A Influential Wine Insider Passes
Inside any industry that attracts the attention of the general public there are the visible stars and the people behind the scenes. The wine Industry is no different. We have Robert Mondavi, Robert Parker, Helen Turley and other highly visible and influential folk.
Yet, it’s often those behind the scenes that make the greatest impact on the industry. One of the wine industry’s most influential people died recently and at a terribly young age.
Patrick Wofford owned Benchmark Consulting in Sonoma. He died on October 27. He was 46. Through his offices walked probably so many of the best people in the wine industry that it would astound us to know all the things he did for so many. Benchmark Consulting is the top recruiting firm for the wine industry. Chances are if you had ambition, at some point you sat across from Patrick and listened to the guidance he gave on career development.
I remember Patrick seeing me some time ago. I was between work and figured I should see Patrick and see where he could place me. The experience was thoroughly fulfilling. He briefly looked over my resume then asked, "why in the world would you want to work for anyone else when you clearly can work for yourself?"
He had a point.
Patrick will be missed. Not only as a source of insight, but for what he gave back. In my town of Sonoma he was always very active in local affairs and cared deeply about the future of the community.
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