Interview: Garin and Shari Staglin of Staglin Family Vineyards

Staglin Family Vineyards, located in California’s Napa Valley is wholly run by the Staglin Family with founders Garin and Shari Staglin, and their son and daughter, running the entire day to day operations at the winery.

The winery is also the most eco-friendly winery in the region, gaining all its power from the solar panels on their estate and generating enough energy to give back to the grid and supply others with their renewable source of energy.

The Staglin Family are also great philanthropists, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for mental health awareness, something they hold very close to their hearts with their son having been diagnosed, and still fighting, schizophrenia.

Wine Times sat down with Garin and Shari Staglin on their recent trip to Hong Kong to learn more about what they love about wine, charity and why they are so concerned with renewable solar power.

WTHK: You really are a family business that involves the whole family. Can you elaborate a little on that for our readers please?

SS: “Our children have grown up now but they were 13 and 6 when we bought the vineyard and because we always wanted the vineyard to be part of the family we gifted them each a small amount of money so they could join with us in buying the vineyard in 1985. They have been owners of the vineyard since then. We never expected them to be in the business with us as it was our dream and we got so lucky that they came back to work with us”.

GS: “I think the Italian family tradition is deep rooted. Our daughter worked with Frescobaldi and understands the business well; she knows the daughters of those families and really understands the importance of heritage, tradition and commitment to the land over a long period of time. We are very happy and fortunate our kids are a part of what we do now”.

WTHK: You are 100 per cent solar powered and obviously it’s not sunny all the time. So does this help or hinder operations?

GS: “We think it’s the right thing to do environmentally, to be as energy efficient as possible. There really are no disadvantages and it is advantageous. We generate for most of the year all the power that we use, so we are more than energy neutral and we think it’s wonderful that we can do that. Only about 10 per cent of the wineries in Napa are fully solar powered, that compares to less than 1 per cent of business in California”.

SS: “Brandon, our son has an engineering degree and he is technology oriented and so he organized and planned the entire solar field”.

WTHK: Do you believe that organic farming creates better wines?

SS: “We don’t farm organically because we believe it creates better wines, we farm that way because we believe that it creates a better environment and a better planet. In fact it is more expensive than not farming organically because of the expensive organic pesticides and some loss on the vines”.

GS: “I don’t know about you but I don’t want to drink wine in which people have put DDT and other pesticides into the ground. It’s got to be, ultimately, detrimental to your health. Not only do I think it’s the right thing for the environment in general but I also think that it certainly produces wines that make you healthier, whether or not the crop is better and the purity of fruit is better; I think so. But, in all, we definitely feel better about doing things this way”.

WTHK: As you have such rigid laws in California on organics, don’t you think it’s fair that those that use pesticides disclose what poisons they put on their crops on the back of the bottle?

GS: If you’re looking for signatures on the petition let us know! (Laughs)”

WTHK: Can you tell me more about the charitable work you are so involved in?

SS: “We work with many charities and focus a lot on children’s charities. The thing that is nearest and dearest to our heart is metal health and brain disease of all kinds. We try to do two things; raise money for research to find the answers to what causes these diseases and how to cure them. Also, how to prevent as we believe prevention is the greatest cure of all. We have personally raised about US$150 million on our vineyard through a music festival for brain disease. We founded another international campaign to cure brain diseases”.

GS: “We are both very fortunate and both first generation immigrant families who came to the US. We have worked hard and had success but our philosophy is really that we should use that success to give back to others who have not been as successful. That’s a fundamental part of what we do and it is a privilege for us to do this”.

WTHK: You focus on Cabernet and Chardonnay but can you please explain why you make a Sangiovese?

SS: “Garin’s father was born in southern Italy and we wanted to honour him with the grape of his country. We found a wonderful wine on our trip with him back to Italy called Biondi Santi and we were very fortunate to get some bud wood from that vineyard and so we prorogated it and grew it on our vineyard in his memory. It’s called Stagliano Sangiovese from Garin’s father’s original Italian name”.

WTHK: You routinely get high scores from critic Robert Parker. Does this influence sales in any way?

SS: “Yes it does. It’s positive and the higher the score the quicker the wines sell…but, they always to sell anyway”!

GS: “It’s important to emphasise that we don’t make the wine for him. We believe if the wine reflects the terroir of our place consistently then we will get rewarded. We have never had a philosophy of making wine to promote a rating from a particular writer. We get equivalent ratings from Jancis Robinson as we do from Parker and there aren’t many Californian wineries that can say that”.

Staglin Family wines are available in Hong Kong from Water and Wine and can be contacted at info.hk@waterandwine.net

(cover photo courtesy of Benoit Petry of Water and Wine)