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2013 ASCRS•ASOA San Francisco Daily News Tuesday

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ASCRS SYMPOSIUM, SAN DIEGO 2011 FRANCISCO 2013 ASCRS•ASOA SYMPOSIUM & CONGRESS, SANFebruary 2011 Dr. Sinskey at the vineyard. for a weekend, I would come up and I began to buy land around Acacia." He had hopes of growing his own grapes. Dr. Sinskey also loaned the winery some money to expand on its Bordeaux-style wines, but before long it became clear that the winery was faltering. "I found out in 1983 that the president wasn't paying the bottler or the grape growers and was just running up a tab, and we were about to go bankrupt," Dr. Sinskey revealed. One of the other partners took over the reins of the floundering business. Since Dr. Sinskey needed to be repaid, he was given 11 acres to establish his own business, foisting him into a totally different sphere. He opted to make hay of the situation. "I decided to do my own thing without 42 partners," he said, adding that he recruited the Acacia winemaker to help him build his own Bordeaux-style winery. Pressing challenges It was not until three years later that Dr. Sinskey had his first grape crush, beginning the line with chardonnay and pinot noir. However, success was not immediate. "In those days chardonnay was hot but the market was overcrowded," he explained. "My chardonnay didn't taste very good because my winemaker was a red winemaker." Dr. Sinskey found himself at loggerheads with the man. "As In 1989, as well as 2009 and 2010, too much rain resulted in subpar grapes. The vineyard was able to ride out such events thanks to Dr. Sinskey's ophthalmic success. "Fortunately, I was well capitalized because of my practice," he said. Now the wine is well received. "We have a good product, and we straightened out our problems," Dr. Sinskey said. "Now we're known not only nationally but internationally." Throughout it all, even when financially pressed, the Sinskeys protected their vineyard's good name by selling any wine that they felt was less than their best under a second label dubbed Aries. Dr. Sinskey remains optimistic about the business, which in recent years has expanded to include a trufSource (all): Robert Sinskey, MD someone at the leading edge of ophthalmology, I wanted to be on the leading edge of the wine business," he said. "With this guy, unless it was done 100 years ago in Italy, he didn't do it." Meanwhile, Dr. Sinskey's son, Robert Jr., came onboard to head up marketing. Robert Jr. then took a chance on 25-year-old Jeff Virnig, who had limited experience but was knowledgeable. "When I talked to Jeff, he knew more about what we were doing than our winemaker," Dr. Sinskey said. "So we made Jeff the winemaker." Fortunately for Dr. Sinskey, who was running his practice 500 miles away in Santa Monica, Rob Jr. proved to be his top asset. "My son turned out to have a marvelous palate and was able to pick up the flaws in the wine before the winemaker," Dr. Sinskey said. Rob Jr. was able to be hands-on in a way that wasn't possible for Dr. Sinskey at the height of his ophthalmic career. Still, challenges arose, including the bitter revelation that the hybrid root stock that the original winemaker had selected was infested by phylloxera, a root louse that eventually kills the vines. "There is no cure for it; you have to take it all out," Dr. Sinskey said. This amounted to a multimillion-dollar procedure when he factored in the amount it cost to initially plant the vines, the 56 acres affected by the infestation, and the years it took to get a decent crop. EW SHOW DAILY 41 fle farm, allowing the organic vineyard to take on a biodynamic label not possible when grapes alone are grown. "The future is good, but you have to work hard constantly," he said. "It's not something that I could have run from 500 miles south of here." He credits his son with RSV's ultimate success. "My son was the one who saved the day for me," he said. "I would have had to sell it." Besides distance, Dr. Sinskey's heart was elsewhere, he admitted. "My first love is medicine," he said. "You lose an eye, it's serious stuff, you lose a barrel of wine or part of a vintage, and it's only money." Still, RSV has become yet another impressive part of Dr. Sinskey's storied legacy. EW

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