New Tastings at HALL Wines

Book tickets here 

HALLMARK TOUR & TASTING
Daily on the hour | 90 min. $40pp
Tour of the estate including the 1885 Bergfeld winery, HALL’s modern art collection, and cutting-edge wine making facility, followed by a seated tasting.

WINE TASTING 101
Daily at 10am | 45 min. $30pp
Learn how to read wine labels, why we swirl wine, how to smell, taste and describe wine.
 
SIP, STROLL & SAVOR  *New
Saturdays 11am, 1pm and 3pm l 90 min. $50pp                                            
Sip on newly released HALL & WALT wines while strolling the property, then head to the Workshop to enjoy three seasonal bites paired with three wines.

ULTIMATE CABERNET COLLECTOR
Daily at 11am | 60 min. $100pp
Perfect for the serious wine collector and Cabernet Sauvignon lover. This tour concludes with a flight of our most highly allocated HALL Cabernets.

THE ART OF THE BLEND  *New
Fridays at 11am | 90 min. $125pp
A luxurious, educational, and novel winery experience focusing on what makes Napa Valley an exceptional growing region and how our winemakers craft our signature Cabernets.

SUNSET CRUISE *New
Fridays at 5pm | 90 min. $50pp
A sunset walking tour through the property, concludes with a tasting of HALL Artisan and Napa Valley wines, accompanied by an artisanal cheese board. (Offered May-Oct)

WINE & ART EXPLORATION
Sundays at 11am | 45 min. $40pp
Wine tasting is woven throughout this experience which features some of the most influential, internationally acclaimed artists working today.

A TASTE OF HALL *New
One Sunday a Month at 12pm | 90 min. $125pp
The next experience is Sunday, August 16th from 12-1:30pm
Theme: You Say Tomato, I Say Delicious featuring 2013 WALT “La Brisa” Sonoma County Pinot Noir
A monthly food and wine pairing workshop featuring HALL’s Chef Chris Quillen & Chef John Pelham as they educate the inner chef in all of us. Learn about modern culinary techniques, how to properly pair seasonal food with wine, and with having guests understand fundamentals of the Napa Valley experience.

Real Estate Boot Camp Draws Sold Out Crowd

On June 4th, The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco conducted a Boot Camp for Bay Area real estate agents with 280 in attendance drawn from the following leading Bay Area brokerages including Alain Pinel Realtors, Coldwell Banker, Hill & Co. Real Estate, Intero Real Estate Services, McGuire Real Estate, Pacific Union International, Paragon Real Estate Group, Sotheby’s International Realty, Terra Firma Global Partners, Vanguard Properties and Zephyr Real Estate.

The event, which was held at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, featured discussion panels with CEOs and market leaders who deconstructed the volatile Bay Area real estate market, industry influentials drawn from leading companies and organizations recognized for their prowess in customer service and cementing long-term client relationships, as well as the stars of Bravo’s new series, Million Dollar Listing San Francisco.

August 19th: Grand Opening Party of McGuire’s New South Park Office in South Beach

Join us for the Grand Opening Party of McGuire’s New South Park Office in South Beach!

• Wednesday, August 19th, 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm

McGuire is thrilled to be opening its doors in one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods — South Park, located right in the heart of South Beach. To make the most of this excitement we’ve teamed up with a few #SOMALocal hotspots like 21st Amendment, American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, Jax Vineyards and Tasting Room (and more!) to help us kick off the celebrations. Don’t miss the grand opening party of the new #McGuireSouthPark!

Click here for more information about McGuire’s new South Park office.
RSVP required by August 14, 2015.
Questions? Contact Lauren Bensinger

August 20th: Conversations with Leaders in Luxury

Monica Bhargava Executive Vice President of Product Development Pottery Barn & Williams-Sonoma.

