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GO TEXAN honors Karen Bonarrigo, President of Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association · GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hot in Texas found across se ride. It's how we
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: look at brisk It is honesty, boss. What we're wearing mosses. Yeah,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we may ride farm and in soil rewarding branch. Should
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: we do with ride? And we a sub si. What's
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: left is justinn It's done. What you go say, it's
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  Speaker 1: no intrun.
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  Speaker 2: And we are back at the Texas Wine and Grape
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  Speaker 2: Growers Association and we have in our booth the one
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  Speaker 2: and only Karen Bonnerigo, who is the president of this association.
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  Speaker 2: And Karen, I'd like for you to introduce yourself.
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  Speaker 3: So my name is Karen Bolerigo.
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  Speaker 4: My day job is normally to be the chief administrative
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  Speaker 4: officer with Messina Hoff Winery. And Messina Hoff has four locations,
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  Speaker 4: one and Brian Colla Station, one in Fredericksburg, one in
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  Speaker 4: Great Brian, and then one in Richmond. I'm outside of
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  Speaker 4: Houston for here at TWIGA. I'm the president of the
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  Speaker 4: Texas win and grew Growers Association for twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 4: so really looking forward to a really spectacular forward and
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  Speaker 4: part of this organization.
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  Speaker 3: For a long time.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously, our family has been involved in TWIGA for a
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  Speaker 4: very very long time helping to establish in pioneer Texas
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  Speaker 4: wine and so we're looking forward to being able to
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  Speaker 4: take well.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for becoming president, and thank you for your
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  Speaker 2: service so far. I think after today, I'm convinced that
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  Speaker 2: this is much greater than the wine industry or the
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  Speaker 2: beverage industry. I think it's the belonging of the community
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  Speaker 2: industry that you are leading, and I think you're headed
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  Speaker 2: for a renaissance as a as a wine industry.
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  Speaker 3: What do you think I think so too.
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  Speaker 4: I think you know, so many of these businesses are
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  Speaker 4: family businesses. I think it doesn't matter if you're small, big, complicated,
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  Speaker 4: not complicated. I mean, every person that I meet is
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  Speaker 4: a is someone who's working really hard. They're trying to
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  Speaker 4: take care of their families. They're trying to revolutionize the
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  Speaker 4: industry by doing something really spectacular, normally in an area
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  Speaker 4: that has never grown grapes or made wine or served
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  Speaker 4: wine or sold wine in that same capacity. They're trying
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  Speaker 4: to showcase an experience that people haven't had in that
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  Speaker 4: part of the state. And so it's been really fun
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  Speaker 4: to be kind of in this pack for many years,
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  Speaker 4: but to really be able to put the industry on
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  Speaker 4: a world stage, I guess is the best way to
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  Speaker 4: put it. But they're all they're all just hard working
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  Speaker 4: families that are really doing some really amazing things that
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  Speaker 4: I'm always humbled to be with them. And if we
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  Speaker 4: can get more people excited about Texas wine in the
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  Speaker 4: same way that we get excited about Texas wine, then
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  Speaker 4: I think it's really unstoppable.
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  Speaker 2: Now, what's going to take place for the next generation
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  Speaker 2: to take up the challenge, carry the baton or the
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  Speaker 2: torch forward and get started inside the industry called viticulture.
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  Speaker 4: Well, luckily a lot of the state wide universities now
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  Speaker 4: have more programs for viticulture and a knowlogy or even
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  Speaker 4: just wine appreciation in general. It's becoming a lot more
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  Speaker 4: normal to build that into horticulture programs and to build
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  Speaker 4: wine programs into hospitality programs and things like that. So
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  Speaker 4: there's more kind of natural ways to be introduced to
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  Speaker 4: wine at I would say a younger age, and I
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  Speaker 4: mean that in all sincerity from a college standpoint. You know,
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  Speaker 4: being able to have freshman or sophomores be able to
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  Speaker 4: take classes about the future of being able to do
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  Speaker 4: wine making, grow grapes, you know, for sure, and you know,
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  Speaker 4: wine's a little bit kind of questionable until they're twenty one,
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  Speaker 4: which makes sense. But that conversation about how does that
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  Speaker 4: fit into hospitality is happening a lot earlier, which is good,
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  Speaker 4: and it's putting it on their radar before they get
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  Speaker 4: full committed into other industries, and so it's keeping that
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  Speaker 4: door open. So we do a lot of work the
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  Speaker 4: Texas Wine Foundation here at TWIGGA. You also have other
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  Speaker 4: scholarships across the state where we're trying to fund you know,
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  Speaker 4: students that are doing research in Texas, you know, great
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  Speaker 4: growing or Texas wine making.
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  Speaker 3: They want to go into those those zones.
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  Speaker 4: They're working on their degrees, whether it's undergraduate or graduate
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  Speaker 4: or professional certifications. We have a lot more students that
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  Speaker 4: are taking things like w said or or working with
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  Speaker 4: the Quartermasters dom Lias to be able to understand whine,
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  Speaker 4: to be able to speak intelligently about it, and they're
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  Speaker 4: getting excited about it. So being able to foster those
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  Speaker 4: opportunities and be able to be open about education from
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  Speaker 4: like a ground level, being able to explain the industry
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  Speaker 4: I think is important to do and if we can
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  Speaker 4: speak to them early, it definitely helps but you have
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  Speaker 4: to be super passionate I think to be about in wine.
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  Speaker 4: You know, we are ultimately tied to agriculture, are tied
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  Speaker 4: to the land, and therefore it is very unpredictable.
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  Speaker 3: You have to have a lot of faith.
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  Speaker 4: You have to be very comfortable with knowing that it's
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  Speaker 4: going to be very it's it's not a pattern that
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  Speaker 4: you can just you know, build a factory, build a
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  Speaker 4: machine and it just pumps out widgets. It changes every year.
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  Speaker 4: Factors are very different. That's fun if you like adventures,
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  Speaker 4: for sure, and you have to be a little masochistic
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  Speaker 4: I think, to get into farming and growing anyway. But
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  Speaker 4: the reward is really amazing to be able to make
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  Speaker 4: a product that is so miraculous at the end. It's
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  Speaker 4: so many different variations. It's so artistic, it's so creative,
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  Speaker 4: it's so expressive of the year and that what it
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  Speaker 4: is that the winemaker's trying to do. So you have
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  Speaker 4: to be minded to want to go on that kind
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  Speaker 4: of crazy roller coaster adventure. But it is it's really
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  Speaker 4: rewarding to get to the end of it. But it
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  Speaker 4: does weave in, like you're saying, it does weave in
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  Speaker 4: a lot of things. You've got to be good at business.
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  Speaker 4: At the end of the day. You need to be
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  Speaker 4: able to you know priorities, make sure you don't take
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  Speaker 4: too much on too quickly. I think through your strategy,
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  Speaker 4: know that you need to learn to like people a
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  Speaker 4: whole lot because you're going to have to sell one
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  Speaker 4: to different people. You have to explain it to people.
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  Speaker 4: You have to do a lot of education on wine
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  Speaker 4: in general, and especially that Texas wanted to get people.
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  Speaker 2: We talked to several wineries today and I was asking
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  Speaker 2: them all about what was their best year from your recollection?
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  Speaker 2: What was the best year for Messinahoff.
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  Speaker 4: I'd say, it's been an interesting adventure. So Paul and
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  Speaker 4: I came back to the family business in twenty ten
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  Speaker 4: and we started a family We were transitioning the business
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  Speaker 4: to his parents who had been doing Messina hask for
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  Speaker 4: about thirty years. So some of those first few years
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  Speaker 4: were kind of a blurk. I had two small children
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  Speaker 4: at the time. We did a lot, we expanded a lot,
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  Speaker 4: we did a lot of strategic thought processing.
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  Speaker 3: Together.
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  Speaker 4: We ended up opening our Fredericksberg location in twenty eleven,
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  Speaker 4: which was a big deal. So I remember those moments
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  Speaker 4: being just really spectacular because we were completely taking on
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  Speaker 4: something that we hadn't done before and now having a
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  Speaker 4: multilocation brand, trying to figure out how to navigate that
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  Speaker 4: was really exciting. We ended up opening our Grapefrind location
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  Speaker 4: in twenty fourteen, though, and the neat thing about that
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  Speaker 4: was that it was we kind of felt like we
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  Speaker 4: knew what we were doing and we and at that
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  Speaker 4: point we had we were almost finished the transition with
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  Speaker 4: Paul's parents, and so it was like the first project
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  Speaker 4: that Paul and I really were the leads on. And
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  Speaker 4: I say we, but I'm saying that loosely. My husband
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  Speaker 4: did quite a bit of it, and that was really
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  Speaker 4: his pet project and extraordinarily rewarding to be able to
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  Speaker 4: see that location open and now it's one of our
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  Speaker 4: most popular locations in fact, and so that's been wonderful
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  Speaker 4: to be able to see. And then I guess on
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  Speaker 4: the grape side, I mean twenty nineteen, I don't know
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  Speaker 4: if Paul mentioned this, but twenty nineteen was probably our
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  Speaker 4: largest year in terms of the amount of grapes that
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  Speaker 4: came in, and it was to have so many grapes,
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  Speaker 4: so much wine, so much liquid that we were trying
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  Speaker 4: to ferment. I mean, I think we were filling every bucket, bathtub, tank,
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  Speaker 4: and you bowl that we had in the winery in
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  Speaker 4: order to be able to make sure that we can
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  Speaker 4: keep it all and showcase at the wines. But so
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  Speaker 4: many different new varietals we were working with at the time.
