California's New Generation: Brian Loring
Life in the fast lane
James Laube
Posted: August 14, 2003
There are times when Brian Loring finds himself racing to make ends meet, juggling work as a software engineer with a career as an aspiring winemaker.
"Today it was a breeze," he says of his 200-mile round-trip commute through the maze of freeways that connects his home in Anaheim Hills in Southern California to Buellton in Santa Ynez Valley, 40 miles north of Santa Barbara. He rents space there, along with other upstart vintners, in a corner of a warehouse off Highway 101, producing a handful of vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs.
The 42-year-old entrepreneur, who helped program the kinds of missiles used in the war in Iraq, is living in the fast lane, logging long hours in front of a computer -- his day job -- and also eking out the time to keep his 900-case winery up and running. "This is definitely not a get-rich scheme," he says lightheartedly.
With little cash (he started with $20,000 in 1999), no winery, no vineyards and no formal winemaking training or education, Loring is nonetheless in brave pursuit of one of wine's ultimate challenges: mastery of Pinot Noir.
Most of his winemaking knowledge has been gained on the job, and he's been fortunate to lock in some good vineyard sources. He buys grapes from Garys' Vineyard and Rosella's Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands (Monterey County), Brosseau Vineyard in the Chalone appellation, and Ontiveros Vineyard in Santa Maria Valley; he also connected with Clos Pepe, a Santa Rita Hills grower, while surfing the Web for vineyards selling Pinot Noir. So far the wines have been good, and in Loring's words, "making themselves."
It has all come together rather suddenly for Loring, whose introduction to wine came when he was in high school and working as a box boy in a wine shop. There he was introduced to Beaulieu Vineyard Private Reserve Cabernets; he developed a fondness for the 1974 vintage. "I guess I've always been a wine geek," he says with a laugh. "When I was at parties [in college] my friends were drinking beer and smoking pot. I'd have a bottle of BV."
In the 1980s, while working at Victor's, an upscale wine shop in Hollywood, Loring tapped the gray market to buy luxurious red Burgundies such as Domaine Dujac and Henri Jayer for $25, and he was hooked. He couldn't find anything comparable from California, though, until he tasted a 1990 Cottonwood Canyon Pinot. "It was amazing," he says. "I was stunned." He began exploring California Pinots, including Calera. "My hero is [Calera owner and winemaker] Josh Jensen," he says.
Eventually he began to work for Norman Beko of Cottonwood Canyon. "I thought, 'Oh my God, this is fun, even washing the barrels,'" Loring recalls. "I must have asked [Beko] 10,000 questions before he said, 'Brian, why don't you come up for harvest?'" In 1999 Beko sold him 3 tons of Pinot Noir, which he turned into 150 cases of wine.
In 2000, Loring made 270 cases, with both his Garys' Vineyard ($40) and Clos Pepe ($40) bottlings earning 90-point ratings. On the financial side, the answers are harder to find. His mailing list consists of about 400 customers, some of whom buy only one bottle a year, and as he becomes more immersed in the wine business, he's finding not only the excitement of fulfilling a longtime dream, but also the reality that the market is fiercely competitive.
"There are times when I worry that I'm a one-hit wonder and ask myself, 'Am I the just the flavor of the day? Am I growing too fast?'"
Most of the time, though, he enjoys the newness of it all. "I'm constantly learning. I'm not making wines to age. I just want people to enjoy them."
Loring's short-term goals are to increase production and have his sister Kimberly join him in the business; farther down the road, he'd perhaps like to own a small winery. But while he wants to be making wine when he's 70, he's not interested in owning a vineyard. He's content to rely on the talents of the vineyard owners, admitting, "I don't even like gardening."
