In conversation with Jody Bogle from Bogle Estate, Clarksburg, USA

Bogle are third-generation winegrowers in Sacramento – what makes the area so special for growing grapes and living life?

The Sacramento River Delta is a rich agricultural region that was settled during the Great Gold Rush of the 1800’s. Mountain run off from the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range created an alluvial plain perfect for hundreds of different types of crops, including wine grapes. Clarksburg, where our family settled in the 1870’s, has always been a sleepy little town of family farms and wide open vistas. Families know each other and the small farming community is a wonderful place to make our home and raise our families.

Tell us about the work Bogle does in the community?

Our family is proud to be the largest employer in Clarksburg. The community, both Clarksburg and the greater Sacramento area, has supported us as our business has slowly grown over the last five decades. Our Bogle Gives Back program allows us to do just that…contribute to local non-profits and support their causes. From hosting music events for the local food bank to rolling up our sleeves to build homes for the underprivileged, giving back to our community is very important to us.

We hear you sponsor your local baseball team, is this business or pleasure?

Both! Anytime you can combine your love of what you do with your love of sports, that is a win-win! Our family has always been huge sports fans and we are very competitive. Partnering with our local minor league baseball team has been so much fun for all of us. To be the first winery to plant a vineyard in a baseball stadium in the US was pretty darn cool. Stadium goers enjoy our wines with a hot dog or popcorn during the game, and our kids love the mascot, Dinger!

You hold a lot of events at the Bogle winery, what’s been your favourite of the last year and why?

Last year we hosted our first Clarksburg Country Nights. We partnered with three up-and-coming singer/songwriters from Nashville, Tennessee who came out and played a two-night event for guests at the winery. Everyone was able to mingle with the artists, hear their stories and then settle in for a very special night of music and wine under the stars. It was such a hit, for both staff and guests, that the guys are coming out again this September. And it will be bigger and better this year too!

Your Merlot now outsells all others in the US. In 2019 you were Wine Enthusiast American Winery of the Year. Massive achievements, so what’s next on the hit list?

The last few years have really been a period of transition here at Bogle. We’ve officially become Bogle Family Wine Collection, which better represents the company we are at this time: a family organization with a stable of brands. From our Bogle Family Vineyards to our Phantom Wines, from Juggernaut to our Twenty Acres, we are proud to have wines that overdeliver quality for the price. Our quality commitment only continues to grow as we develop new wines, new brands and new innovation. We are quite excited about what the future holds for BFWC!

Three siblings run Bogle, who’s the real boss, if any of you?

Ha! No…the three of us all have our own niche in the company. Warren is the vineyard guy, Ryan is in accounting and I am the people-person. While we may all have different opinions and lots of “interesting” discussions, at the end of the day, we want the same thing for the family business: to carry on what our parents and grandparents started, leaving it stronger and more productive than we found it. We all have the best interest of the company at heart and that makes for a successful leadership team.

Bogle has seen incredible growth in the last ten years, what do you put this success down to?

Producing wines that people enjoy drinking continues to be our best strategy! Nothing is more important than the quality in the bottle. People want to get their monies worth when they purchase a luxury product like wine, and we want Bogle to be a reliably consistent in that manner. The numerous awards speak for themselves, along with the accolades the wines receive. This all comes down to the team: the growers, the vintners, and everyone in between

Which Bogle wine is your current go-to? And what do you eat with it?

I really love our Chenin Blanc. It is such a unique varietal and as the first white wine varietal my grandfather planted in 1968, it is really near and dear to our hearts. And I drink it with cheeses, light pasta, fresh vegetables, fish dishes, Asian inspired foods…and sometimes nothing at all!