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  Speaker 4: We had new vineyards that had been planted years before
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  Speaker 4: that were officially kind of coming to fruition, and so
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  Speaker 4: there's this culmination of a lot of hard work over
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  Speaker 4: the years to be able to visibly see it all over.
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  Speaker 4: The winery was pretty magnificent. So there's been but there's
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  Speaker 4: been lots of moments. I mean, it is truly a
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  Speaker 4: very rewarding business.
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  Speaker 2: Now let me talk a little bit about Aggie. Since
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  Speaker 2: your Brian College Station winery is there amidst the university,
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  Speaker 2: most of our class of nineteen seventy eight would I
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  Speaker 2: bet they would say this, and this is just an
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  Speaker 2: anecdotal story. But we're sitting around Sabisa Hall. There's eighteen guides.
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  Speaker 2: I'll never forget this. We're all eating together and we
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  Speaker 2: start talking about our past and the small towns that
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  Speaker 2: we're from, and eighteen of eighteen of us are valedictorians
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  Speaker 2: of our class. We all work hard, still have dirt
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  Speaker 2: underneath our fingernails, you know, it's a work ethic thing.
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  Speaker 2: A bunch of farmer kids. Messina Hoff ends up being
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  Speaker 2: the first place that most of us Aggie's ever tasted
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  Speaker 2: real wine. You consider that deep connection and tie into
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  Speaker 2: seven hundred and fifty thousand former students who have this
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  Speaker 2: first relationship with wine and a little bit of class
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  Speaker 2: through Messina Hoff. And how could you possibly leverage that
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  Speaker 2: going into your fiftieth anniversary.
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  Speaker 4: Now we've had an opportunity to be part of all
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  Speaker 4: sorts of people's stories. They get engaged in Messina Hoff,
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  Speaker 4: They've got married at Messina Hoff, they had their first
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  Speaker 4: date there. It was the first time they ever drank wine.
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  Speaker 4: It was there where they celebrated their twenty first birthday
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  Speaker 4: when they were at A and M.
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  Speaker 3: And so many of.
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  Speaker 4: Those are tied back to students that were at Texas
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  Speaker 4: A and M. Whether they've lived in Brian College Station
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  Speaker 4: before then or whether they were literally just in Aggie
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  Speaker 4: Land just to do their degree, and then they went
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  Speaker 4: off and did amazing things that became rocket scientists and
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  Speaker 4: lawyers and titans of industry, but they remember that moment,
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  Speaker 4: They remember those those times that they had where they
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  Speaker 4: were exposed to something different. And I think missino Hoff
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  Speaker 4: has been part of a lot of those stories. And
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  Speaker 4: we've had an opportunity to be part of that aha
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  Speaker 4: moment about wine and Texas wine for so many of
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  Speaker 4: the students that have come through over over fifty years now.
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  Speaker 4: And I always love that Aggies like to tell their
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  Speaker 4: Aggie stories, and I say that lovingly, and so luckily
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  Speaker 4: we get to hear a lot of them all the
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  Speaker 4: time as they come back in and it may have
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  Speaker 4: been that they're like, hey, i'n't been back in town
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  Speaker 4: in twenty years.
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  Speaker 3: We lived overseas for work, and now we're kind of
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  Speaker 3: back in the area.
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  Speaker 4: We're going to a football game and they say, you know,
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  Speaker 4: we wanted to come back and see what was going on,
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  Speaker 4: and then they kind of give us their insight about
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  Speaker 4: what happened in between, and we just feel, really it's
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  Speaker 4: a really special moment to be connected to them.
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  Speaker 3: There's definitely a legacy. There's been so many before.
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  Speaker 4: My in laws are very close obviously to me, and
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  Speaker 4: we've been able to hear that history, but so many
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  Speaker 4: others in the industry that have really paved the way
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  Speaker 4: over a long period of time, and.
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  Speaker 3: We always want to honor that.
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  Speaker 4: And I think, you know, my husband and I have
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  Speaker 4: always felt very strongly that we want we want a
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  Speaker 4: Steward Missina Off and Texas Wine the best we can
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  Speaker 4: to be able to take to the next generation, and
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  Speaker 4: they're going to do amazing things with it as well.
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  Speaker 4: So anyone who's joining in on that journey, we're in
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  Speaker 4: it together and there's a lot of support there.
