Chapter Four: This Could Be the Start of Something Big

At one of our wine marketing group’s monthly meetings I commented that with an industry with this many members they should consider forming a trade association.

Vic Dunlop (Victor Hugo Winery) who was then the winemaker for Creston Winery, spoke up, “You know there’s a draft document for a vintners and growers association that’s been sitting in a filing cabinet for three years.” I shot back, “Well, Vic let’s dust that sucker off and bring it to the next meeting!”

Right about that time July Ackerman had just moved to Paso from Hawaii and had been hired as the Paso Chamber’s wine industry liaison. The first meeting of our group that she attended happened to be the one that Vic brought in the dusty document that outlined what soon became, The Paso Robles Vintners & Growers Association (now known as the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance).