THESE PROS TEE OFF THE  VINE

By Robyn James. Proprietor,

The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room

Downtown Southern Pines

winecellar@pinehurst.net

With the advent of the U.S. Open, the question occurred to me, could there be any kind of a relationship between golf and wine?  Wow, research shows the answer to the question, a resounding yes!

Beginning with Eli Callaway, when passed over for the CEO position at Burlington Industries, resigned in 1973, came out west and established Callaway Vineyard & Winery on land he had purchased several years previously in an unlikely location:  a dusty rural area north of San Diego called Temecula. Callaway promoted, boosted and championed his Southern California winery to international fame and netted a tidy profit when he sold out to Hiram Walker for $14 million in 1981.  “We never claimed to make great wine,” he recalls.  “We did not pretend that our wines tasted like those of any other region.  They were different, and we featured the difference.”

In a decade, Ely took the small fortune he made in the wine business and turned it into a very large fortune in the golf business.  The little golf-club company he bought in 1983 is now the top ranked U.S. club manufacturer with revenues of $254 million.  Callaway introduced the “Big Bertha”, an over sized driver that Golf purists initially scoffed at, yet golfers snapped up immediately, notwithstanding the $270 price tag.

“One of the things I didn’t like about the wine business is that so much of it is a business of pretension.  Now we don’t have any pretension in our golf business.”

Less the entrepreneur, more the connoisseur, South African golfer Ernie Els is a partner with vintner Jean Engelbrecht in Rust en Vrede, one of South Africa’s top wineries.  They produced the Engelbrecht-Els Ernie Els Stellenbosch 2000, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc.  In 2002, the wine scored 93 points on Wine Spectator’s 100 point scale, then the highest rating yet given to a South African wine. 

Engelbrecht and Els have known each other since they were children, and Els’ first date with his wife was on the Rust en Vrede estate. 

“With all the wines we have shared together through the years, it became clear that Ernie’s palate leaned towards Bordeaux-styled wines, so when we decided on this venture, I knew the wine had to be a classic Bordeaux blend including all 5 varietals,” said Engelbrecht.  “It had to be an extension of his personality.”

Fellow Afrikaner and golfer, David Frost, founded his winery in Paarl, South Africa in 1994.  As part of David Frost’s commitment to put something back into the community as a successful sportsman, he decided that all future releases of his wine would be dedicated to a golfing legend.  David Frost Wines donate $1 from each bottle sold to a charity designated by that golfer.  So far releases have been dedicated to Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Gene Sarazen.

Not that Palmer needs a wine dedication, since he’s been a partner with former Beringer president Mike Moone in Napa’s Luna Vineyards since 1996.  Luna began making private-label Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio for the golfer and his restaurant in 2003.  Now, Palmer has his own Arnold Palmer Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, retailing for about $15.  It was no easy task trying to come up with wines that would live up to a sports icon.  The Cab comes from Napa and Sonoma valleys, while the Chard comes from vineyards in Carneros, Santa Barbara and Monterey. 

Arnold follows in the footsteps of famed golfer, Greg Norman, joining forces with Beringer Blass in a hugely successful Greg Norman wine venture.  Why Norman?  “All his other products were quality products,” say Vic Patrick, chief viticulturist for Beringer Blass.  “He tasted the lot and got involved in the decisions by telling us which ones he liked.  He liked the bloody good stuff, I have to tell you.  This wasn’t a guy looking for a quick buck on a 2 million case brand.”

Then there are those who may not be in the business, but are avid collectors.  Golfer Duffy Waldorf’s collection is tops on the tour. 

As a senior in college, Duffy’s beverage of choice was Miller Lite.  Things changed when a friend of his father’s introduced them to wine with a bottle of Sutter Home White Zinfandel.  “After that, we moved on,” Waldorf says, “Chardonnay was our big drink for a while, then we got hooked on reds.  Then in the early 90”s. we bought some 1989 and 90 Bordeaux futures.  Since that point, I’ve focused mainly on vintages.”

But for all his easygoing cheer and casual confidence, Waldorf possesses a decidedly epicurean streak.  It can be found in the 1800 bottle cellar at this Santa Clarita California house.  One might think that Waldorf craves attention in his wine choices.  He does, but he’s branched out considerably from cult Cabs.  His newfound affection for the esoteric reds of Italy is just the beginning. His purchases, arranged through a trusted local merchant, are studded with the kind of offbeat choices that imply Waldorf does his homework:  Austrian whites, Chablis, Barolo and Barbaresco, and even wine from Loire.

“To me, a wine geek is a guy who stays with what he knows.  My Dad and I see them at wine bars all the time, drinking Screaming Eagle and Bryant family.  I mean, I have a few of those.  But I was buying them before they were hot.  I wouldn’t buy them now.”  Among golf pros, that kind of thing is called “local knowledge” – on course savvy that separates the veterans from the rookies.  Among wine collectors, they call it something else:  good taste.  Duffy Waldorf has been around golf and wine long enough to have both.