• Thursday, August 20th    6.00-8.00 PM

Very few names associated with the home carry as much authority and esteem as Williams-Sonoma.This Bay Area institution has defined the art of fine living and consistently leads the way in identifying and establishing the trends that quickly find their way into the homes and kitchens of America’s discriminating buyers. To learn how Williams-Sonoma divines those trends with uncanny accuracy, and translates them into products that command customer allegiance and repeat sales, The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco is honored to present Monica Bhargava, Executive Vice President of Product Development at Pottery Barn and Williams–Sonoma and the arbiter of style, taste and creative influence for the products that eventually appear in store and catalog.  In this compelling convsration, Ms. Bhargava takes us inside the Williams-Sonoma “creative lab” where global style influences are identified, critiqued and debated before finding their way into the customer’s shopping basket..

• Saturday August 22nd, 10.00 a.m.-1.00 p.m.

Grab your partner and join us in the HB Vineyard for a fun-filled afternoon of stomping grapes with your feet.

• Saturday September 12th
• 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (Vertical Tasting hosted by Steve Leveque)
• 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. (Main Event)

HALL St. Helena has announced the date for its annual Kathryn Hall Release Party releasing the 2012 vintage of its flagship Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The event will take place on Saturday, September 12. Guests will be invited to enjoy a sun-filled afternoon outdoors to sip on the newly released 2012 Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was recently rated 97+ pts by Robert Parker. In addition to the main event, a rare Vertical Tasting hosted by Steve Leveque will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the historic Bergfeld building. The experience will include a tasting flight of Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon (vintages 2007 - 2012). 

• Saturday September 19th,
  6.00 p.m. – 10.00 p.m.

We are Honored to Welcome the Following New Members:

Leading Wineries of Napa is an exclusive and independent network of premium wineries and vineyards offering specially curated wine country experiences chosen by Napa-based experts who possess an intimate knowledge of and deep experience with Napa and its world-famous wines. The featured experiences have been rigorously selected based on their uniqueness, superior value and personal interaction with the winery and its staff.
LWNapa.com

ROQUE Event Development

Starmont Winery & Vineyards, producer of high-quality Carneros and Napa Valley wines, has announced the opening of its tasting room located adjacent to the winery’s state-of-the-art production facility situated on the southeastern corner of Napa Valley’s Carneros region.

Built alongside the historic Stanly Ranch Estate vineyard—originally owned by Judge John Stanly, one of California’s great wine pioneers in the late 1800s—Starmont Winery and Vineyards is an amalgam of the old and new. A longtime vision of the Schlatter Family, proprietors of Starmont, the new tasting room was designed by San Francisco-based BAR Architects, who also provided design and construction services for the original production building completed in 2006. The Schlatter’s vision is a mixture of modern, clean designs with a strong sense of environmental responsibility and respect for the inherent beauty of the land.

 

Starmont Winery’s tasting room will blend seamlessly into the existing agrarian landscape of rural buildings. Peaked roofs, wide eaves, and metal trimmed siding create a modern farmhouse feel. The design feature will also include natural lighting throughout, with large glass doors opening to a central courtyard allowing for proximity to the picturesque surroundings of rolling hills, vineyards and gardens. Seating in the courtyard will invite guests to linger, commune with the land and experience the historic growing region among the vines.

 

Seated wine tastings, as well as a la carte artisanal cheese and charcuterie menu items or picnic lunches, will be available every day, from 10 am to 5 pm (excluding major holidays).

 

Starmont Winery will offer two tasting experiences for visitors, as well as a unique tasting experience for guests interested in Starmont wine club membership. Club members at Merryvale, sister property to Starmont, are invited to enjoy this experience as a benefit of their membership.

 

Visitor experiences include:

• Starmont Select Tasting – a selection of Starmont wines including single vineyard offerings at $25/per person.
• Historic Stanly Ranch Tour – an educational walk through the historic vineyard to learn about the cultivation of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clones followed by a full tasting of Starmont’s Stanly Ranch Estate wines. Available by-appointment-only (24 hours prior).
   

Starmont and Merryvale Wine Club membership experiences include:

• Starmont Single Vineyard Flight – a flight of five Starmont wines, including vineyard designate wines only available for purchase at the winery. Available as a seated tasting at our bar or in our wine garden patio.

