Questions and Answers with Philip Shaw

Our firm Charles Communications Associates from whence comes the input of the All the Swirl blog has a great group of friends that we work with and whose stories make for something inspirational...from time to time, we'll do our "Inside the Actor's Studio" version of a sit down with people in the food and beverage business who are making cool things happen. Our inaugural post features Philip Shaw, a veteran of the Australian wine business who took an entrepreneurial turn at the age of 60 with his own winery in Orange, Australia...his Koomooloo Vineyard has been known to get snow on occasion, not something one expects in Oz, but it's Oz, anything can happen... QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH PHILIP SHAW: What book are you currently reading?

Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms

Do you have a nickname? What is it

I don’t have a nickname. I have worked hard to rid myself of the ones of my youth.

Is there a favorite rascal perched in your family tree? Who?

There isn’t a family tree. It’s something my family discusses (it must have been bad).

Name your most memorable bottle of wine, who you were with and where were you when you drank it.

A 1945 Chateau Latour. It was in Hunter Valley with a group of 10 colleagues. This was an amazing night as the Chateau Latour was only one of large number of superb old wines.

What's the most unusual item in your sock drawer?

A camera but no socks. And it isn’t actually a drawer, it is a basket.

As a child did you ever want to run away to join the circus?

No. Even as young child I realized I was not elegant.

What was your favorite movie then?

Walt Disney cartoons.

What is it now?

The Shawshank Redemption.

Do you still enjoy the circus?

Yes.

Name an Australian region Americans should visit more but don’t?

Kimberleys in the NW part of Western Australia or Orange.

What's the most beautiful language to your ear?

Italian, and to my eyes, body language.

Pick one of each pair: mountains or ocean; fog or rain; spring or autumn; love or valor.

Mountains; rain (particularly now we are currently in a wicked drought); spring; love.

What is your proudest accomplishment?

To work against the tide and be successful.

Which deep thinker has influenced your business?

My family: Diana, Damian & Daniel.

What one trait do you look for in employees?

To think.

Which of your virtues has winemaking honed?

Persistence.

What wine web site do you recommend?

Philip Shaw or Cumulus. I rarely use the Web; it is too time consuming.

Bottle of wine you'd like to drink with your last meal?

A Philip Shaw which I have not made yet. Perhaps next year’s or maybe it’s a dream!

Speak, Write, Eat Green

In the fall, a case study submitted by Charles Communications will be part of a Green Business Case Study book, more details forthcoming. As Charles Communications Associates continues to hone its speciality in helping businesses, here's a small essay on helping small businesses take the first step to go and grow green... Even Small Companies Can Make BIG Change

As a small business, CCA believes in the mantra, “Even small business can think big and make big changes. As a smaller group, decisions can be made and implemented immediately. While Charles commends businesses of all sizes that join the green wagon, she believes that smaller companies like hers have some major advantages. “Changes made today can be seen tomorrow,” says Charles, “which is instant gratification for the team, and instant gratification for the company as a whole.”

A perfect example of this happened three years ago when Charles moved into a new office space. The building did not support a recycling program, so Charles initiated one on the floor she shares with two other businesses. The building now provides bins in the basement for the entire building to recycle paper and cardboard materials. As a small business owner, Charles has the ability to decide where financial investments are placed. All CCA investments are assigned to socially conscious stock.

The Value of a Mentor

A piece of advice Charles passes on to other business owners (or anyone attempting to conduct greener business practices) is to garner a mentor. “Having someone as a mentor or inspiration was pivotal in my development as a small business owner moving into the green space,” says the communications company owner, referring to longtime friend and colleague, Susan Holden Walsh. Walsh, who currently works as CCA’s Senior Public Relations Advisor, encouraged Charles to pursue her goals of creating a sustainable business. Walsh was an early advocate of a socially responsible lifestyle with her move to Boulder, CO. “She represented many cool natural products in Colorado, and for me, her friend, still stuck in Manhattan, talking to Susan was like aromatherapy,” Charles reminisces. “I envisioned a world and purpose beyond my scope. When I moved to California I would call Susan during road trips and talk about best practices and the burgeoning green movement that we witnessed in the early 90s in pockets of the U.S. I credit her with inspiring me to think ahead of the curve when it came to my life practices as well as business practices that would flourish once I started my own business...and here we are today, witnessing a dramatically changed world with lots of awareness and dialogue about the environment. We all still have lots to learn, but at least we're collectively talking.”

