My Journey into Wine & Back… & Back Again
Hiking at Harpers Ferry, WV. Shortly after this I would discover Virginia Wine Country and my entire life trajectory would change.
It was a warm, sunny fall day in Virginia. My dad and I were on our way back to Washington, D.C from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. As we cut through Northern Virginia, we began to pass a series of signs advertising wineries. With nothing else to do that day, we pulled into one of the wineries to see what this wine thing in Virginia was all about. Our expectations were low— only the West Coast made good wine, right? Well, this specific winery lived up to those low expectations. However, it was a beautiful winery on beautiful land on a beautiful day and I felt a sense of serenity that was entirely unknown to me.
At the time I knew nothing about wine. I only drank wine because I liked it better than beer or liquor and I thought it was more sophisticated. After that first winery, we stopped at a few more and we always did a tasting to learn from the wine educators. Everything they said was new and interesting to me and each stop was as just as beautiful as the last. Eventually, the wine wasn’t so bad either.
Before I go any further, I would like to say that Virginia has some spectacular wine with equally remarkable winemakers. Unfortunately, this first trip did not introduce me to this side of the Virginia wine industry. However, what this first trip lacked in wine quality it made up for in aesthetics. This was my first introduction to the “serenity of the vineyards” that I would later make Slouch Hat Wines’ mission to bring to everyone regardless of where you open a bottle. I was hooked on the lifestyle and culture of the vineyard and winery life.
At this time, I was wrapping up my time in the Marine Corps and applying for business and law schools. It’s possible I fell in love with the vineyards because it was the opposite of my life on base. Regardless of the reason, I was escaping and exploring wine country on most weekends. My dad visited from Arkansas at least once a month to explore with me. When I wasn’t exploring, I read every book on wine I could get my hands on. I tried to learn how to taste better, but I struggled. I ultimately blame my childhood in Northeast Arkansas for my inability, at the beginning, to discern scents and flavors in wine.
An aside: I still blame my Arkansan accent on my inability to pronounce many of the French and Italian wineries, but I think I’m just making excuses at this point. However, this issue will show up again in the next article.
I grew up in a dry county in Arkansas. My parents couldn’t even order a drink at a restaurant for most of my childhood. We had one restaurant that could be considered “fine dining.” Everything else was fast food. The large “casual dining” chains wouldn’t show up until they were allowed liquor permits, which was a very controversial decision when it finally happened. My family was a large franchisee of KFCs since the 1960s, so you can imagine my taste buds were well adept to taste fried chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes… luxurious. It wasn’t until my college years at Tulane in New Orleans that I began to experience true culinary diversity. It was by no means sophisticated, though – I began to explore beer and, instead of eating Subway or Firehouse Subs, I ate po’boys (hence my cat’s name: Po’Boy Fowler). My limited experiences with wine consisted of buying 1.5Ls of cheap, bulk wine from the Rite-Aid down the street (if it’s a nice wine, the 1.5Ls are referred to as “magnums”). However, I would not touch boxed wine. I thought I was above that…
Eventually, I graduated from 1.5L bulk wine to slightly more expensive grocery store wine. This was the culinary and wine sophistication I had that day driving back from Harpers Ferry. That spontaneous stop at a winery completely changed the course of my life. I became obsessed with figuring out a way to own a vineyard and winery. I spent the next couple months studying business plans, writing my own, researching vineyard/wineries for sale, and reaching out to Virginia’s wine leaders to figure out how people did this. Ultimately, I learned people either made a lot of money doing something else or started working at a winery to learn the ropes until they knew enough to convince someone else to invest in a winery.
I was 24 at the time and hadn’t invested in cryptocurrency, so I didn’t see myself making a ton of money overnight. With that realization, I turned down full rides to law and business schools and went to work for minimum wage at a winery once I left the Marine Corps. My first job was in the tasting room, and I loved every moment of it. During this time, I also began taking Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) classes at night and snuck into the production room to learn what I could from the production team during slow periods. I was thoroughly enjoying life, but I was also not making any money and working in a very fraternity-like atmosphere with no opportunity for upward mobility. I needed somewhere I could learn more, make more, and have a more professional experience.
I moved onto Total Wine & More and began to learn the retail side of the business. I was quickly promoted and loved selling wine all day long. I finally had access to all the winemaking regions of the world and could truly begin to hone my tasting skills. I continued to take WSET courses and read all I could. After about a year I was suffering. I was working 60-hour weeks, taking WSET Level 3 classes at night, tasting wines, reading and studying in my limited free time, and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life. I was beyond burnt out.
Six months later I made the decision that I wasn’t cut out to slowly learn and wait my turn to step up and start my own wine business. I changed my course and moved back to Arkansas to learn business directly from my family with the intent to figure out a way to make enough money to purchase a vineyard and winery someday. This began my two-and-a-half-year hiatus from the wine industry. I learned a lot, but I hated every moment of it. I wish it was hyperbolic to state how miserable I was running a company in an industry I cared little, if any, about during a pandemic. Luckily, we had the opportunity to sale the business at the end of 2021. Going into 2022 I was free to choose my next opportunity.
I kept a long list of possible ventures to start and spoke with consultants in a wide range of industries to make my decision. Ultimately, I knew there was only one option: wine. I learned during my hiatus from the wine industry that it didn’t matter what skills I had or how many others I attained. If I didn’t apply those skills in the industry I had fallen in love with, I would be unhappy. Therefore, soon after I found my freedom, I ended my hiatus, jumped headfirst back into the industry I love, and created Slouch Hat Wines to bring that same serenity I found on that beautiful fall day in Virginia to all that open a bottle.
My next post will explain the meaning behind the brand name, why I chose the Santa Ynez Valley in California, and why I decided to start with a Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre (GSM) blend and a Sauvignon Blanc. Stay tuned!
Read part two here!
M.P. Fowler
Owner & Chief Sloucher
Slouch Hat Wines