Please visit the Starmont website for pricing and availability.
 

---

Paragon Announces Expansion Plan

Paragon Real Estate Group continues its expansion path by adding Dierk Herbermann as a senior manager in San Francisco, California. Over the last 18 months, Paragon has opened offices in the Marina, Noe Valley, Potrero Hill and Marin and together with their Van Ness Avenue flagship office, has a thorough local geographic presence to support their business across real estate market segments – residential sales and rentals, commercial property sales and leasing, new construction sales and luxury property representation. Dierk brings to Paragon a wealth of experience as an attorney and former General Manager for McGuire Real Estate and will assist the existing management team in spearheading Paragon’s next phase of growth.

---

The 2015 Spring E-Catalog from Gordon Huether Studio

Gordon Huether’s stunning projects have included art installations for private corporations, airports, transportation centers, parking garages, hotels, universities, hospitals, recreation centers, civic buildings, libraries, and museums.

View his online catalog here

MarinSFHomes Team Joins Zephyr Real Estate’s Marin Office in Greenbrae

---

News from Terra Firma

American Ultra Wealth Ranking 2014-2015.
A Wealth-X Special Report

Read the report here

“The Dirty Dozen: Top Challenges Facing Luxury Brands Today”

By Gregory J. Furman, Founder & Chairman, The Luxury Marketing Council World-Wide
 
After 21 years orchestrating hundreds of conversations and events with CEOs and CMOs representing every segment of luxury AND given the furious pace of web-enabled change, here’s my “dirty dozen’ top challenges/opportunities facing luxury marketers and their brands today.
 
Twelve that keep or should keep top executives of luxury brands awake at night (even the sound sleepers) in their survival quest to ‘surprise and delight’ the richest most discriminating buyers of luxury products and services. Globally some 12.7 million ‘best customers’ with liquid portfolios/investible assets of $1 million and often much more; not counting their residences, yachts, cars, art, private jets, etcetera.
 
1. Collaborations & Partnerships: Twenty years ago if you asked for a show of hands of a group of 100 senior level luxury marketers as to how many have engaged in a collaboration with a kindred spirit luxury brand, you might see half a dozen hands.  Today you will easily see 75.  Given the fact that all luxury purveyors share some 60 percent of the same best customers and that these customers can afford to buy top products and services from all categories, collaborations and partnerships are among the most cost effective strategies enabling brands to win more customers like their very best customers.  
 
2. Keeping Pace With Changing Technology and Seamless Integration of Digital and Traditional Media: Talk to any CEO or any consulting firm, even those that specialized in integration of new technologies.  If they’re honest, they’ll say no one has cracked the code.  Just as an organization has adapted to and embraced the latest wave of change, a new app or totally new medium appears on the horizon.
 
3. Weak Phone Protocol: The incidence of rude, arrogant, lackadaisical phone “presence” is more rampant than one might think.  Truly astonishing when many pay lip service to “first impression is most remembered.” Dull tone of voice; failure of person answering call to identify themselves; unwillingness to serve and accommodate; inability or unwillingness to put the caller in touch with someone who can help; inability to or prevented from giving senior management names, business emails, direct office numbers and administrative assistants’ names.  The list goes on.  If you’re doubtful, ‘mystery shop’ and call your own organization.  First voice is first impression.  Too often the phone voice, if you’re lucky enough to get a person at all, is aloof, disinterested, lacking warmth and ineffectual.
 
4. Leveraging Loyalty – Used to be loyalty programs were seen as bottomless pits of reward points and an unnecessary cost.  Celebrating best customers’ anniversaries, interests, passions, families and acknowledging their buying preferences through special offers that demonstrate high touch and genuine personal warmth is one of the biggest opportunities for luxury brands to distinguish themselves.  See Jack Mitchell’s Hug Your Customers for a brilliant road map as to how.
 
5. Listening: To Your Customers, To Your People, Your Team: Recent research on this topic shows that companies that have a rigorous, strategic approach to listening to their best customers and to their people, are more highly thought of and significantly more profitable.  The big challenge is how.
 