Looking ahead, Charles is hoping to truly author the green movement in her company literature and establish a more formal manifesto to relay to current and future clients. One way she plans on tackling this in the short-term is to dedicate an upcoming quarterly newsletter (electronic, of course) to CCA and its clients’ green efforts. “The ultimate goal is to be a completely green business,” Charles says. This would include making CCA’s office space green certified. “Ideally, we’d like to see all of our clients making some effort to be socially responsible, whether in their farming practices or supporting a cause. We hope that our clients, present and future, will recognize our leadership as a socially responsible business and join us in our efforts.”

New Kid on the Block

I’m nearing the completion of my first month here at Charles Communications and already feel like part of the gang. It’s been incredible to tap into the knowledge and experience of the awesome ladies I work with. Between Kimberly, Amelia, Susan and Olga there is no lack of PR savvy, humor and general polish. Our intern, Katie, has also been a huge help to me, as well as being a fun co-worker…sadly, her internship finishes at the end of this month and she’ll be moving on to a summer internship at an international non-profit in Washington, D.C. called the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy. She will intern there through August when she’ll head to the other Washington (state) to catch Tom Petty perform at the Gorge(ous) Amphitheatre, before kicking off her senior year at University of San Francisco. Katie’s been a huge help and everyone at CCA will miss her!* * * Earlier this month CCA organized a blogger tasting at the recently opened San Francisco Wine Center. The Wine Center is a very groovy wine storage facility; they’ve taken the 55 degrees and revamped it for the modern wine collector. SF Wine Center has storage space to fit all shapes and sizes of one’s wine collection, ranging from modest, high-school locker sized, to large wheel in the pallet rooms. As a bonus they’ve also outfitted the joint with two fabulous entertaining/hang-out areas. The more covert communal room is tucked into the back of the facility and has a woodsy, poker-night vibe. This room is dual-purposed; beautifully designed lockers surround the heavy wood table in the center of the room. This would be a great place to host an impromptu gathering; one could head to the Wine Center after work with some friends and open a bottle of wine or two straight out of their locker. The other room, near the front of the building is equipped with a full kitchen, seating lounge area, and an expansive table that can comfortably seat 12. It was in this room, with a terrific San Francisco skyline view that we were able to taste a selection of terrific wines that Brian and Richelle had pulled out for us. My favorite wine was the most delicious Sadie Family 2004 Columella from South Africa, followed closely by the 2005 Pinot from J.K. Carriere, Willamette Valley, Oregon. * * * I’ve been so busy moving into my new apartment and getting the lay of the land at my new job that I’ve hardly had time to take in the incredible arts and culture that San Francisco has to offer-and what enticed me to move here in the first place. One activity I have managed to squeeze in was viewing the Annie Leibovitz show at the Legion of the Honor. The show was more touching than I expected it to be. Disclaimer: at the beginning of the show you’re face to face with a photo of Cindy Crawford dressed in nothing more than boa constrictor. However, the collection also includes a series of photos that Leibovitz took to document her close friend Susan Sontag’s losing battle with cancer, as well as photos of Leibovitz’s dying father. It’s incredibly moving. For comic relief in the midst of all of this heaviness, pay extra close attention to Dubya’s belt buckle in the photo of him and his pals at the White House.

Tonight I’m leaving work a bit early to try for counter seats at Citizen Cake before seeing Program B of the New Works Festival at SF Ballet. It should be incredible!

