The godfather of Paso Robles wine is back.
Gary Eberle, who was ousted as general manager of Eberle Winery in January 2014, is back in charge of the winery he founded in 1979. Eberle bought out several rebellious investors and was restored to the throne earlier this month, along with his wife, Marcy, who had been fired as the winery’s public relations director after the investor coup.
Eberle, who was vulnerable to a takeover with only 35 percent of the winery stock, upped his share to 84 percent to reclaim control of his namesake winery.
"It hit me hard when I faced the fact that I lacked majority control over this place," Eberle said in a statement. "Now the future is up to me and my wife Marcy to continue to develop the property and its wine to their utmost potential."
Two things make this story particularly newsworthy. First, it was Eberle’s success with cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay initially — and later with syrah — that helped Paso Robles establish its bona fides as an important grape-growing and winemaking region in California. Eberle also led the charge to have Paso recognized as an American viticultural area, giving the region status as an official appellation. When Eberle was replaced as the winery’s general partner, it shook the foundation of the Paso Robles wine community, where he is revered.
Equally important, Eberle refused to accept his demotion because he firmly believed that the new direction being sought by the group of investors who took over was wrong for the winery.
"We make 27,000 cases of wine a year," Eberle told me at the time. "That’s just about right for this winery. They wanted to take production to 100,000 cases. There was just no way that was going to turn out well."
It was all about the money. The rebellious group thought more production would translate into greater profits. Eberle thought more production would compromise quality and damage the winery’s reputation, which had been more than 30 years in the making. His return to the role of general partner is a triumph of integrity over greed. All too often in the wine industry, it turns out the other way.
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