We were talking
with Claiborne (Clay) Thompson, who with his wife Fredericka Churchill owns
Claiborne & Churchill, a small ultra-premium winery in the
Clay went on to explain that mentoring young people is common practice among California wineries, and over the last quarter-century a lot of “students” have passed through the “classroom” at Claiborne & Churchill. “And what’s more,” he continued, “a lot of the kids I’ve taught have gone on to learn more than I can teach, just as ideally happens in the academic classroom.” More than once a young employee of Clay and Fredericka’s has grown up and left Claiborne & Churchill to take on bigger challenges and more responsibilities.
Clay’s second full-time employee, Michelle Cove, joined Claiborne & Churchill as a new Cal Poly grad in 2002. She went from Tasting Room Manager to General Manager in a few short years. She is now a Regional Sales Manager for a prestigious national wine marketing company. “Fredericka and I just about teared up when she came to tell us she was leaving, but we all knew it was time for her to broaden her horizons.”
Many of Claiborne
& Churchill’s “alumni” began as student interns or part-timers, who then
went on to fill important positions in the wine industry. Mike Sinor, former
winemaker at Byron and Domaine Alfred and now
Other part-timers Clay remembers include Chris Weir,
who with his wife Malei now owns his own PR and marketing firm (“Mooncatcher”),
Erina Marchini, now a marketing analyst for Nielsen Co., Derinda Gates, at
present the financial accountant at Vina Robles winery, and Chris Eberle, now
winemaker at Eberle Winery (no relation!).
We asked Clay about
his present staff, which includes three full-timers and nine part-timers
ranging in age from the early 20s to the mid-seventies. His winemaker is Coby
Parker-Garcia, who began as a student intern in 2002, came on board full time
in 2004, and was promoted to winemaker in 2007.
Sales, marketing and
hospitality is the
Most
recently, new
Indeed, there seems
to be an unusual “esprit du corps” and camaraderie at Claiborne &
Churchill, with frequent staff pot-lucks, wine outings, and other
get-togethers. In 2005 the Thompsons
took their whole staff to
To see some of the “world’s greatest employees” for
yourself, visit the
Claiborne & Churchill Vintners Tasting Room
Great students are made from great teachers!
Posted by: Kristin Carlton | 01/14/2010 at 06:13 PM