MacLachlan’s ‘Bears’ take the Houston stage
From an early age, Kyle MacLachlan knew he wanted to be an actor. The vintner thing evolved a little more slowly. But, when MacLachlan eventually got serious about the latter, he linked back to the former, which had become his profession, for inspiration. His wine needed to have a name and, because he loved the stage at the outset of his career …
“I never lost my fondness for Shakespeare,” MacLachlan said. “‘Pursued by Bear’ is a fun little stage direction that occurs in Act 3, Scene 2 in ‘The Winter’s Tale.’ Shakespeare wrote, ‘Exit, pursued by bear,” and the actor gets chased off stage by a bear. I’d wanted a label that was an homage or at least a reference to my day job. At first, I was looking for something maybe more traditional like ‘downstage’ or ‘upstage,’ but all those were actually taken. So I thought, ‘Well, (Pursued by Bear) might work.’ ”
It has. Once you’ve seen the name on a bottle, you’re certain never to forget it. Ironically, though, he never did act in “The Winter’s Tale.”
MacLachlan, best known for his roles in the movies “Dune” and “The Doors” and the TV shows “Twin Peaks,” “Sex and the City” and “Portlandia,” visited Houston for two days recently to hand-sell his trio of wines, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2015 Baby Bear Syrah and the 2018 Blushing Bear Rosé. It went well. He’s affable and easygoing. He likes people. People like him — and his wines, which have routinely garnered 90-plus scores from the critics.
“His first day out (visiting restaurants), we sold basically 1 percent of his total production,” said Dionysus Imports owner Douglas Skopp, who is bringing Pursued by Bear back into Texas after a five-year hiatus.
“Yeah,” MacLachlan responded, joking, “I make 10 cases.”
In truth, he’s up to about 1,400 after launching the business with the 2005 cabernet sauvignon. The syrah debuted with the 2008 vintage, the year his son, Callum, was born (hence the “Baby Bear” name). There’s a Blushing Bear Provençal rosé now, too, and it sold out quickly at a Houston Wine Merchant tasting last week. Fortunately, more will be arriving soon, if it hasn’t already. Houston Wine Merchant is the only retail shop where the Pursued by Bear wines will be available in the area, although, given how receptive local sommeliers have been, they should be well-placed on premise.
The Wine Merchant’s prices are $35.99 for the rosé, $72.99 for the syrah and $84.99 for the cab.
“It has certainly graduated from a hobby into something more serious,” MacLachlan conceded. “Little by little, we’re growing.”
Pursued by Bear gave the University of Washington graduate a chance to reconnect with his eastern Washington roots. He grew up in Yakima, about two hours from the heart of the Co- lumbia Valley wine country. Accompanied by his father — a stockbroker who considered himself “a gentleman farmer who maybe fancied himself having a winery someday,” MacLachlan said — he started kicking around “down valley” as new vineyards and wineries seemingly began popping up daily around Walla Walla where fruit orchards had stood.
His dad passed away in 2011, MacLachlan said, “but he at least got to enjoy part of my wine journey.”
On one memorable excursion, McLachlan struck up a friendship with Eric Dunham, whose Dunham Cellars was delivering headturning Columbia Valley wines to the market early on.
“I’d wanted to serve his syrah at my wedding in 2002,” MacLachlan said, “but he didn’t have any left to sell. Still, I invited Eric to the wedding, and he came, all the way to Miami.”
They stayed in touch and, when MacLachlan eventually asked him to be his partner in Pursued by Bear, “he thought that was a great idea.”
But Dunham died in 2014, and these days MacLachlan is going it alone with Pursued by Bear while splitting his workweeks between Manhattan, where his wife lives and Callum goes to school, and Los Angeles, where he has been filming a new TV show. “Carol’s Second Act,” starring Patricia Heaton, is coming to CBS this fall. Heaton plays a divorced woman with grown children who has retired from teaching to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.
MacLachlan’s Dr. Frost character is “a senior attending physician,” he said, admitting, “I’m hoping we’ll be able to introduce a little bit of wine into the show. The doctor has been there for a number of years, and it’s quite possible he has an affection for wine.”
Hmm. A little brand placement for Pursued by Bear?
Laughing, MacLachlan responded, “I’d certainly give them a very good deal if it happened.”