Father-and-son Stouts weathering virus storm
The coronavirus has taken a toll on two generations of Stouts, Guy and his son, Ian, but it has been especially hard on the former. A legendary figure in the Texas wine world because of his longtime status as a Master Sommelier — he became the first to work in Texas after he passed the brutally difficult exam in 2005 — Guy was furloughed last month from his job overseeing Southern Glazer’s beverage-education program, and he won’t find out before July if he’ll be asked to come back. These aren’t great times for distributors, even the gigantic ones like Stout’s.
Son Ian, in turn, found himself with nothing to do in his role in hospitality for the Alpha Omega Winery in Napa Valley. At least he was kept on full salary while California’s tasting rooms were closed to guests until last week. But he felt bad for his father.
“He a routine type of guy,” Ian said. “It’s been a trying time for him.”
Nonetheless, both Stouts cited a “hidden blessing” from the COVID-19 fallout, which freed up many hours to focus on their own business, Stout Family Wines. Most important, they’ve been able to get a website set up for online sales, and bottles have begun flying out the door, so many of them that Guy is asking friends to donate empty wine boxes for him to use for shipping.
Direct-to-consumer sales took on a whole new level of importance with restaurants on lockdown for most of the spring — 90 percent of the Stouts’ sales had been for on-premise consumption — and they needed to get that aspect of the business fine-tuned … or else.
This is no vanity project. One of 12 children, Guy, 66, has made a nice life for himself, but every nickel counts. Although he’s proud to have recently released a tiny-production “Special Selection” Stout Family Cabernet Franc because the pricey barrel of juice was so good it demanded being bottled by itself and not as part of blend, he readily concedes it was an extravagance he shouldn’t have signed off on.
“We did it because we’re ‘artists,’ ” he said, laughing. “But being artists is about to put us in the poorhouse.”
If Ian hadn’t sold Guy on bringing one of Napa’s most celebrated and tenured winemakers, Tom Rinaldi, into the mix for sweat equity in lieu of a fat consulting fee, they might already be there.
“I’ve known Tom for 35-plus years,” Guy said. “We’ve been running buddies, drinking buddies, get-kinda-wild buddies for a long time, back to when he was the man at Duckhorn (Vineyards). But it was Ian’s idea to make Tom a partner. Ian’s smart. He’s had a lot of good ideas. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to go into the wine business, but I’m glad he did.”
As a kid, Ian, who turns 29 this summer, found helping in a vineyard Guy owned in Blanco for two decades to be “pure misery.” Trimming vines in the Texas heat was even less appealing to him than winding up behind a desk in adult life. But he found Napa Valley enticing. In fact, he almost didn’t return to Texas Christian University for his senior year after spending a memorable summer as a paid intern/cellar rat at Rombauer, a job Guy had arranged for both him and his older brother, Dylan.
“Being in that cellar,” Guy said, “that was a game-changer for him.”
Dylan tried it, too, but chose to pursue a career in finance. Nonetheless, he contributed to the Stout Family Wines cause by coming up with the distinctive label, which serves as a tribute to Stout’s giant family. Ian also helped his father see the obvious in using the Stout name, since the business’ bedrock would be Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa cabs, of course, tend to be big wines.
Stout père’s interest in wine was first piqued during his tenure as tuxedo-clad, teenaged waiter at an upscale French restaurant in Dallas in the early 1970s. Dining there to celebrate his 18th birthday, he was given a half-bottle of Pommard by the owner to enjoy with his meal. It’s not a reach to call that evening an epiphany. Stout fils, in turn, caught the bug at about the same age on a family trip to Italy.
Today, Ian is bunking at a Rombauer property high above Napa Valley and relishing his dual roles as an Alpha Omega ambassador while also being “the boots on the ground” for Stout Family Wines. Though father and son won’t be together this Father’s Day, they’ll surely talk and toast each other from afar. Despite the recent challenges, Ian remains confident he and his dad will make it through the storm, keeping him on track to be able to devote himself full time to the family business within the next couple of years.
Three of the four cabernet sauvignons the Stouts have brought to market since the inaugural vintage in 2011 are currently available in a special Father’s Day package for $200. Guy’s take on each follows.