6. Banishing Arrogance and Apathy: Sadly the ‘eyeball inventory’ or ‘social x-raying’ (an instant ‘net worth’ calculation on the part of sales associates who calibrates service based on their own parochial judgment) facing customers has not yet become a thing of the past.  Engagement  - too much, too soon, too little?  - is an art.  Few people dress to shop.  How do brands better inspire their team to walk this fine line more effectively and humanly?  
 
7. The New Public Relations: In the old days, public relations in the luxury arena was mostly a succession of lavish events.  Not only have brands scaled down in their event production, but the smartest are taking the high ground as thought leaders on trends in the market, better ‘educating’ their best customers as to why great products or services are worth the price, creating in-store experiences that generate buzz while giving their customers a better appreciation of their products and services.
 
8. Top Down To Bottom Up.  From “Power Over” to “Power With” (See Judith Glaser’s brilliant Conversational Intelligence): The old military ‘command and control’ or what used to be called ‘the mushroom principal’ (keep ‘em in the dark and heap fertilizer upon them) is dead.  How is your brand enabling your people on the line, those most directly facing your best customers, to say YES and to efficiently communicate to top management their real-time intelligence on the market, competitors and, most importantly customers, their wants, their needs in order to better serve and sell? Those that engage the people on the line as partners, sell more, profit more and shine in the eyes of the customers they serve.
 
9. Enter the Millennials: 86 million of them (versus 80 million boomers), computer savvy, impatient, ambitious and redefining the meaning of marketing, advertising, sales and service.  One third of them are fast track managers impatiently waiting for their boomer bosses to retire to make their imprint on the way brands are defined.  One third have gone back to complete their graduate MBAs.  One third will be the new crop of successful entrepreneurs.  When it comes to social issues and how brands behave, the millennials buy on brands’ records of good corporate citizenship.  The challenge of engaging them and winning share of their wallets and loyalty is one of the biggest facing luxury brands.
 
10. Partnering With Best Customers: Conventional wisdom once held that the richest most affluent customers would not take the time to advise brands on the quality and effectiveness of their products, communications and service.  No longer.  More and more luxury brands are creating customer councils: intimate groups of their very best customers who can account for as much as 60 percent of a brand’s revenue.  Hosting intimate, facilitated events to better understand from a best customer’s perspective how to improve every aspect of a brand’s approach is becoming more and more common.
 
11. Educating Customers about the Price/Value Equation: Only 10 percent of the big money in the U.S. is inherited or celebrity.  Of that only 4 percent is inherited.  The 90 percent – today’s most successful, richest consumers are children of the working class.  Not having been ‘born to the manor’ they are hungry to know what is the best of the best.  The smartest luxury brands are recognizing this rise of connoisseurship and, in a non-condescending ways, ‘educating’ best customers through experiential events that make for a much more knowledgeable best customer.  Once buyers understand the inherent quality of a luxury product or service, they rarely balk at paying premium price.
 
12. People:  Finding, educating, motivating, compensating, succession planning for the best and brightest continues to be at the top of most luxury brand’s agendas.  Great people are increasingly hard to find.  Experience counts.  But aptitude and style now count even more. Increasingly brands are hiring more for aptitude and style; educating, nurturing and grooming those that have it on the fundamentals and corporate culture of the brand.

The Capgemini World Wealth Report 2015

Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management are pleased to present the 2015 World Wealth Report (WWR), offering detailed insights inot high net worth individuals (NWIs) across the global and the shifting dynamics of the wealth management industry.

Read the report here

From The Mark Company: June Monthly Reports and Trends

To view and download the individual reports, click the links below:

• San Francisco
• San Francisco Trends
• Oakland/Emeryville
• Santa Clara County
• San Mateo County

Satellite Images Show Economies Growing and Shrinking in Real Time
http://bloom.bg/1HcnRj0
 

From Paragon Real Estate Company:

Case-Shiller Home Price Index - San Francisco
Read here

2015 Mid-Year San Francisco Real Estate Report
Read here

SF Bay Area Apartment Market Report
Read here