springtime at Wente Vineyards S pringtime is a critical time in our vineyards. It sets the tone of the upcom- ing vintage and it's where we begin to plan for the harvest to come. We recently finished winter pruning, repairing trellises and tying canes to the trellises. We've also begun to irrigate because it has been a dry year, and we want to make sure the vines have plenty of water for the upcoming growing season. Finally, we've been mowing row centers to clear away cover crop and spraying to prevent mildew. While we've been farming grapes and making wine for more than 130 years, we aren't stuck in the past. We are constantly looking for new innovations and embracing new technologies to help us improve. This year, we are devoting more focus to environmental monitoring, tracking soil moisture, implementing farming software and analyzing grape maturity. Much has been written about the lack of rainfall in California this off-season. The impending drought will be a challenge for all of California, and the Livermore Valley will be significantly impacted, since it receives the majority of its irrigation water from the State Water project. While we hope for more rain this spring, we are confident there will be adequate water resources to deliver a full and healthy crop, and we look forward to another successful vintage. Philip Wente, Fourth Generation Winegrower Fourth Generation Winegrower Philip Wente. PHOTO COURTESY OF WENTE FAMILY ESTATES TP0414_001-33.indd 20 3/21/14 11:53 AM