The 'Alumni' of 'Claiborne & Churchill U': An Interview with Clay Thompson

“That’s always the first question I get asked.”

We were talking with Claiborne (Clay) Thompson, who with his wife Fredericka Churchill owns Claiborne & Churchill, a small ultra-premium winery in the Edna Valley, just outside San Luis Obispo. Twenty-seven years ago the Thompsons left their former careers in college teaching behind in Michigan when they moved to California to chase their dream in the wine business.

“Whenever people hear my story,” said Clay, “they always ask me: ‘Don’t you miss teaching?’ At first I tried explaining what I didn’t miss about academics (teacher burn-out, politics, bureaucracy, etc.), but as time went on I realized that I had actually never given up teaching.”

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 cited as an example Nathan Carlson, now Director of Winemaking for EOS Estate Winery. Nathan came to Claiborne & Churchill as a virtual “rookie” in 1999 and was soon made Assistant Winemaker. In 2004 he left to become Winemaker at an Oregon winery, moved back a year later to become co-winemaker at Courtside Cellars, and then assumed his present position earlier this year. “I love it when my ‘students’ get smarter than me,” says Clay, “to me it means I’ve done my job.”

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 Ancient Peaks, worked for Clay as a young Cal Poly student, and his wife Cheri (with whom he owns Sinor-LaVallee wines) worked in the Claiborne & Churchill tasting room. “Mike remembers well the hard manual labor that went into Claiborne & Churchill wines, before we had the luxury of such mechanized things as a forklift,” chuckles Clay.
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 province of Angela Gloeckler, who started as Claiborne & Churchill’s Tasting Room Manager in 2005.
Most recently, new Cal Poly grad Brook Thompson was hired as Wine Club Manager.

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 Hawaii for a week, to celebrate signing up the 1,000th member of their Wine Club. “They are the world’s greatest employees, without a doubt,” says Clay, “and they make it fun to come to work every day. I’m hoping they all stay here forever, but just to be sure I intend to outfit each of them with a ball-and-chain, and throw away the key.”  

To see some of the “world’s greatest employees” for yourself, visit the Claiborne & Churchill Vintners Tasting Room 2649 Carpenter Canyon Road (Hwy227) San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Open daily 11-5. 805 544-4066 claibornechurchill.com

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[Kristin Carlton]

Great students are made from great teachers!