Wine Enthusiast Magazine Names Ste. Michelle’s Ted Baseler ‘Man of the Year’

Woodinville, WA

Wine Enthusiast magazine has named Ted Baseler, President/CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, recipient of its ‘Man of the Year’ award.

The award recognizes Baseler for his “outstanding contribution to the world of wine,” noting that under his leadership, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, “…has evolved into a high performance organization known for its top quality, world-class wines."

Since 1990, Wine Enthusiast has named winners of its Wine Star Awards in 10 categories, including man, region, retailer and innovator of the year. In 2004, Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery was named ‘American Winery of the Year.’

Baseler assumed leadership of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in 2000, and since then has increased the company’s prestige by building a high quality wine portfolio that spans price and varietal categories and represents regions throughout the world. Today the company ranks as one the fastest growing premium wine companies in the U.S.

Notably, he organized Ste. Michelle around the philosophical premise that a big wine company can successfully manage a collection of estates by ceding all vineyard and winery decision making authority to individual estate agents.

“I liken our portfolio to a string of pearls,” Baseler said. “Each estate is a uniquely formed and uniquely appreciated gem and its association to the other gems in our portfolio is limited to the connecting thread of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates’ administrative and sales teams.”

As Baseler expanded the company beginning in 2000, he did so with the string of pearls philosophy in mind. Wineries were constructed for and dedicated to Col Solare (Red Mountain) and Northstar (Walla Walla) and estate vineyards were planted. Acquisitions focused on heralded estates that contributed to the historical significance of their respective regions: Spring Valley Vineyard (Walla Walla), Erath (Oregon) and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (California).

He also filled strategic niches in the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates’ portfolio by importing celebrated wines from important viticultural regions, including Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte (France), Haras (Chile) and Marchesi Antinori (Italy). Ste. Michelle’s long-term business relationship with Antinori also includes co-ownership of the Col Solare and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars properties.

The Wine Enthusiast profile, authored by Northwest native Paul Gregutt, the magazine’s contributing editor and Tasting Panel member, further recognized Baseler’s work establishing strategic partnerships with these leading international wine producers and also “…for collaborating with fellow members of Washington’s wine industry to help raise the region’s profile, worldwide.”

In Washington State, Baseler has championed philanthropic programs that support Northwest wine and higher education endeavors. He founded the Chateau Ste. Michelle Scholarship Fund to provide college and university scholarships to underrepresented, low-income students. To date, more than $2.7 million has been raised. Baseler also was the instrumental force in funding and launching the Viticulture and Enology Program at Washington State University with fundraising surpassing the $1 million mark in 2009.

Winners will be featured in Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s December 15th issue on newsstands December 1, 2009.

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is among the 10 largest premium wine companies in the United States, and its roots go back to the end of Prohibition in 1934. Wines under the Ste. Michelle label were first introduced in 1967, and since that time the company has expanded its vineyard holdings to more than 3,700 acres in Washington and California. Today the Washington portfolio includes Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, Northstar, Spring Valley Vineyards, Col Solare, Domaine Ste. Michelle, Red Diamond, Snoqualmie and 14 Hands. The company also owns Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (with Italy’s Antinori family), Conn Creek and Villa Mt. Eden in the Napa Valley of California, and Erath, in Dundee, Oregon. In 2006, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates became the exclusive U.S. importer for the acclaimed Antinori wine company of Italy and Chile’s Haras wines, and in 2009 for Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte of France.

# # #

For further information:
Kari Leitch
425/415-3673
kari.leitch@ste-michelle.com