The vet-turned-vintner talks big reds and delivery systems.
When Alameda veterinarian Kent Rosenblum turned his garage-based wine-making hobby into a business by founding Rosenblum Cellars 36 years ago, little did he know his “urban winery” would eventually be gobbled up by London-based drinks giant Diageo in 2008 for $105 million. For mere mortals, such a windfall would be all the incentive needed to ride off into the sunset with a bota bag full of old vine Zinfandel slung over one shoulder. Not Rosenblum, 69, who wants to make wine till he is 90. With that in mind, six years ago, he established another Alameda winery, Rock Wall Wine Company, with his daughter Shauna (pictured, right). What makes Rosenblum, known as the “King of Zin” for his award-winning big wines made with California-grown Zinfandel grapes, keep stomping? I poured myself a glass of one of the big reds I had lying around in my cellar recently and called him to see if I could tap into his winemaking mojo.
Paul Kilduff: Is there something in the DNA of an entrepreneur that you just have to be doing something?
Kent Rosenblum: I think it’s called doing what you love. What’s the old saying? If you love your work, you never really work a day in your life.
PK: What is your role there at Rock Wall if you’re not the winemaker?
KR: Well, I’m the CEO for one thing, and I also consult with Shauna on wines, but it’s her palate you’re tasting when you taste the Rock Wall wines. Of course, if there’s something I don’t like, I tell her. We have this wine called the Super Alamedan. It’s a Sangiovese-Syrah-Cabernet blend, and I said, “Shauna, that wine’s too light. I don’t think anybody will buy it.” And it sold out and was in the Chronicle’s Top 100 [Wines], so . . .
PK: She overruled you on the Super Alamedan, and she was right, and you were wrong.
KR: Yeah. And some wine writer asked me one time—he said, well, I assume your daughter has learned a lot from you; have you learned anything from your daughter? And I thought about it and I said, well, yeah, I have. I’ve learned that bigger isn’t always better. And I think that’s true. You’ll find a real kind of a defined feminine element in the Rock Wall wines today.
PK: I’m assuming that Shauna is a Millennial person. Am I correct?
KR: Yes, she just turned 30.
PK: Millennials in 2012 drank 25 percent by volume of the wine in this country. Predictions are that it will go further up from there. Some marketing people are predicting the consumption pattern of younger people will change the way wine is marketed; that there’ll be less snob appeal. Do you agree with that prediction?
KR: I think it’s going to be really important, because as the Boomers get older, to some degree they can’t drink as much as they did, and they don’t want to buy as much. I think these young people actually drink what they like, rather than what Robert Parker or the [Wine] Spectator tells them. I think the whole wine-rating system, which probably is a little crazy anyway in that one or two people have all this marketing power, is going to change. I think what’s going to be important to them [Millennials] is actually listening to their palate.
PK: I’m actually now starting to see wine on tap in bars and restaurants. Are you OK with that?
KR: I’ve often said if I could make the wine in the bottle taste like it did in the barrel, that’s my goal. And this is about as close as you can come. It’s obviously a growing thing, and a lot of times you can get better value for the dollar, just because everybody’s saving a little money on all the packaging and delivery stuff. Yeah, I think young people are all tuned into that. I mean for crying out loud, the beer thing’s gone crazy, right? It’s kind of just like another beer.
PK: Do you think it’s going to get to the point where you’ll go to a ball game and have wine instead of beer?
KR: Oh, I’d much rather have wine with my garlic fries or my hot dog. I mean they don’t sell good wine [at the ballpark]. Mostly I think it’s something that probably should happen. We’ve been known to put some really good wine in a plastic Coke bottle and bring it to the game and drink that.
PK: Wait a minute; you’re telling me you sneak wine into the ball game in a Coke bottle? Is that what you just told me?
KR: Well, I would say it’s happened. I wouldn’t say I did it.
PK: You’ve given me some ideas here, Kent.
KR: Uh-oh.
PK: I didn’t know that I could get away with that. Since we’re talking about packaging, the type that gets the least amount of respect for wine is the box. Is there any scenario under which you can see either drinking or selling wine from a box?
KR: I think it’s a great concept, because the plastic [bladder inside the box] shrinks as you deplete the wine, so it stays in whatever shape it was when you bought it. I tell you, for poor students, just have a box of wine in the fridge, and grab yourself a cold glass, and away you go. It’s another good thing. I don’t know that it’s going to replace the pop of the cork or the screw of the screw—or whatever goes on with the bottle—ever, but I think it’s an option. And maybe if you’re going camping, it’s a pretty cool way to go, too.
PK: So it’s a perfectly fine wine-delivery system?
KR: Oh, yes, it’s great.
PK: But you can’t buy Rock Wall wine in a box, can you?
KR: No, no. We haven’t gone to that. It would have to be a huge volume of a lot of extra wines, which we don’t have.
PK: The screwtop versus the cork. I’ve actually heard people say that we’d all be better off if we just got rid of corks completely. What do you think?
KR: I think for wines you’re going to drink fairly soon—for whites, lighter reds—screwtops are great. However, we tend to get a lack of oxygen in the bottle over time, and sometimes that leads to these reductive flavors that are not so good with big reds. So I still think a cork for anything that you’re going to keep for three to five years or longer is probably the way to go, even though there’s that risk of the “corked bottle.” But the cork companies have been working pretty hard, and I’d say it’s down to less than 2 percent, maybe even lower than that right now.
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Age: 69
Astrological Sign: “Leo, I guess.”
Birthplace: Mason City, Iowa
Motto: “If you don’t plan, it won’t happen.”
Website: www.RockWallWines.com
