Report from Fortune Women's Conference
Tuesday | 22 September 2009
I recently returned from pouring at Fortune magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women Conference. It was, of course, an honor to be asked to pour our wine for these very accomplished women. As you can imagine, my day started with lots of excitement to see and meet such a prestigious crowd. That part was great! But then came the trepidation. That's me on the left with Susan Ungaro, executive director of The James Beard Foundation.I have never seen such HUGE cameras and lights and so many waves of reporters! After about 10 minutes of that, I was severely intimidated. Not so intimidated that I didn’t consider asking Warren Buffet for some support, but you get my point. Anyway, after some adjustment on my part, dinner began and the night got off to a great start.
I was pouring our 2006 Syrah, and it was being paired with a marvelous barbecued beef prepared by Jar Restaurant. At first, most folks were interested to see the new, unheard-of label, and were curious to try. But as the night went on, the curiosity turned to a buzz and finally to a roar of applause for Cowhorn.
Instead of returning to me asking for another glass, women were asking for an entire bottle or two for their table! Once the wine was gone, I was invited to sit with a table of execs from IBM. Their appreciation of the wine was sincere, but more importantly, their jokes were RIOTIOUS! It has been some time since I sat with a table of business people and laughed liked that. It was a wonderful hour of laughs, crème caramel and Cowhorn Syrah.
– Barbara Steele
