Financial Manager to Winemaker
By Bill Spring
For thousands of years, people in need of stress relief have known that drinking a glass or two of wine can make life seem a little rosier. In the case of overworked and unfulfilled financial counselor Bill Wilson, it took an entire vineyard for him to see pink.
In the mid-1990s Wilson earned a respectable salary as a financial consultant, but aside from his wife Jenifer and his children, life wasn't turning out the way he hoped.
"What really made me unhappy," explains Wilson, "is when I got away from the people and into the mergers and acquisitions."
And the day-to-day grind of having to promote and sell himself just to be able to stay in the game led to burnout in his mid-thirties. Finally, a few of Wilson's investment decisions caused his loved ones to lose money and he realized it was time for a change.
Wilson considered several options for a more personally satisfying career: opening a brewery, managing a restaurant or perhaps hosting a bar at some tropical vacation spot.
Then a phone call from his best friend opened his eyes to the possibility of owning a vineyard and winery in Temecula, Calif., between Los Angeles and San Diego. He knew before the call was over that opening a winery was his new path; however, he needed financial and moral support from his family.
With his sleeping child in one hand and the phone in the other, Wilson phoned his parents, Gerry and Rosie Wilson, and pitched the idea of pooling their assets to buy a winery. Despite having lost money for them in the past, his parents were instantly attracted to the venture.
"Boy, that sounds like fun," his father said. "What a perfect venture for our little family!"
After calls to brother Mick and sister Libby, Bill had 100 percent buy-in from the Wilson family.
"At that point," he remembers, "I got scared. This was my last shot."
In 1996 many of the Wilsons sold houses and cashed in stocks to give the project a green light. But the early going was rough. Their initial plan to purchase an existing winery fell through, so the Wilsons turned to plan B, purchasing 20 acres in the Temecula Valley. The land had grape vines but little else aside from the unofficial community junkyard.
Wilson called in the builders, and then the real trouble began.
Wilson's contractor's incompetence and corruption nearly led to disaster, and the family was left to clean up an expensive mess in order to get their winery buildings built properly. On top of all this, Wilson was working as an estate planner to bring in much-needed income and was spread impossibly thin trying to help clients while simultaneously getting the winery off the ground. Caught between the unfinished winery and his financial career, a longtime mentor gave him some life-changing advice.
"Make a decision on which job you're going to do," the man said, "because you're failing at both. You've got to follow your heart." Wilson cut the last ties to his former life and fully committed himself to the winery.
A difficult period of sacrifice followed, with the family putting every dime they could beg or borrow into the singular goal of getting the winery doors open. With the winery building still unfinished in the fall of 2000, the Wilsons held a barrel tasting and were shocked when visitors actually made contributions. The funds were enough to get them through to the official opening in January 2001 and the family has never looked back.
With 50 employees, a concert stage area that seats 600 and a tasting room that brings in wine club members and visitors from all over the world, the Wilson Creek Winery is successful beyond Wilson's wildest dreams. Still, all the money goes right back into the company, and he worries about how to handle the expanded work force and control costs.
Yet Wilson says that the fact that his company is still a family venture is "Huge!" His wife, parents, brother and sister all still work at the winery, and even the next generation helps out on occasion, entertaining visitors' children on the playground. "This is about family, this is our home."
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