Dolan in shakeup at Fetzer

Wines & Vines, Sept, 2003

Industry leader Paul Dolan is stepping back from his daily responsibilities as president of Fetzer Vineyards and will spend more time developing new products and expanding the Fetzer portfolio. He will retain the title of president. Dolan has been a leader in the push for organic farming and sustainability in California.

Phil Lynch, vice president and director of communications for Brown-Forman, the-Kentucky-based transnational company that owns Fetzer, said, "Paul will focus on new products, He is a great visionary in the wine industry. This position will use his skills and experience to develop new products and labels across the company's entire wine division.

Steve Dorfman, a veteran with the Brown-Forman corporation, has been appointed to the newly created position of chief winery officer. Dorfman will oversee Fetzer Vineyards and the two other Brown-Forman wineries, Sonoma-Cutrer in Windsor and Jekel Vineyards in Monterey County as well as Bolla, B-F's Italian operation. Pat Voss will oversee day-to-day operations at Fetzer as vice president of winery operations.

The move raised concern that B-F was going to abandon Dolan's goal to have all Fetzer vineyards organically farmed by 2010. Lynch said, "We are not pulling the rug out from under" the organic 2010 plan.

"The 2010 organic plan is a great goal. We do not intend to take any actions to retrench, any action to pull away from that goal. As things go along we'll see how we can continue to achieve it," he said. Lynch would not state without reservation that the 2010 goal would be met, no matter what.

"As a publicly owned company, we are responsible to our shareholders to improve profit margins," Lynch added. He did say that the Bonterra brand, which has always been made from organically grown grapes, will continue to be organic "without question."

Lynch emphasized that Dolan would still be involved in long-range planning for Fetzer and other B-F wine operations. David Dearie, president of B-F wines said in a statement: "Paul is a true visionary in the wine industry and his innovative work with Fetzer in developing Sundial Chardonnay, Eagle Peak Merlot, Bonterra and Five Rivers Ranch wines has been instrumental in Fetzer Vineyards' success over the last 25 years. Paul will now use his talents and creativity to help us develop new wines and labels across Brown-Forman's entire wine portfolio."

Fetzer buys grapes from 200 growers who farm more than 10,000 acres of vineyards along the North Coast and Central Coast. Many growers have already started to make the transition from conventional farming to organic grape growing to meet Fetzer's 2010 organic deadline.