But more than anything, and despite or perhaps even in part because of the struggle, there was phenomenal growth.īetween 20, Forbes estimates that the number of wineries in California jumped by 31%. Wildfires and planned power outages would threaten the life of the lush valleys and those who live in them. A cranky, sweeping generalization by a popular wine critic would send the industry into a frenzy over the 2011 vintage in a nearly unprecedented manner. The next 10 years would be a tumultuous spell for Wine Country. It’s the people that we love, and when you know these people you love to talk about them.” The Stevenses shined a spotlight on some truly talented “up and coming” winemakers, those who would have to carry the torch as the founders of Northern California’s Wine Country aged, or sold, out. “We like them-they’re our friends,” responded Monica when asked what initially made her want to write about winemakers. Helena’s 750 Wines, the Stevenses were a natural fit and enjoyed sharing their passion with Edible Marin & Wine Country readers. Owners of one of the most respected wine shops in the Napa Valley, St. and in Canada for guidance, and reached out to the local community for contributors.įirst on the scene to write about local wine producers was a husband-wife team Monica and David Stevens. In those early days, she relied heavily on the community of other Edible publishers across the U.S. She also knew that she knew nothing about publishing a magazine. There would certainly be no lack of material to cover in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties, a foodshed uniquely rich with extraordinary food and drink producers. But she believed that the people who care about the food they eat and feed to their family and friends, who produces it and how it is produced, also have a deep appreciation for quality craftsmanship in other areas of their lives, and she was determined to create a quality product. Thomas was aware of the conventional wisdom, of course: In the digital age, the market for print was waning. Thomas knew she had just set out on the journey of a lifetime, but she could not have foretold how much her own personal quest would affect the lives of many others in Marin and Wine Country. That mid-May evening in 2009 when she parked her vintage ragtop outside a friend’s house to start the celebration that would end up at Oakland’s Fox Theatre, listening to fellow Southerners The Allman Brothers Band, she had just sent her premiere issue to the printer. ![]() Thomas purchased the license to found and publish the Edible magazine covering Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties six weeks later, inspired by a calling to celebrate her superstars-the producers of local food and drink in the region-and to build community around a table. who also published the Edible magazines for their regions, that the light bulb fully clicked on. Still serving as general counsel for a private equity fund, it wasn’t until the Slow Food Nation gathering in San Francisco over the 2008 Labor Day weekend where she met a couple of fellow Slow Food leaders from around the U.S. Seeking out and experiencing the food and drink producers featured in the magazine became the focus of the trip. Six months later, the mother of a friend she visited in Santa Fe, NM, knowing of her interest in food, placed a copy of Edible Santa Fe in her guestroom. Little did she know how this simple act would come to change her life.Ī few years later, while in the Hamptons, NY, for a friend’s wedding, she encountered her first Edible publication, Edible East End. Soon after moving to the Bay Area in 1998 she read an article by Patricia Unterman in The San Francisco Chronicle about the Slow Food movement, felt something light up inside of her and immediately joined the local chapter. ![]() Food brought people together the law, oft en, tore them apart. Her heart had always been in the food world far more than in law. Thomas, a native of the South and an attorney by trade, had not all that long ago been running a catering company in Washington, DC. Earlier that day, a dream had come true for Gibson Thomas, publisher and editor-in-chief of Edible Marin & Wine Country. Mister on the radio…” and experienced her first moment of silence in what felt like a very long time. She killed the ignition on her black 1991 Porsche Carrera, silencing the Bay Area’s own Patrick Monahan as he crooned “Hey soul sister, ain’t that Mr. ![]() CHECKING BACK IN WITH A FEW “ UP AND COMING ” WINEMAKERS
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