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>> Reporter: Hi,
I'm Nels Jensen,
with The Business Press.
We are at the 2010 Spirit
of the Entrepreneur Awards.
And we have just learned
that Bill Wilson
of Wilson Creek Winery,
the Wilson family,
the winner of the family
category,
entrepreneurial spirit.
>> Bill Wilson: Yeah.
>> Nels: Fantastic honor
for your --
>> Bill Wilson: Huge.
>> Nels: -- for your group.
>> Bill Wilson: Yeah.
>> Nels: Your family
and your company.
>> Bill Wilson: Yeah,
it's incredible.
This is, you know --
business itself is hard enough.
And, you know, throw a mixture
of family involved,
and you got so many chiefs,
not enough Indians.
But, you know, so far as --
I forgot to say,
we haven't killed each other
yet [laughter].
You should've been
at our last board meeting.
It was a humdinger, right.
>> Nels:
You guys have been among the
leaders out in wine country.
>> Bill Wilson: Thank you.
>> Nels: You know,
fantastic facility out there --
>> Bill Wilson: Thank you.
>> Nels: -- you know.
You've got one
of the most active calendars,
in terms of entertainment.
>> Bill Wilson: Sure,
absolutely.
>> Nels: So, you know,
tell us, really, about how,
you know --
what it's like, in terms of --
really -- the business side
of it.
Because obviously,
wine is a passion,
your family passion.
But if you can't run the
business efficiently,
it doesn't matter.
>> Bill Wilson:
Absolutely, you know.
It's unsustainable, you know.
Just take China,
for instance, you know.
We could sell
to China all day long
at $1.50 a bottle,
but it's not sustainable.
>> Nels: Right.
>> Bill Wilson: So, you know,
you can venture
into a business
that's unsustainable.
And this is a really stupid
business to be in,
because our inventory turnover
is once every three
to four years,
especially with the red wine,
because we're making wine
and spending money right now
that we won't release
for another three years.
So, from a business model
standpoint,
and all the Economics 101
and 102, teaches you don't get
involved in this wine,
because --
>> Nels: Could be --
that can be twenty-one-year-old
scotch, you know --
>> Bill Wilson:
Which is even
crazier [laughter].
So from that standpoint,
as we say, we get paid
in happy dollars.
Because, you know,
people are coming out there
to have a good time.
Unlike going
to a used-car dealership, where,
you know, it's almost animosity
at the doorstep,
and you know a salesman's going
to come out and try to sell you
on something.
Here we're trying
to find something
that they like.
We're trying to --
put something together
that they enjoy.
And we kind of poster children
of our own --
we built that for us,
because that was our back yard.
We lived on the property
in double-wide mobiles,
and we said, you know,
why would we build a back yard?
We've got this beautiful
facility here.
And if we like it, you know,
we're John Q. Public.
>> Nels: Sure.
So how do you --
now there are -- I don't know --
30 wineries --
>> Bill Wilson:
Thirty-five wineries.
>> Nels:
Thirty-five wineries.
How do you differentiate
yourself in an environment
like this --
>> Bill Wilson: Well,
that's where the family
comes in.
You know, a lot
of wineries are owned by one
or two individuals, and it's,
you know, one down.
We have eight of us.
So when you come
to the property,
and that's my mom
and dad's job is
to give everybody that motherly
and fatherly feel
that only an 80-year-old mom
and dad, that are really mom
and dads --
they are mom and dad first.
They are not the
ultra-business people.
Us kids, we do all the
heavy lifting.
They take all the credit.
We wouldn't want it any
other way.
And they just make --
and we all just make people feel
warm and welcome.
And that just differentiates us
from anybody else out there,
because they're --
at some point in time,
you're going to see a Wilson
on that property.
Either that or we're
in some meeting somewhere
on the property.
>> Nels: That's right.
You know, we were just talking
earlier, you know.
We've had a running club winner.
We've had a
rock-climbing shoemaker.
We've had a toffee candy
maker --
>> Bill Wilson:
That was a hard act to follow.
>> Nels: Right, so,
you know, lots of fun and games,
here at the 2010 Spirit
of the Entrepreneur --
>> Bill Wilson: Well,
fun and games still has
to pay the bills.
>> Nels: Absolutely.
That's the bottom line spent,
and that's --
this is a great event,
because there's just tremendous
stories to tell:
People really living their
passions and doing a good job
and being able
to celebrate their success.
>> Bill Wilson: Well,
just in meeting the finalists
and going through the process,
you've become friends
with some people and, you know,
people have found
out that have come out here --
wine club members --
and it's just a huge honor
to be amongst this caliber
of people here.
And you know, with you guys
and everything else,
all the support
from the Press Enterprise,
and the Inland Empire magazine,
and all the business stuff.
It's just amazing,
and it's really cool.
I love it.
>> Nels:
Well congratulations,
Bill Wilson
and the Wilson family,
Wilson Creek Winery.
For The Business Press,
I'm Nels Jensen.