Q&A Q&A WITH CHARLES BIELER
A wine innovator, explorer, marathon runner and New York hipster, Charles Bieler has an eye for the creative opportunity, an ability to spot an opening before it materialises, and a knack for combining outrageous propositions into a winner.
He got his first big break from his father, who put him in charge of the family estate, Château Routas in France’s Provence region. Charles’ youth and creativity turned the winery around. Today, Charles is one of the most exciting winemakers in America and in 2014 was named in Wine Enthusiasts ‘40 under 40’ list, which salutes the leaders of a new generation of tastemakers
Charles continues to innovate across all sectors of the wine market. He produces the eponymous Charles and Charles Wines with his partner Charles Smith, himself a winemaking institution in Washington State, and he is a founder partner of the Three Thieves wine brand. Charles provides the role of the ‘Dreamer’, alongside Joel Gott’s ‘Master’ and Roger Scommegna’s ‘Dreamer’.
While he’s firmly based in the US now – splitting time between his home in New York and wineries in California and Washington State – he spent his formative wine business years in Provence, including several years at the renowned Chateau Routas.
Venue Insight Magazine caught up with Charles mid-harvest to find out more about his latest projects and how his career was almost very different
Hi Charles. We heard you could have had a career in the music industry, what made you switch to wine?...
My father, Philippe, pulled me from the music in the mid 90’s, when I was 21. He called me, I was entering my senior year at University of Colorado at Boulder and said, “Listen, kid. I’ve got all this wine
10 NOVEMBER 2017
we’ve been making.” The winery is in Provence, in Coteaux Varois. The winery is called Routas, making lovely wines.
For my dad, who had been in finance, this was a more of a hobby later in life, but he wanted it to be a proper business. It was making him crazy that it was as hard as it was to sell stuff. He had started the winery in ‘92. I guess he called me, what was it ‘99, for those next years it would just been building inventory more or less.
He said, “Hey, listen kid. I just need one year of your life for you to come help me. I’ve never asked anything of you”, this is true, and always supported me, which he had. He said, in another year you can do whatever you want, but I need somebody to help me figure out how to get rid of this stuff. You can sell it wherever you want.
Looking back, it was pretty reckless of him of that time - he basically handed me the keys to the business!
Charles Smith and Charles Bieler.
So this was your first foray into wine?...
I honestly had no intention of getting into the wine business, none at all. It was my dad’s thing.
I was born in London, but growing up lived in both New York and Montreal. I had an interest in politics and I was a ski racer at the University of Colorado, trying to make the US ski team. I had spent a little time in the winery and in the vineyards, summer breaks and winter breaks, but the wine business was my dad’s. I liked wine, but that was it.
Is it true you travelled the US in a pink Cadillac???...
Ha ha, yeah I did! It was at a time when rosé was considered gauche, so I travelled the U.S. in a pink Cadillac to promote the
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