Craig, Kathryn Hall establishing wine country landmark.
By Scott Gummer
Photography by Edward Caldwell
He is a Michigan boy who started in business at the tender age of 10, dropped out of college, but kept his entrepreneurial eye on the prize, and today, at 57, runs a multibillion-dollar Dallas-based investment firm. She is a pharmacist-turned-farmer’s daughter from California who was president of the Young Republicans on the turbulent University of California-Berkeley campus in the 1960s, went to work as a lawyer, switched political parties, and served from 1997 to 2001 as the U.S. Ambassador to Austria.
Together, Kathryn and Craig Hall have turned their attention, talents, and shared passion for wine to the Napa Valley, where their Hall Winery has become the talk of the town, as well as the industry. Amid the hustle and bustle of the recent harvest, the Halls took time to sit down with Private Clubs contributor Scott Gummer. Surrounded by vineyards ablaze with color, the couple talked about their long and winding roads from humble beginnings to their Napa hilltop hideaway, collecting art, going back to school, making wine, and their designs for a new winery that is destined to become a wine country landmark.
HE SAID ...
You got an awfully early start in business.
When I was 10 years old, I bought the extract for Green River soda, which tasted like a bad, green Coke, and sold it at a glorified lemonade stand. I always worked, and before I was 18, I had placed coffee and tea machines in doctor and dentist offices, sold knives door-to-door, been a night watchman at a truck dock, shoveled gravel on a road crew, and worked my way up from washing pots and pans to head busboy at a cafeteria at the University of Michigan.
By the time you turned 18, you had amassed $4,000. Most kids might have gone and bought a fancy car, but not you?
I did buy a car, but it wasn’t fancy. It was a Buick with a stick shift that stuck and a heater that did not heat, which was a really bad thing in Michigan in the winter.
What did you do with the rest of your savings?
I invested in real estate and bought a rooming house in an old, dilapidated building. I was the landlord, the manager, the superintendent, and the janitor all in one.
Fast-forward 40 years, and today you are the chairman of a multibillion-dollar company with diverse interests including real estate, software, hotels, movie production, oil and gas, and wine. What are the key characteristics that have allowed you to achieve that kind of success?
Lack of focus. If I were smarter, I would stick with one thing like Bill Gates. In seriousness, a lot of what we do has a contrarian aspect to it. We take big risks that others won’t. We tread where angels fear. We bought American Airlines stock when a lot of people thought the company was going broke. We bought Radio Shack when they had a CEO crisis and other financial problems. In both cases, we are the largest noninstitutional holder of those two companies, and we are up considerably on our stock.
You’re a keen advocate for entrepreneurship. Where do you think the greatest opportunities for young entrepreneurs exist today?
In technology-related areas. The world is changing so fast, and in almost any business there exist opportunities to come up with ideas for how to apply new technologies.
When you were young you wanted to be a poet?
I wanted to be a poet and a social worker. I never thought about money as a principal goal. My goals were creativity and helping others, and while I took a different path, I really do get a chance to do both of those things today.
When and why did you get into collecting art?
When I was a teenager, and because my mother was an art teacher. She also did some sculpting and a bit of painting, and, as a teenager, I started collecting some of my mother’s works. Today, we have more than 700 pieces of art. I buy 30 to 40 pieces a year, and I don’t sell anything. A lot of it goes in our buildings and in sculpture gardens on our properties.
You’re involved in so many different and varied businesses. Which one is keeping you the busiest just now?
I spend the most time on two things right now: the stock market, as our company has a total of just under $1.5 billion in market positions; and the wine business. We’re currently in the middle of redeveloping our St. Helena facility, and that has been a really intense project.
Which businesses are you not in that you think you might like to try?
None that I can think of. Right now, we are looking to expand the various businesses that we are already in. We pick things that are fun, but there is always a reason.
SHE SAID ...
How does one properly address a former ambassador?
Ambassador. It is one of only a few government positions where you keep your title for life.
You have a long history of public service. Was your post as Ambassador to Austria the culmination, or might we see you give Hillary a run for her money as the first female president?
I’ve run for office twice before — for county judge and for mayor of Dallas — and while I did not win those elections, it was a case of one door closing and another one opening because had I won either of those elections I probably would never have been able to be an ambassador. So while I don’t see myself running for office, if the opportunity presented itself where I could serve the government again, I would be very interested. I don’t think politics ever gets out of your blood.
