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NEW NORMAL

David Pearson
Dave managed for 16 years the iconic Opus One in St. Helena,
Napa Valley. Now he is the Managing Director of Meadowood
Estate which includes The Napa Valley Reserve, a private
winery founded by Bill Harlan in 2003, with currently about 600
members. The Napa Valley Reserve provides club members with
full access to the joys and excitement of winegrowing, allowing
them to be involved with all of the stages of grapegrowing and
winemaking, eventually making their own special wine blend.
This is the ultimate opportunity to experience the artistry and
the poetry of wine.
THERE ARE MANY

CHALLENGES AND RISKS

I am very happy with my relationship with
Lubos which stretches over practically all of
my profession years in wine. One of my ear-
ly and best experiences, in the early 1990’s,
was traveling to Vino Mikoluv at the behest of
Finlandia and Alko Importers to consult on wi-
ssed
nemaking techniques. I was so impressed
the
with the experience and enamored by the
culture that I nearly accepted an offer to
er to
ime.
come work in Czechoslovakia at the time.
The arrangement eventually was not possi-
ossi-
ble due to the separation of the two coun-
oun-
tries. I wonder often how my life would
uld
have been different had the deal gone e
through and I had worked with Vino US and globally. I will leave it to statis-
Mikulov... ticians to find the numbers in gallons
I have been fortunate to have wor- or litres. But, we have seen a wine
ked in many aspects of the wine in- world, formally dominated by Euro-
dustry – vineyard manager and wine- pean producers, evolve into a world
maker, research manager in sensory where top quality wines are being
evaluation, marketing manager, ge- produced everywhere: the US, Cana-
neral manager and CEO. My career in da, South America, South Africa, Aus-
wine began in 1984 when I graduated tralia, New Zealand, the UK, and China.
from UC Davis. The past forty years Our scientific knowledge of the vine,
will be looked back upon as a glorious grapes, and wine has grown by leaps
time for wine and spirits, not only in and bounds. We understand better
the US but also around the world. than ever the physiological and bio-
Wine production has exploded in the chemical aspects of managing viney-
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