Carrying the Torch

Abbot’s Passage was born out of my own curiosity and quest for discovery. After a few detours, I found myself working back in California for my family—mostly traveling around the country, telling the Gundlach Bundschu story of producing classic cool-climate Bordeaux varietals and sharing six generations of family history. During my time “on the road,” I had plenty of time to think and exposure to many different producers and styles of wine. Slowly my own vision started forming.

My goal with Abbot’s Passage is to be able to put a female perspective on not only the wines I produce, but on the customer experiences we host on-site at the winery. In addition, and on a personal front, I feel like I am carrying the torch for all of the other amazing women in our family who themselves didn’t have the opportunity that I do, yet were so instrumental in our ongoing family legacy, dating back to the original matriarch of our family Eva Gundlach.

I did a little bit of everything. I always spent time with my dad in the vineyards during harvest and pruning. In fact, my dad and I had our own row of vines (Zinfandel to be exact) and every year depending on season and what needed to be done, we would tend to the row. I also worked in the office filing papers and when I was finally old enough, poured wine in the tasting room.

 Yes, I did, and I loved that career. It taught me so many valuable people skills. From active listening, to reading body language and facial expressions to networking, developing lasting relationships and holding conversations. In my opinion, these traits are valuable no matter which line of work you find yourself in.

Many challenges I have brought on myself and most of them have been either lack of confidence or being uncomfortable with vulnerability. By nature, I am a pleaser and fixer. So having to learn that I am not going to make everyone happy has been a huge area of growth for me. Especially when it came starting Abbot’s Passage… realizing and being ok that the wines, space, and experience aren’t going to resonate with everyone is okay! They just need to be able to resonate with enough people so that I sell enough wine every year to break even.

Opening a new winery space in the height of a pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges of my career, but at this point, we all had challenges during COVID, and we all dealt with and overcame them in our own way.

I love the community first and foremost and that everyone steps up and has each other’s backs. I’ve witnessed this firsthand since the 2017 fires,and unfortunately every year since because there have been fires every year since. Especially in our small town of Sonoma, we constantly check on each other in times of need and are willing to offer a hand, a generator, a team to pick grapes during times of hardship. It makes it that much sweeter when we finally get to come together to celebrate—essentially, we are all one big family.

On the flip side, I feel like gradual improvements are being made in areas of inflection. Case in point, WOW and being able to feature women-owned wineries. Just ten years ago, that would have never been the case! An improvement for sure.  However, there is still work to be done. More inclusivity and diversity is certainly needed in the wholesale landscape.

Low-hanging fruit include my dad Jim and my brother Jeff. Others include Sandy Barbour the Athletic Director at Penn St, one of only a handful of female athletic directors in Division 1 schools. Another is Tracy Geldert, CEO of the Ten Lifestyle Group. Briana Seeley, Sales & Marketing for Argyle Winery in Oregon is no another one. I’ve been inspired by these individuals for various reasons. At the end of the day, all of them are genuinely good people are authentic to who they are.

I get the idea here, but my desert island wine would be a desert island beer—any pilsner! Plus, with the added carbs of beer, I would probably gain needed sustenance to survive being stuck on a island! They say it takes a lot of beer to make good wine after all…..

But if that wasn’t available—Vintage Dom Perignon Rose would do just fine.