In our last blog post of 2011, Larry Maguire, President and CEO, pays tribute to a friendship that has stood the test of time.

Two weeks ago at our annual holiday party one of our staff members snapped this picture of Dirk and me. I couldn’t help but think back on the nearly 30 years that Dirk and I have been working together.

When I arrived on Valentine’s Day 1983, to be the sales and marketing director for Gil and Beth, Dirk was the assistant winemaker. At that time, Gil maintained the title of winemaker, and we had a consultant winemaker who guided them both.

It would have been impossible for me to have envisioned the picture above. Since the first holiday party where Dirk and I celebrated, our company has grown from six employees with one winery to 120 employees, four wineries and a vineyard company. Of course, none of this could have happened without the incredible employees with whom we celebrated that day.

In this photo you can see the smile between two great friends who have been working together virtually their entire adult lives. Perhaps you can also see the glint in the eyes that suggest someone is just getting ready to jab the other with a one-liner. So it goes. I’m sure you can imagine that back in 1983, Dirk and I had significantly more hair. It’s probably not necessary to point out that what I still have is black!