{"id":47,"date":"2014-03-25T20:25:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T20:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/?p=47"},"modified":"2014-03-25T20:25:38","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T20:25:38","slug":"origin-claiborne-churchill-part-mid-life-crisis-cure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.claibornechurchill.com\/blog\/origin-claiborne-churchill-part-mid-life-crisis-cure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Origin of Claiborne & Churchill, Part I: Mid-Life Crisis and How to Cure It"},"content":{"rendered":"

A psychologist friend of mine once told me that three of the biggest risk factors for stress are (1) a change of job or career, (2) moving to a new home, and (3) getting married. When I told him that I did all three of those in the same week<\/i>, he said \u201cwow, you\u2019re off the charts!\u201d<\/p>\n

It all started with a birthday party I threw for myself in the early \u201880s (nineteen<\/i>-eighties, wise-guy). I was turning forty, riding the crest of a successful career (tenured, department chair, published author, etc.) as a college professor in Ann Arbor, Michigan. According to the printed invitations I sent out: \u201cLife Begins At Forty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little did I know how true that would turn out to be. Within months I had grown unsatisfied and disillusioned with academic life, tired of petty departmental politics, and increasingly unhappy with the prospect of doing the same thing for the next 30-40 years. Classic \u201cMid-Life Crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spring of 1981, after attending an academic conference in Albuquerque, I travelled to California. I was invited to give a guest lecture at UCLA and then take part in a Seminar at Berkeley.\u00a0 At the same time, my fianc\u00e9e\u00a0 Fredericka Churchill was in California visiting her sister. We decided to rent a car and drive from L.A. to Berkeley up Highway 101, through what we now know as the Central Coast.<\/p>\n

\"Clay<\/a>

Clay and Fredericka Thompson
August 6, 1981<\/p><\/div>\n

We decided to stop at a few of these new things called \u201cboutique wineries\u201d on the way. Our third visit took us to San Luis Obispo, where we eventually found a small metal building housing a winery called \u201cEdna Valley Vineyard.\u201d At that time it was a small start-up, a joint venture between tiny Chalone Winery in the Pinnacles and Paragon Vineyard, owned by pioneering grape-growers Jack and Catherine Niven. Amazingly enough, I had actually tasted a stunning Chardonnay from those grapes at a wine event in Ann Arbor the previous year.<\/i><\/p>\n

We found two fellows in their mid-twenties having lunch there (burritos and Negro Modelo). One of them gave us a tour of the cellar and let us taste some of the \u201981 Chardonnay out of different barrels. Hello? Can you say \u201cWake-Up Call?\u201d Can you say \u201cEpiphany?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you get into this industry?\u2019 I asked. \u201cOh, just get your foot in the door,\u201d came the reply, \u201cthis is California, just go for it!\u201d
\n–\u201cWhere would I get a job?\u2019
\n–\u201cWell, we\u2019re thinking of hiring a (beefy) cellar worker to do grunt work this Fall.\u201d
\n–\u201cWould you consider hiring a 40 year-old Harvard PhD instead?\u201d
\n–(\u201cgasp!\u201d)<\/p>\n

To make a long story short, I talked my way into a job as a \u201cCellar Rat\u201d at Edna Valley Vineyard, with a starting wage of $6 an hour. Fredericka and I returned to Ann Arbor, telling all our friends that we were \u201cgoing to California to start a winery.\u201d And that is how, in early August 1981, I (1) changed my job and career, (2) moved to a new home, and (3) got married, in the same week<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for part II!<\/p>\n

Claiborne (Clay) Thompson
\n(Co-)Owner
\nClaiborne & Churchill Winery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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