Wine Judging 101

Eight years ago I was invited to be a wine judge by my esteemed friend Robert Whitley, of Wine Review Online. I had moved to California two years prior and my stated goal having left New York City, was to immerse myself in the world of wine, traveling through vineyards, inhaling cellars at harvest time, witnessing the evolution of the seasons…pretty romantic sounding for a gal who was only recently living in the concrete canyons of Manhattan. Wine judging was a great initiation to California and its rich history of state fairs, and honest and straightforward competition in the agricultural realm, including the vinous vein. Wine judging sounds like an easy job. It ain’t. When I first heard of the Monterey Wine competition, I conjured up in my recent urban transplant kinda way, an idyllic setting of getting up in the town of Monterey on the coast at 9 AM, having a leisurely jog and coffee followed by a 10 AM wine judging with few wines, plenty of breaks and lots of espresso. Little was I prepared for what greeted me those eight years ago, when I arrived in King City, California 145 miles south of South Francisco: a no nonsense and proud agricultural town and the heartbeat of the nearby Salinas Valley where the fairgrounds are the setting for the competition. Intense rounds of wines, sometimes number over 100 in a day create a whole new definition of stamina. We are fueled by the collegiality, the friendly ribbing of our friends and colleagues in the wine industry but most of all by the chicken enchiladas of Rosa, who has been making Mexican home cooking for our grateful judges every Saturday for at least 10 years. Sorry, there has to be some pay off for the grueling judging work: you can only have Rosa’s food if you’re a judge or you worm your way into her heart. Good luck.

This leads to my theme of my post, an initiation of a series of places for Wine Judges to eat well while on the road judging. No disrespect to our hosts, but the every curious foodie in all of us judges wishes to break the bonds of the fairgrounds to venture out to try the local fare, and in the towns we visit such as Ontario, King City and the like we are likely to find some of the most authentic and delicious food there is to be had. Many of us are used to fine wine dinners, white table cloth restaurants, superior sommelier wine service, but inside most of us is a deep desire for the pure, soulful simple flavors of places like El Molcajete in Greenfield, CA, along Highway 101 just north of King City. We were directed there by our hosts from Ventana Vineyards in Monterey, who produce a killer Riesling whose 2006 vintage ended up being sweepstakes winner this year at our competition. We were told that the dish to order was the restaurant’s namesake Molcajete, which was a blend of steak, chorizo, chicken, cactus, spicy broth, queso blanco and lime all served in a Molcajete which is a Mexian version of the mortar and pestle of volcanic basalt which keeps the food hot and bubbling for a long time. Let’s just say it was a delicious dish that went down well with a Modelo beer: yum! Unlike our family owned carnitas joint we found at the Soledad Chevron station last year that sadly folded like many small businesses under hard time last December, Molcajete looks like it’s here to stay for a while.

I will be checking our the local fare in San Diego next month and be sure to check back in May when we descend upon Donahoe’s for fried chicken in Pomona…bliss!

International Cycling Stars Hit the Roads for an Exciting Tour of California

20,000 cycling fans witnessed an exciting day of racing on the Stanford University campus as the week-long Amgen Tour of California (www.amgentourofcalifornia.com) kicked off on Sunday, February 17th. The World Champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC) won the prologue Sunday as one of the first major races of the 2008 season commenced. The grand tradition of international cycling has been rocked with scandal of late, with allegations and convictions of drug enhancement eating away at a sport that has a long and storied history.

The Tour of California, in its third year, has become one of the significant showcases in America for the international competitors. Sponsored somewhat ironically by a drug company, the 2008 Tour seemed to give racing a fresh start and new hope, and American fans something to cheers about. With last year's issues causing a number of teams to disband, the deck was shuffled, the players scattered and new teams have emerged.

There are two teams of particular interest to watch. One is the Slipstream-Chipotle team (www.slipstreamsports.com), managed by former pro Jonathan Vaughters, who has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of his beloved sport. With a pledge to ride clean, the new team called ‘America’s New Super Team’ by Velo News (www.velonews.com), features young up and coming cyclists such Americans Tom Danielson, Dave Zabriske and Danny Pate, as well as a UK veteran David Millar, who has returned for a second chance after a suspension for doping. Vaughters has attracted this group to create a team that is strong, talented and willing to undergo public drug testing that is more rigorous than required by the governing anti-doping bodies of cycling, WADA and UCI. They are an example of what can be. (Team CSC and the new High Road with fan favorite George Hincapie, are following a similar, drug-testing regimen.)

