Girls In Tech

Boeing’s Employee Wine Club Is Turning the Company’s Tech Gurus into Wine Gurus

Boeing may be known internationally as one of the world’s premier aerospace and defense companies, but in Washington State where Boeing’s commercial airline business group is headquartered, Boeing is known for something else as well – producing some of Washington’s most notable winemakers.

Since 1972, Boeing has provided current and former employees an opportunity for membership in the Boeing Employees Wine and Beer Makers Club, a.k.a. the “Boeing Wine Club.”  The Boeing Wine Club started during the same decade that Washington’s wine industry experienced significant expansion* and the Club offered members contacts and contracts with some of Washington’s top grape growers, enabling members to get into Washington’s wine industry at the ground level.**  This has given Boeing Wine Club members unique access to top quality grapes and top quality wine technology.  In addition, the Club’s membership boasts some of the aerospace industry’s top engineers – brilliant engineering and technological minds who have turned their attention to the science of winemaking.  The result: a winemaking club that has become famous for turning top aerospace techies into top wine techies.

Graduates of the Boeing Wine Club include: Ben Smith of Cadence Winery; Tim Narby of Nota Bene Cellars; Dave Larsen of Soos Creek Wine Cellars; and relative newcomer John Bell of Willis Hall.

Cadence’s Smith spent over ten years working at Boeing as a mechanical engineer designing airplanes before making his first vintage  in 1998.  Since 1999, Smith’s wines have consistently received scores in the 90s from Wine Spectator and his Grande Rêve Collaboration Series I produced with Ciel du Cheval grapes recently received 95 point scores from Wine Advocate for the 2005 and 2006 vintages.

Nota Bene’s Narby is a former Boeing systems analyst who started Nota Bene with his wife 18 years ago.   Their award-winning wines include the Abbinare Washington, Syrah Washington, and Abbinare Columbia Valley, each of which received a 90-point score from Wine Spectator.

Soos Creek’s Larsen is one of Washington’s most respected winemakers.  He started his winery in 1989 while working in Boeing’s Finance Department.  His 2007 Champoux Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills and 2007 Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Red Mountain received 92-point ratings from Wine Spectator.

Willis Hall’s Bell was a propulsion engineer at Boeing for 31 years, who produced his first commercial vintage in 2003 while stillworking at Boeing. *** After retiring in 2004 to pursue winemaking fulltime, Bell was honored in 2006 by Seattle Magazine as Washington’s Best New Winemaker.

For more information about the Boeing Wine Club, visit its website at: http://www.bewbc.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Meredith D. Williams is an employment lawyer in Los Angeles, California and a partner at Miller | Williams LLP, an employment litigation and counseling law firm, providing businesses of all sizes, as well as selected employees, experienced and cost-effective legal services in a wide range of employment-related litigation and counseling matters, including matters involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour issues. Follow: @MerEsqLA

* See http://www.washingtonstatewineclub.com/history.html

** See http://www.executivetravelmagazine.com/page/Fruits%20of%20their%20labor

*** See http://www.winecow.com/features/wc_winery_willishall.asp