Mick Fleetwood to appear in Carlsbad, Poway, Carmel Mountain to promote wine label

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 14, 2007 7:48 PM PST ∞

As a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood made a career of blending the right elements in music to fit the taste of a mass audience. With his latest venture, he is using the same insight with a wine label that already has captured several prestigious awards, sometimes to the chagrin of "real" wine-makers who discouraged him.

"I just stay true to what I like," Fleetwood said in a phone interview from his home in Maui.

Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar wine has been available in San Diego County since arriving at Costco stores last Friday. It also can be bought online at www.MickFleetwoodPrivateCellar.com.

Fleetwood himself will appear at six county Costcos this weekend, beginning with a stop from 3 to 6 p.m. Friday at the Palomar Airport Road store in Carlsbad. He will appear at the Carmel Mountain and Poway stores Saturday.

Expect a crowd, but don't be afraid to bring an old copy of "Rumours" for the famous British drummer to sign.

"I never get bored with that stuff," he said about meeting fans. "I like talking, and I ramble on. I have met so many cool people."

Fleetwood's three-hour appearances at each store are not intended to be nostalgic, however. While he still is an active musician ---- Fleetwood Mac plans a reunion tour next year ---- the 6-foot, 5-inch drummer wants people to know about his wine label. A video at the store will show how the wine is made, and Fleetwood will speak to the crowd upon his arrival and at breaks between signings.

The video and the talks answer the most frequently asked question directed to Fleetwood: Where's your vineyard?

He has none. Rather, Fleetwood blends different growers' wines to create a taste that is more consistent than what is produced at wineries, where weather conditions and other factors affect the quality of the vintage from year to year.

"The vineyard is prisoner to the weather and the market," said Jonathan Todd, Fleetwood's partner in the wine label and president of the music-management firm Sabre Entertainment in Los Angeles.

While a vineyard can only produce a wine that tastes as good as the conditions will allow, Todd said Fleetwood starts off with a taste in mind and then blends wines until he gets what he wants.

"It's pretty straight-forward," Fleetwood said. "I didn't know that hundreds of thousands of people would enjoy my wine."

But Fleetwood has always had a knack for knowing what people like, which Todd suggested may be the secret to his wine's quick success.

"For 45 years that man's been able to usher a pop group named Fleetwood Mac into the pop charts," Todd said. "His taste is populist. The concept here is Mick is the grand taster. If you like one of Mick's varietal, if you like his taste, you're going to like the next one and the next one, even though it's not coming from the same vineyard."

Todd described Fleetwood as an entrepreneur who has worked with him on projects ranging from sound systems to Salvador Dali lithographs.

"The wine thing was almost a dare," Todd said. "Mick was in Europe looking at wine lists, and he called me and basically said, 'There's so many wines, I never find the same thing I like.' "

Todd jokingly told Fleetwood that maybe he should make his own wine.

"An hour later, he called and said, 'Let's do that,' " Todd said.

The partners began thinking about the prospect five years ago with the idea of buying their own vineyard. They soon realized that being tied to one vineyard would defeat Fleetwood's original concept of having a consistent wine.

"Mick is a very free spirit and likes to have choices," Todd said.

The partners launched Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar in 2001 with a single vintage. Since then, the label has taken five medals in competitions: two bronze medals in this year's San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition for a riesling and a merlot; a gold medal for a chardonnay in the 2005 Long Beach Cru wine competition; a bronze medal for a chardonnay in the 2005 San Francisco Chronicle wine competition; and a bronze medal for a chardonnay in the 2005 Indie International wine competition.

The label has produced 17 wines in five years. Originally sold in Hyatt Regency hotels, Gelsons supermarkets and other businesses that carry fine wines, the label has been carried at some Costco stores since last September, when the store introduced seven vintages of Fleetwood's wine: a 2005 chardonnay, a 2002 cuvee, a 2004 merlot, a 2004 barbera, a 2005 limited edition sauvignon blanc, a 2003 limited edition syrah, and a 2004 limited edition Santa Rita Hills pinot noir.

In November, Costco introduced a 2004 cabernet sauvignon, a 2005 riesling and a 2005 sauvignon blanc. Most of the wines sell for between $13 and $25 at Costco.

Unlike other celebrities who are only interested in putting their name on a product and getting a check, Todd said Fleetwood has the final word on his wines and refines the final blends himself, sometimes adding as little as a half-drop of one wine to a beaker of another wine.

"He wants something that is complex in taste, really appealing to the nose" Todd said. "He likes a fruit scent, but he doesn't like sweet."

Todd said wine reviewers would not take the label seriously at first.

"They pooh-poohed it and said you can never do it because you can't have consistency," he said. "In fact, we've proven that wrong. We're on our fourth chardonnay right now and our fourth merlot. The commonality the experts seemed to have missed here is that you have the same person making the decision."

Fleetwood said he ultimately just wants to bring good wine to more people, and part of that mission is to make it accessible and less mysterious.

Growing up, Fleetwood said he recalled his parents reserving wine for special occasions. Times have changed, but Fleetwood said too many people still are afraid to make their own choice in restaurants.

"I have still seen it where someone will get intimidated and say, 'Oh my God, I don't know anything about wine.'" he said. Fleetwood said people in restaurants who are unsure what to get should ask for a taste of three house wines.

"What's the worse that's going to happen?" he said. "Don't be shy. They all do that. It's no problem, and bingo, then you're making a choice. It's all down to, 'What do you like?' "

Fleetwood is modest about his tasting abilities and said it was something that developed in recent years following a lifestyle change after he got married 17 years ago.

"My wife loves cooking, and home was more important than it ever was before," he said. "And in came this whole connection with really liking wine in a way that in truth never really occurred to me."

Wine took the place of some more illicit substances he induldged in during his earlier years, he said.

"In truth, my particular journey started when I started taking care of myself a little more," he said.

The change to wine has matched a lifestyle change in general for the 59-year-old drummer.

"We actually go out and go to an art museum rather than scraping yourself off the floor," he said about the difference between doing a wine tour and a concert tour.

Fleetwood said he is not sure when he last came to San Diego, but remembers visiting the city and taking his grandchildren to SeaWorld.

-- Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.

Mick Fleetwood will appear at six county Costcos this week to promote Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar Wine.

Friday:

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 4605 Morena Blvd., San Diego

3 to 6 p.m. 951 Palomar Airport Road, Carlsbad

Saturday:

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 12350 Carmel Mountain Road, Carmel Mountain

3 to 6 p.m. 12155 Tech Center Drive, Poway

Sunday

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 8125 Fletcher Parkway, La Mesa

3 to 6 p.m. 2345 Fenton Parkway, Mission Valley

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