On the other side of the coin is a new team of castaways, outlaws, or as a friend put it, the Raiders of cycling, the Rock Racing team (www.rockracing.com). Clad in uniforms that feature a skull and cross bones-type logo created by sponsor Rock & Republic clothing, they are the veterans of swagger, some of whom have a tarnished past, such as Tyler Hamilton and Oscar Sevilla. (Dethroned Tour De France winner Floyd Landis may also join.) While a couple of these riders were not allowed to race the Tour of California due to pending legal situations, the stars to watch from Rock Racing this week are American Fred ‘Fast Freddie’ Rodriguez, long an unsung hero of US cycling in Europe, along with the self-declared ‘Sexiest Man in Cycling’, Mario Cipollini, former world champ (who allegedly owes 1.1 million euros in back taxes.) ‘Super Mario’ returns to racing after a two-year retirement, and at 41 years old, he’s fit and keeping pace with the youngsters, 20 years his junior.

As with any great sporting adventure, you watch because you hope to see something you never have seen before. 2008 will certainly hold true as it’s a new road for international cycling, and the season has just begun - Viva le velo!

For more on the Amgen Tour of California which will finish in Pasadena on February 24th - you can watch the action nightly on Versus Network (www.versus.com) or follow the stages at www.velonews.com or www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

A Splended Spa Secret

Many people think that a massage is merely an expensive day of soft pampering. I’ve given up on those massages at the high priced, ‘zenned’ out, lavender filled spas. Most the massages have been just OK, and at $150 for an hour I would get far more pleasure in my own home with a bottle of Krug, some good music and a foot massage by my three-year old daughter. For some reason, she thinks this is fun too, so who am I to stop her? Is that bad?

But in all honesty, our bodies do need massage to help rid the us of those nasty toxins. Historically speaking, spas used to be integral part of general health care and have been in existence since the days of the Roman Empire. As for the root of the term spa, there are two theories: one is that spa is an acronym for the Lain phrase salus per aguae meaning ‘health through water’. While others believe the word comes from the Belgian town of Spa which has been known for its baths since Roman times.

So like I said, I’m done with the fancy spas. Four years ago, while I was in Los Angeles with some friends, I was introduced to Korean massage. We drove into Korea Town and parked in large lot that overlooked a golf driving range on the top of the covered parking lot. Strange indeed but I was again reassured that the Olympic Spa would not disappoint. The building is nothing fancy and very basic, clearly there’s little spent on decor. You order a trio (a scrub, massage and hair wash all for the fair price of $80) from women at the front desk who do not speak any English. Clothing is left in the locker room and you enter a steamy room filled with several soaking tubs, it truly is another world. After spending a good hour steaming all your impurities from life’s vices, you’re escorted to a long line up of massage tables. Drop your inhibitions because every crevice of your body will be scrubbed leaving you with the shiniest epidermis you’ve ever seen. While the scrubbing can be painful, at the same time you feel as though you are ‘turning over a new leaf’ or washing away your past sins. This is all followed by one of the strongest and deepest massages that will rock your world. I’ve never felt so clean and void of toxins. Maybe it was the dirty layer of skin which was scrubbed off my body or the cold and hot soaks that made your skin tingle, or the masseuse that climbed on my back and made every bone in body crack. Whatever the case, I was hooked.

Back in SF, I mourned the fact that we did not have a Korean Spa. In my travels to NY, I found a Korean Spa which was slightly more expensive ($120) but offered the same blissful treatment that I received in LA. Juvenex spa is located above a Karaoke bar in the heart of NY’s Korea Town (almost as strange as the golf putting course but I promise you can’t hear anyone singing). I indulged myself in what I considered to be a spiritual ritual on any occasion that found me in NY or LA, however late last year my dream came true. The beautiful Imperial Spa opened up in San Francisco, not by a driving range or karaoke bar but next to a KFC on Geary. For a paltry $80 you get the works.

This is not for the faint at heart but if you like to scrubbed, scraped and you're willing to surrender to this ancient spa ritual, then this is for you.