What was the most rewarding part of your experience as ambassador?
The United States took the lead in trying to bring governments of Central Europe, particularly Switzerland and Austria, to the recognition that they were complicit during World War II in some of the atrocities of the Hitler regime. I, along with our entire embassy, worked on that for almost two years, and I think there was a healing within the Austrian society over time. Being involved in that was a remarkable opportunity for me.
You were the president of the Young Republicans at UC Berkeley in the late ’60s? That must have been fascinating.
We were a small group of very independent people, but those were wonderful times, the really great days of Berkeley. I am actually back in school there part time now. As our winery started to grow larger than I had anticipated, I thought it would be helpful to have some business school knowledge to complement my experience as a lawyer. I am in an MBA program, learning a lot, and having a ball.
Comparing college campuses today to Berkeley in the ’60s, do you think young adults today have enough of a social conscience?
It was characteristic of my generation to question everything. Everything was up for examination. Making money was not the goal. I remember one professor telling my class in law school that, when we finished, we would be able to make $150,000 a year. All of us, I remember so clearly, thought that was so crass. I am guessing that is not the reaction you would get in colleges today. However, I’ll tell you what I do think is promising about this generation: an awareness of and respect for the environment that my generation did not have.
You are now an active and staunch Democrat. When did you switch political parties?
I worked for San Francisco Legal Assistance in my third year of law school, and doing poverty law was eye-opening for me. As a result of that, I re-examined how I looked at society and then switched.
What took you to Texas?
My work. I was an attorney for Safeway stores heading their affirmative action program. After working on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign in 1976, I stayed with the company but moved to the political arm. That post took me to Texas for supposedly six months, but I wound up staying and ultimately met my husband.
THEY SAID ...
Wine country is full of people with deep pockets and grand plans, but Kathryn has deep roots in the business.
KH: My father was a pharmacist in Berkeley, and when he was about 50 years old, he decided he wanted to grow wine grapes. So he sold his stores and moved the family up to Redwood Valley. I was in college by then, but I spent a lot of my weekends pruning vines and working in the vineyard.
What brought you two to Napa Valley?
CH: We believed — and still do — that Napa has the best cabernet vineyards in the United States.
KH: Maybe in the world.
No doubt you’ve heard the adage that if you want to make a small fortune in the wine business start with a large one.
CH: Ernest Gallo told me that.
Do you make wines in the style that you like to drink?
CH: We like many different styles of wine, but we made a business decision that we didn’t want to be all things to all people. Rather than do lots of things so-so, we wanted to specialize and do something very, very well, specifically Bordeaux varietals including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Cabernet Franc.
What does it take to make great wine that money cannot buy?
KH: I think it takes care and patience. And passion. You’ve got to have a lot of passion.
You have commissioned acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, he of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, to design Hall Winery in St. Helena, which will mark his first work in Northern California. What was the inspiration for hiring Frank Gehry?
KH: I think it’s a parallel to the way we feel about wine: Winemaking is a very traditional art, yet it is enhanced by modern technology. We think Frank Gehry is the greatest living architect, and having him restore this historic building built in 1885 will, in a similar way, be traditional yet modern.
CH: Kathy and I believe that long after we are gone this will be one of the nicest things we will have done, and not just for our family. We think it’s a great thing for Napa, both the brand and the community. It’s going to be a very special place.
KH: Napa Valley is an experience, and our hope is to share, through our wines, the celebrations that come from the Napa experience. We are in the wine business to celebrate life.
Scott Gummer is a regular contributor to Private Clubs, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, and more. He was born and raised in the California wine country, where he lives with his wife and four children.
CRAIG HALL
Membership: Stonebriar Country Club, Frisco, Texas.
Residences: Dallas; Napa Valley.
Birthplace: Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Occupations: Entrepreneur; chairman, Hall Financial Group.
Education: Attended University of Michigan; Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, degree in International Studies.
Hobby: Yachting.
Update: In December 2006, named among 11 honorees as recipients of the prestigious 2007 Horatio Alger Award.
Web site: www.hallfinancial.com
KATHRYN HALL
Membership: Stonebriar Country Club, Frisco, Texas.
Residences: Dallas; Napa Valley.
Birthplace: Berkeley, California.
Occupations: Vintner and lawyer.
Education: University of California-Berkeley, degree in economics; University of California Hastings College of Law, law degree.
Hobbies: Snow skiing, swimming, and Sudoku.
Web site: www.hallwines.com