![]() ![]() Rather than sell wine by the bottle, she decided to sell wine by the barrel. Fortunately, she followed her own internal compass and instincts. Friends told her this was going to be a very difficult proposition and even discouraged her from this model. Rather Karen astutely realized that a very tiny percentage of the population was not affected by the economic downturn and that she would pursue those clients. But their initial production was not the typical small business Napa Valley wine brand. Greg suggested this one day in 2008 as the economy was tanking. Their initial thought was to continue to grow and sell grapes through existing contracts but looking closer at the resulting financials – they decided it might make more sense if they produced their own wine. But then he said, “I really want this” – the next day they started escrow. And after taking a look around the property she informed Greg, “we are so done with this”. She almost thought she was in some sort of scene from the film, Deliverance. The vineyard was in bad shape, overgrown and not well cared for – and Karen recalls the old house on the property was oozing some kind of red ‘stuff’. Karen recalls, asking him something like, “what is your point”? and Greg replying with, “we should go look at it”. The flyer advertised the name of the property as “Mount Veeder Magic”, a name they ultimately kept when starting their wine brand. Veeder Road and returned to their home holding a flyer advertising an 80-acre property with 16 acres of vines. One day Greg (an avid cyclist) rode his bicycle up Mt. However, life takes one on various twists and turns and if one spends enough time in Napa Valley it seems, one invariably is presented an opportunity related to wine. Growing grapes and making wine was not on her initial radar. Karen was working for American Express at the time she moved to the Napa Valley to acquire clients and help market and host related credit card events in the region. Karen Crouse (born in New Orleans but was raised in Los Angeles County) and her husband Greg moved up to the city of Napa in 1990 from Walnut Creek. ![]()
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