So many of you who visit this page are wondering who the heck this dude Larry Schaffer is … Most of the other names of the guest winemakers have become ‘household words’ in the wine industry in the past few years as they should be. Great people, great wines.

My storyline is much longer pre-wine industry than it is in the industry, so let’s begin with some background … I started my college career at UC Davis, one of the meccas for studies of Enology and Viticulture in the world. At the time I was there, though, I had no clue about the program, concentrating my studies on ‘general business’. I ended up transferring to UC Berkeley and graduated from the undergraduay Haas Business School. I then proceeded to work in the record and publishing industries, both in finance and sales and marketing. One of my last jobs in the publishing industry was working for a company that developed pop-up books - interesting as heck to see what the ‘paper engineers’ could do with a little bit of paper and a lot of imagination!

I got to a point, though, where I felt my mind was not being used much at all. I was ‘going through the motions’, and I felt it was too early in life to be doing that! My wife then suggested I look into the wine industry and my first thought was to go into wine sales. Nope, she said, as long as you’re going to make a switch, you should ‘go for it all the way’ …

These were exhilirating and daunting words at the same time. Science had always been ‘the devils language’ and it scared the daylight out of me as an undergrad! Now I was going to have to ‘take it on’ - chemistry, biology, etc … . In addition, I would most likely have to ‘go away’ for school - and this meant being away from her and our 2 young children at the time. Yep, she said, go for it …

The next day, I contacted wineries in Temecula and began working part time in the cellar and lab to get my feet wet in the production side. I also contacted junior colleges and began taking the prerequisites that would hopefully allow me to transfer back to UC Davis, this time to get my Masters Degree in Viticulture and Enology.

Two years later, I was off to Davis every Sunday night or early Monday morning for a week of classes, only to return every Friday afternoon to spend the weekends with my wife and (now) three young children. Did I happen to mention yet that my wife Christie is a SAINT?!??!?!? This lasted for nearly 2 years, at which time I graduated … .

This allowed us to move up to the Central Coast and truly start life ‘anew’ - I’m still at Fess Parker, now being one of the Assistant Winemakers here. It’s a great place to work … and an even better place to visit!

Next installment will be about tercero, the label my wife and I started back in 2006 - and the first wines that Doug tasted back in March, 2008 …

Cheers!