Allen Shoup, whose leadership, background in marketing and eye for winemaking skill turned what is now Ste. Michelle Red wine Estates into a national power while assisting the Washington white wine market onto the worldwide phase, passed away Monday of natural causes at his home in Seattle. He was 79.
His death was revealed by Long Shadows Vintners, the company he created in the Walla Valley with a constellation of international winemaking stars brought in by the vision and success that appeared inherent in Shoup.
“He was to Washington white wines what his good friend and coach, Robert Mondavi, was to Napa Valley,” Napa Valley vintner Agustin Huneeus Sr., said in a statement launched by Long Shadows.Among Shoup’s legacies is the Auction of Washington White Wines, which, given that its production in 1988, has actually raised more than$ 59 million for Seattle Kid’s healthcare facility and wine-related research study at Washington State University. Shoup also was the driving force behind the petition to develop the Columbia Valley American Viticultural Location in 1984, the Washington State Wine Commission and the Washington Wine Institute, a lobbying company.” Allen challenged the parochial naiveté
that our market had when he arrived in 1980,” stated Bob Betz, a master of red wine and acclaimed wine maker whose career as an executive for Ste. Michelle, known as Stimson Lane Vineyards & Estates until 2004, overlapped that of Shoup.” & We were so Washington-focused from a production and marketing viewpoint that we didn’t really consider what was going on in the rest of the wine world to the extent we needed to.”Shoup grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, and
received an organization degree from the University of Michigan. He included a master’s degree in psychology from Eastern Michigan University while working for Chrysler, then was drafted into the Army. His 2 years of service, which ended in 1969, were spent mostly operating in the Pentagon.His marketing savvy led him to product development at Amway and after that to California cosmetic business Max Factor
. E. & J. Gallo Winery quickly discovered of Shoup’s abilities and employed him in 1975. After three years with Gallo, he almost took a job with Stimson Lane. Instead, he spent a brief time as communications director for Boise Waterfall in Idaho.In 1980, there were less than 20 wineries in Washington and much of Stimson Lane’s inventory included red wines from fruit aside from the traditional vinifera grapes that had changed California into a rising power.
Within three years of his arrival, Shoup was named president and CEO of what has actually become the eighth-largest white wine business in the United States.Investments by U.S. Tobacco, which owned Stimson Lane, included vineyards, state-of-the-art wineries, raised consumer experiences and research study that was shown the rest of the Washington white wine market.”I had a vision for what might happen, however the fact of the matter, the credit does not go to me, it goes to the moms and dad business that gave me the resources to do what I did, “Shoup informed HistoryLink.org in a current interview.That consists of the building of enormous production facilities in
Eastern Washington, specifically Columbia Crest Winery, that were managed by an apparently limitless string of wine making talent. In 1994, Stimson Lane developed its merlot-focused Northstar brand name and later built a winery for it in Walla Walla.Along the method, Shoup admired the success of Opus One in the Napa Valley– Mondavi’s innovative partnership with France’s popular Rothschild household. That principle led to Stimson Lane’s creation of Col Solare, a brand launched in 1995 with Italy’s Antinori household. The Eroica riesling collaboration with German icon Ernst Loosen followed in 1999
. The next year, after 20 years of business management and reporting to investors, Shoup was ready for a new obstacle. In 2002, he launched Long Shadows. By 2007, Food & White wine Magazine named Long Shadows its Winery of the Year.He is endured by his spouse Kathleen, child Ryan Shoup, stepson Dane Narbaitz, and three grandchildren. Both kids hold management positions at Long Shadows, which will be opening a brand-new tasting space in Woodinville in early 2023.