Ryan Bogle started smiling almost as soon as I told him the story. A friend of mine, on business in rural West Virginia, despaired of finding a decent bottle of wine to drink. But, lo and behold, at a local retailer, was the Bogle petite sirah.
?We hear that a lot, ? says Bogle, the third generation of his family to run the 1-million case California winery that is perhaps the best grocery store producer in the country. ?It ?s the kind of thing that that keeps us going ? to make high quality wines that are a great value for the customer. We want to be accessible to the large majority of the population, and we ?re happy to able to accommodate them. ?
Yes, 1 million cases ? a number that makes the Bogle story that much more amazing. There are plenty of huge wineries in the U.S. churning out tanker trucks of cheap wine, but few of them do with it Bogle ?s consistency and quality. That the company is able to do this, despite its size, speaks about its commitment to the consumer, even when that might interfere with the bottom line.
Ryan Bogle was in Dallas for meetings with his distributor, and we talked for a few minutes about what the winery does, how it does it, and what the future holds for the winery. More, after the jump: