'I Know How To Save The Wine Industry'

Who do you call when you're down? A friend so dear to you, you know they'll have the right insight and know the exact right thing to say. Think of that person right now, and I hope this article inspires you to call them today, tomorrow, or sometime in the near future. Last week my phone rang and it was my old friend Keith Saarloos calling, just at the right time. It turns out we both needed to speak to each other, we had something to work out and we sure got there. I've known Keith since 2007, when I called the number on the back of his wine label trying to figure out more about the small brand that seemingly no one knew about. 17 years later, I consider Keith like a brother. He's family. We made wine together. We have celebrated birthdays together. He's always been an inspiration to me. This time, he had a different sound in his voice. He was on a mission.

People are drinking less wine than when we both started in the industry. People drink wine when they want the moment to last forever, not when they want the moment to end. Currently we find ourselves in an era where we'd rather fast-forward through the day than to savor each moment. At the heart of our talk was a deep desire to understand how we could help. What could we do to change this and course correct? How do we get people to drink more wine again? The conversation we had is (mostly) transcribed below, almost entirely from the brain of the one-and-only Keith Saarloos, Farmer & Proprietor of Saarloos & Sons .

“I know how to save the wine industry.” -Keith Saarloos

"Have you ever met a non-optimistic farmer?

If you have, they probably won’t be a farmer much longer. Because being a farmer is all about optimism. It’s about working to satisfaction, not happiness. Satisfaction is something you earn, happiness is sometimes you pursue and it leaves. Happiness can last a day, but when you earn satisfaction, it can last a lifetime. From our plough to your porch. I have to believe that tomorrow is better than today.

BE A FOUNTAIN, NOT A DRAIN.

Cook dinner, not door dash.

Go out, sit down. Order the special. Tip your waitress. Have that extra drink.

That’s what we have to get back to. LIVING. That’s when wine will succeed. WHEN YOU ARE LIVING.

It’s not going to change by doing nothing. It’s going to change by doing something.

We are in a reformation.

Think of the time of the printing press, Calvinism. I can talk to God directly? Don’t need the help of a Priest? That changed everything.

People went thru Covid, we got fed lines about EVERYTHING.

We googled…we learned. We see through it.

The point is not to enjoy yourself. The point is to get fucked up. To bask in the moment.

When you open a bottle of 2021 wine, you are tasting the year. You are going back in time. You are reveling in the moment. When you drink wine with people you love, you pick your wine based on your friends. If you don’t want that moment to end, if you want to stay in the moment…you open a great bottle and relish I the moment. You drink the year. You drink the place. You are revisiting the photos from your trip, where you fell in love. Right now, nobody wants to live in the moment. We want to get past it and numb ourselves to get through it. Tomorrow we’ll see how it is. NUMB NUMB NUMB. High octane booze, shitty booze, seltzers. More more more.

The whole point of wine is to be optimistic about tomorrow. As a wine drinker, as a farmer. If I don’t think that, I would have picked the grapes today. If it’s not getting worse, it’s getting better. That’s how we select when to pick. How to capture that year. People aren’t drinking wine because they aren’t optimistic about tomorrow.

I’m a family man. I want a better tomorrow for my children. I want my children to have a better life than me.

You don’t drink wine when you think tomorrow is going to be worse than today. Soul crushing, day after day after day after day. What once in a lifetime thing am I going to live through next…

People don’t want to relish in the moment they are living in TODAY.

We don’t have a pantry problem. We have a GOOD TIMES problem. Drink your shit, dude! ELEVATE YOUR DAY. A bottle of wine is meant to be enjoyed with four people. We need people coming over to the house. When you drink with four people you are elevating your day.

Drink the wine in your pantry. Make moments that you want to enjoy again. Invite people over. Talk about things. Don’t be worried about shit. Make the great meal and enjoy the moment. LIVE IN IT. You do not get this time back. We have to throw elbows to keep it. We cannot fast-forward this."

Keith's community is currently under attack by the Lake Fire, which has grown to over 16,000 acres and was 8% contained by Sunday evening. As evacuations are being ordered, please make a plan to go visit Ballard, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, Buellton, Los Alamos and the surrounding towns. They thrive off of tourism and need you now more than ever.

I hope this article inspired you to call your friend. The one who always knows exactly what to say. It's time to invite them over for dinner and start creating the memories that we want to re-live.