By Doug Fabbioli

I recently received a substantial honor when the Loudoun Laurels Foundations named me a Loudoun Laureate. This organization recognizes leaders in the community that have given of themselves to improve the local culture and its people. In addition to recognizing leaders the Laurels give substantial scholarships to first generation students to help build our next generation of giving leaders. I am extremely honored to receive this acknowledgement and look forward to continuing my work in the education and mentoring of agriculture, trades and small business.

So, I wanted to use this forum to spread a few of the thoughts I shared in my speech.

There’s an old saying “you can make bad wine from good grapes, but you can’t make good wine from bad grapes”.  Also known as “garbage in, garbage out” which is a term used in the business world.  In the farming world we need to continually focus on quality agriculture practices all the time by improving technology, respond to climate change, invest in infrastructure and invest in the team.

Have you heard about a farmer that wins that $2 million in the lottery?  When asked what he will do next, he says “I’ll keep farming!”  Yes, farmers are gamblers, addicted to what could come next year. They were the first entrepreneurs by growing more than they could use so they had something to trade. They established the manufacturing techniques so the food products were stabilized to last longer and to travel. We owe a lot to these men and women who committed their lives to the land, animals, crops and family so others can eat and drink.

I consider myself a solar energy engineer. Energy from the sun is relatively free. We need soil, plant material, water, labor, fertilizer and more in order to turn that energy into a product to be sold. But the main input in our industry is the power from the sun. Galileo Galilei describes this so well, “Wine is sunlight, held together by wine”.

In agricultural and in life it is important to always keep learning!  We expect young people to learn all the time.  I show my students and mentees many of the mistakes I have made over the years. I share with them recent mistakes and what I learned and how I fixed it… after all how I can expect them to want to learn if I am unwilling to learn myself.

Have a mentor, be a mentor. As we get older, it gets harder to find a mentor. We get into our own career paths and find more peers than elders. I have found folks I admire for what they do, some are younger and more detail oriented, other are better leaders or have a style I admire. But admitting that you need a mentor means you want to learn more, and you are willing to park your ego in order to do that. Being a mentor has made me a better winemaker, farmer and person.

All boats lift in a rising tide. I was told this statement when I came to Virginia in 1997. Our wine industry was a fledgling. We needed to work together to get folks to try our wines. We also needed to help each other make better wine, share assets, boost each other and recognize that we all can win. This is such a different way of doing business. But farmers help each other all the time. Winemakers share procedures and tips to help their neighbor. We share customers, staff, grapes and suppliers. Our wines are different but we all want great quality!

The next generation of farmers continues to grow. We teach, they learn and the teachers need to keep learning as well. You can help with this by supporting our businesses. BUY OUR WINES and share them with friends. Less wine is being consumed so buy local, buy quality and share our products at your gatherings and on a regular basis. A little more will go a long way.