ORIN SWIFT, ABSTRACT RED BLEND

Description

He’s the man, the man with the Midas touch.” With apologies to Shirley Brassey for the lyrics and Ian Flemming for the inspiration, Dave Phinney of Orin Swift Cellars is the new Goldfinger. Not in the creepy, German-accented, trying to take over the world sort of way, but in the sense that everything he touches turns to gold. Orin Swift’s mastermind is Dave Phinney and he is, in many ways, King Midas of the wine world.

Phinney got his start in the wine industry after spending a semester studying abroad in Florence. His roommate at the time suggested he try his hand at wine since the unseemly side of politics didn’t appeal to Phinney’s laid back nature. When he returned from Florence to the University of Arizona where he was studying Political Science at the time, he immediately began working in a wine shop, and spent the next year growing grapes in the desert.

After graduation came a stint at Robert Mondavi Winery, where Phinney gladly started at the bottom staining barrels, cleaning bins, and proudly working “as the only white guy on an all-Mexican night shift crew. It was hard work, but we had a blast,” says Phinney. Stints at Whitehall Lane and Bennett Lane followed, but during all this Phinney had quietly started making wine on his own under the moniker Orin Swift, combining his Grandfather’s first name with his Mother’s maiden name.

The ’empire’ started with a ‘commercial’ two tons of zinfandel and not much else, he spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and grew the company into a multinational brand that now includes 300 acres of vineyards in the Southwest of France. This international ambition has led to projects in Spain, Italy, Corsica, Argentina and other locations around the globe.