The contrasts in Charles' story are stark. His wine was chosen for three White House State Dinners, yet now America associates his name with cheap 'two-buck Chuck'. His passion for Beaujolais wines as the perfect complement to French staples and delicacies drove him to use Napa Gamay grapes in his wines, yet UC Davis researchers declared that his varietal was not "real" Beaujolais. He was a pioneer winemaker in Napa Valley at a time when there were "more acres dedicated to cattle
operations than vineyards", yet he spent years avoiding a return to Napa Valley after he moved to Chicago. After all his hard work and success, both his business and marriage ended "badly".
This quote from Charles' 2016 reunion address sums up the pathos of his story:
"When I moved to Chicago divorced and heavily in debt from General PartnerThere is a matter-of-fact tone to his recollections that conveys incredible sadness, especially later, when it concerns the interminable 'adjustment period' of getting over his divorce. Yet, he spoke proudly of his children and grandchildren when he met with us in class.
guarantees, Illinois was still a unit banking state and it took me ten years to establish a
checking account in the state due to my financial difficulties"
I wonder if Charles, knowing how everything would turn out, would do it all again. How does he feel about his name living on? I'm sure he would much prefer the Charles Shaw name embody the high quality Beaujolais that he worked so hard to perfect. But still, he is the namesake of a brand that sells over 30 million cases from a single retail chain. I hope he continues to discuss his journey, share his ups and downs, and provide advice on how to navigate an ambiguous world where "success" can be very difficult to define.
"Charles' story is somewhere in the middle: a nuanced, complicated example of multiple successes and failures mixed together, and leading toward a bittersweet conclusion that makes you wonder if the journey was worth it at all."
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this whole post - it has a Citizen-Kane-type evaluation to it. I wondered much of the same when listening to him -- the sadness, the regret, the dilution of his family name -- any one of which could bring the average man to his knees.
And yet, embedded in the sigh before his answer to the question of "what are you most proud of", I felt such a sense of admiration. I couldn't initially place it, but thinking more on it I now think that admiration comes from a place of witnessing someone who's gone through serious reconciliation. Not many of us can genuinely reflect on just how blindly they've traversed their life -- fewer still can get in front of a classroom of ambitious twenty-somethings and say it.