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  Speaker 2: Karen. I'm convinced that you lead an industry that's bigger
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  Speaker 2: than you, bigger than any singular brand in Texas, and
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  Speaker 2: people coming into the industry need to know that there
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  Speaker 2: is this wonderful brotherhood sisterhood about it and a very
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  Speaker 2: special collegial relationship that I can feel in here today.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think in the same way that we connect
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  Speaker 4: with people in our tasting rooms, the mentality on wholesale
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  Speaker 4: and distribution and how to make those connections is different
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  Speaker 4: but similar. It really does come down to those relationships
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  Speaker 4: that you can build with those especially with restaurants that
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: are that are much more specific and they usually have
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: a very specific kind of uh, you know, cuisine type
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  Speaker 4: or the chef history, or there's a lot more of
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  Speaker 4: a personal touch behind the story as to why they
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  Speaker 4: exist in the first place. Anyway, we need to be
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  Speaker 4: able to connect with them to figure out what do
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  Speaker 4: they need, what can we provide? That's different Texas winding
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  Speaker 4: general is usually different enough, but even within the portfolio,
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  Speaker 4: we have a number of our idols that we grow
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  Speaker 4: really well that could work really exceptionally for their for
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  Speaker 4: their venues, and so it's a matter of connecting with
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  Speaker 4: them and figuring out what it is that they need
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  Speaker 4: and then and then building that relationship and doing education then.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that is one advantage that we definitely
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  Speaker 4: have because we're right here. It's not necessarily difficult for
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  Speaker 4: us to be able to pop on by and be
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  Speaker 4: able to do education. We're not a national brand where
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  Speaker 4: the winery is, you know, seven hundred miles away, or
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: it maybe overseas or anything like that. We're right down
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  Speaker 4: the street. So if it means that our team can
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  Speaker 4: come in and teach their staff, or their staff can
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  Speaker 4: come and visit us and understand how wine is made,
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  Speaker 4: then that's a perk and a privilege that we can
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  Speaker 4: provide that almost no one else can.
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  Speaker 2: Now let's talk a little bit about the importance of
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  Speaker 2: Texas restaurants. I see that the tra Texas Restaurant Associating
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: is here. One of the keys to the industry growth
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: has got to be getting Texas wine sold into restaurants
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  Speaker 2: and consume tell us a little bit more.
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  Speaker 4: I think sometimes it's I think sometimes it's just being
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  Speaker 4: able to better explain why it's special. And if they
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: can connect so why it's different and special, then it
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: does become intriguing enough to say, oh, I had heard
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: this this story or this was really interesting that I
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: learned recently. And it may not be to the pitch at
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: all the time, but it could be that you open
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  Speaker 4: the door to be able to be you know, on
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  Speaker 4: hard sales. I get it, you know, sometimes you got
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: to stick to what's easy. But for everything else, for
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: them to say, you know what, there's there's permission to
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: be a little bit more creative, and we want you
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: to feel permission to be a little more creative, and
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  Speaker 4: we'll step right next to you to be able to
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  Speaker 4: help you with that sale, then I think that becomes
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  Speaker 4: really important.
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  Speaker 2: And final question, You've been in this presidency for a while,
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  Speaker 2: and yes, there's a term to it, but kind of
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: protect fifteen years from now, you're looking back on your term,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: what do you want to have accomplished? What do you
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: want to see in terms of the industry being united.
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  Speaker 4: I want to see that our industry is united for
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: positive collaborative growth in the industry. I think that we
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: are We're resilient, we are strong willed, We're a little
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: stubborn about what it is that we want to see
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  Speaker 4: and do, and I think that we are always looking
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: to kind of, you know, shoot past the moon on things.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's an important mentality to have because
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: it continues to let us to grow.
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  Speaker 3: I think that there's something very.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Texas about that, I think in general, and so I
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: want us to be able to be looking in a
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: positive direction, to be able to say, Okay, what is
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: that next level and how do we get there. Let's
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: look up, let's look past. You know where it is
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: that we are right now, and this is this hard
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: time in the industry, but I think we have a
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: lot of opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: If we can pull.
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  Speaker 4: Together, we can work hard and be able to really
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: put things on the map, then it'll be important.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Thank you for the.
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  Speaker 2: Time Thank you so much, Karen, madam president, for being
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: here today talking with us. You know that you stand
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: on the shoulders of giants, don't you. We thank you
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  Speaker 2: so much and we hope that you enjoy the rest
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: of this particular trade show. And thanks again Karen for
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: coming by for your service, and thanksgain to your husband Paul,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: and of course you're wonderful in laws Merrill and Paul Bonderigo.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: We love you, guys and folks. We hope that you
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: enjoyed this particular interview, so insightful. From the President of
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: the Texas Wine and Great Growers Association, Karen Bondrigo. Until
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: next time, As we say, Texas agriculture truly matters and
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: it is significant. Have a great week.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: In Texas. Found cross city all right? I will look
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: again risk.
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  Speaker 2: It is unuply.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: What will marry horses here? We may ride horm It
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: is so rewarding branch, and we do with pride, and
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: wea such sad. What's left is just empty nails. It's
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: not what you are say. It's no true signing.