Pandemic or No, Smith Story Keeps Hustling
by Torrey Douglass
It’s not easy running a small business during a pandemic, especially a winery run largely on creativity and grit. But daunting challenges are nothing new for owners Alison Smith-Story and Eric Story. As Alison is quick to point out, their winery is their living, not a vanity project—a reference to the scrappy beginnings and ongoing challenges for this family-run winery that put everything on the line to chase their dreams.
A peek into Smith Story reveals a kaleidoscope of unusual pairings. California and Texas. Kickstarter and the wine biz. Instagram and antiques. Irreverent seriousness and candid optimism. And, of course, dogs and socks.
It all started when Texas-born Alison moved to the California Bay Area so she could be closer to wine country. She found work as a wine buyer and marketing manager for K&L Wine Merchants, and it was there that she met coworker and California native Eric, a wine buyer specializing in wines from Germany, France, Greece, and Austria. Alison and Eric connected over their shared passions—wine and travel—and the two would escape the city on weekends, often to Anderson Valley, to discover new wines. Eric was no stranger to the valley, where he’d been coming for years to seek out unique vintages during his time off. He had even assisted with a vineyard planting that grew fruit for Husch Vineyards.
The two eloped to Hawaii in 2013. They’d already decided to take the leap into building their own wine business, and had most of the details figured out—except for what to call the venture. As they traced their combined names in the Hawaiian sand, that last piece fell into place. They returned home and got to work launching their new brand.
While the pair had big dreams for their future wine business, their budget was more of the shoestring variety, leading them to create a kickstarter campaign called “Farmers First” in the fall of 2014. Prioritizing family farms is a natural fit for Smith Story. Their wines are crafted in the Old World style, where the hard work is done in the vineyard to produce optimal fruit, and the winemaker’s job is to unveil those flavors with minimal manipulation. The campaign raised $26,000 in a month and made Smith Story America’s first crowd-funded winery.
A self-described workaholic, 2014 was also the year Alison started Socks for Sandwich. Lord Sandwich, an 80 pound goldendoodle, is a gentle giant who, even on all fours, is taller than your average toddler. Like his humans, Lord Sandwich is a busy guy, serving as the (fuzzy) face of the nonprofit which collects donations of socks for those in need and entertaining his 70,000 followers on Instagram—many of whom helped out with the kickstarter campaign.
True to their values, the newlyweds used the kickstarter funds to buy fruit from small family farms throughout Sonoma and Anderson Valley, and the first Smith Story wines were released in the spring of 2015. For production infrastructure, they turned to Grand Cru Custom Crush, a Windsor facility used collectively by small craft wineries for both winemaking and bottling, and home to an on-site tasting room where the delicious results are poured for the public.
The first years were a roller coaster of hard work and heartbreak. Navigating permits and TTB compliance, getting the e-commerce system in place, building their audience through their mailing list, social media, and wine events—the tsunami of details involved in running a winery led to more than a few sleepless nights. And not everyone in their wine industry circle was supportive of the new venture, with some dismissing it as inconsequential, while others felt threatened by perceived competition. Seismic life changes can show a person who their true friends are, and the winery’s periodic blog posts often express heartfelt thanks to those who’ve stuck with them through thick times and thin.
Tight budgets leave little room for error, yet Smith Story has survived and grown in an unforgiving industry by combining fantastic wines with unflagging customer engagement. They publish blog posts, send newsy emails, and remain active on Instagram and Twitter, all with a tone of lighthearted sass and gratitude, throwing in a warts-and-all honesty about the ups and downs of their business as well as a healthy dose of humor. “I can be fun because the wine is so good,” recognizes Alison. It clearly resonates with their customers. “When I send an email out to 5,000 people, usually a couple hundred write back,” she shares.
This robust customer engagement has paid dividends now that shelter-in-place orders have put the kibosh on in-person visits to their tasting room. Located in The Madrones complex just outside of Philo, the tasting room opened in 2017 and sells Smith Story wines, merch, vintage treasures Alison picks up in thrift stores, and an excellent line of quality teas. It all contributes to the welcoming atmosphere—no austere minimalism here—and when you throw in a friendly goldendoodle the size of a Shetland pony, it makes a visit to Smith Story a somewhat weird and wonderful experience. Thanks to diligent online efforts, many visitors walk in as “old friends newly met.” In fact, Alison readily cites meeting and connecting with people as her favorite part of running Smith Story. “Wine lovers who love dogs tend to be great people,” she observes. “That’s our audience.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, all that face-to-face time with customers disappeared. The timing was terrible (though really, is there ever a good time for a pandemic?). A January San Francisco Chronicle article had listed Smith Story as one of the 52 top wineries to visit in 2020, causing a welcome spike in tasting room traffic that promptly dried up once shelter-in-place orders were issued. The situation called for a double helping of Smith Story’s trademark grit and creativity, and Eric and Alison delivered by hosting some of the first online wine tastings in the business. Their initial attempt involved some technical glitches and was a bit of a disaster, yet true to form Alison copped to the “hot mess” in a blog post with her usual candor and humor, vowing to do better next time. And they did, hosting a “breakfast for dinner” wine tasting via Zoom that featured dishes prepared by their new neighbor across the patio, the restaurant Wickson.
Besides the online wine tastings, Alison and Eric have been making free porch deliveries in the Bay Area on a weekly basis. What could be better than a case of wine delivered to your doorstep when you’re stuck at home? There’s curbside pickup available at the tasting room for locals, and website orders continue to come in as well. “In a way, Smith Story was built for this,” says Alison. “Since we didn’t have a tasting room for our first few years, we had to rely on online sales.”
Those online sales are up an impressive 400%, success directly attributable to all the hard work they’ve put into this family collaboration. It brings to mind a many-armed diety, its different hands pouring wine, posting to Instagram, tracking shipments, writing a blog, offering a clean pair of socks, and, of course, petting a certain goldendoodle named Lord Sandwich.
Keep up with Smith Story on instagram @SmithStoryWines, @SandwichTheDoodle, and
@SmithStorySundries. Purchase wine at SmithStoryWineCellars.com. When time allows, visit the tasting room at The Madrones, 9000 Hwy 128 in Philo.
