The Man Who Didn't Pay Last Year's Rent

It's New Year's Eve, the ultimate celebration night. It is always super busy in the restaurant business. In our restaurants, we referred to it as 'Amateur Night'. If a person only went out one night a year, this was it. They always overindulged and usually made fools of themselves. Celebration always brings up thoughts of Champagne, not sparkling wine but true Champagne from the Champagne region of France. When I think of Champagne, I always think of Claude Taittinger.  

I was in the wine business for a few years. I had a friend who worked for Young's Market, a wholesale wine and liquor distributor in San Francisco. He told me I needed to get in the wine business because it was much easier than the restaurant business. Well, he lied. It wasn't easier. It was different. For the most part you get weekends and holidays off. You get to taste a lot of different wines and liquors, some of the really good stuff. And you get to travel to a lot of interesting places and meet a lot of interesting people. But it's just as difficult, only in a different way.    

After the repeal of Prohibition in the United States, a three-tier system of alcoholic beverage distribution was set up. These three tiers are producers or importers, distributors and retailers. When I started in the wine business, I went to work for Mr. Frank Stone at Empire Distributors in Atlanta. I started as a sales representative. I must tell you that I was always much better at consuming alcoholic beverages than selling them. I was never really a people person. You have to be a people person to be good at selling.

I have been lucky. I have worked in all three tiers of this system at one time or another. I worked for Winebow Inc. which was an importer. Empire which was a distributor and I have held retail liquor licenses in the different restaurants I have owned.

While with Empire Distributors, I advanced into management. I became the on-premise fine wine manager for Atlanta. I worked with Frank Stone, in dealing with the different producers and importers that we represented in the state of Georgia. We set up sales programs, pricing and liaisons with the wine shops and restaurants in our market. 

In addition to Georgia, Empire owned distributor houses in North Carolina, one in Wilmington, one in Raleigh, one in Charlotte and one in Asheville. The North Carolina houses represented a different set of producers and importers than in Georgia. At one point, Empire was having some problems in North Carolina so the owner sent Frank and myself up to solve them. I eventually became the state fine wine manager for North Carolina and traveled between the different houses educating their sales forces on the different fine wines in their portfolios. 

One of these importers was Kobrand Corporation. It is headquartered in a midtown Manhattan townhouse in New York City. It is a privately owned marketer of wines and spirits and serves as the exclusive agent for many fine European wines. Kobrand also owns many of the brands in their portfolio. They also represents brands from outside of Europe. All total, they have a large list of brands that they market in the United States.

Kobrand operated a week-long wine education course out of that townhouse for their different state distributor partners. I was invited to attend the course as the representative from Empire in North Carolina. This was back in 1997. I'm not sure that they still do this. There were about 40 of us from all over the country. We were housed in nearby hotels and classes started promptly at 8:00 in the morning. There was a break for lunch which always included a food and wine pairing, then we had afternoon classes. After class, there was a small break and then dinner out as a group with more food and wine pairings. It was quite intense. 

The classes included a lesson in blind tasting wine and lessons on all the different countries' wine regions. This only included the countries where Kobrand had brands.  Of course, we were also educated on the wineries and distillers Kobrand represented. Kobrand had its own educator and he traveled the country working with the different distributors sales forces on these particular countries and products. He led most of these classes but they also had representatives of different wineries (winemakers,sales managers or owners) conducting some of the classes. 

On the third day, for the afternoon session Mr. Claude Taittinger taught the course on Champagne. He stood at the back of the room and was introduced. As he made his way up to the lectern, he stopped at each person and asked their name and shook their hand. He actually kissed the ladies' hands. He's French. He gave an impressive lecture on the history and particulars of the Champagne region of France. It included the history of his champagne house and a tasting of his different cuvees. I was impressed, as was everyone else. As he left the room, he again shook or kissed everyone's hand and called them by their name. He had remembered everyone's name. I'm sure he had probably met some of these people before, but not all 40. I was astounded. 

Claude Taittinger died in January of 2022 at 94, a few days after New Year's Eve. He was a remarkable man who ran Champagne Taittinger for nearly 50 years. He was the ultimate bon vivant and an astute businessman. He started in the family business at age 22 and was 24 when he came to the United States representing the family to negotiate the distribution partnership with Kobrand.  During his tenure, he increased the number of family owned vineyards to 712 acres, increase production from 85,000 cases to over 410,000 cases per year. He also modernized the marketing of champagne as a luxury product. In addition he managed the other family businesses such as the Concorde Hotels and Baccarat Crystal. He was born into wealth and with his business acumen he greatly increased it. 

Mr. Taittinger was always an ambassador for the Taittinger brand. He was  a gourmand and a patron of the arts. He established the Pierre Taittinger International Culinary Award to recognize talented young chefs. He developed the Taittinger Collection which featured works of art by contemporary artist like Roy Lichtenstein and Andre Masson on bottles of Taittinger.

The third night was a free night for all the students of this wine course. There was no planned function. I have always been a fan of Broadway. Any trip to New York, in addition to restaurants has included at least one show. The musical 'Rent' had just opened and had received a lot of press. I was going to forgo a great dining experience for a great theater one. I don't know if the show's themes of love, friendship and artistic expression wasn't appealing to my fellow students. Or if the addressing of the social issues of HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+ rights and poverty turned them off. For whatever reason I couldn't get anyone else interested in going with me. I have never been afraid to "go it alone" so I did. Everyone else went to clubs and restaurants and I went to the theater. Because of my solo status, the ticket I procured was center orchestra 5 rows back from the stage, a prime seat. 

'Rent' is a rock musical by Jonathan Larson and is loosely based on the 1896 opera 'La Boheme' by Giacomo Puccini. 'Rent' opened one hundred years later in 1996. Jonathan Larson died from an aortic dissection the night before it debuted and several days after New Year's Eve. He was 35. 'La Boheme' written by Puccini, an Italian, is set in Paris. "Rent' written by Mr. Larson, an American, is set in the East Village section of New York City. Both are about impoverished artists. 

  

Music has always been a mind escape for me. It takes me to a different place and time. On my first trip to New York City 25 years before, I had the chance to see a production of 'La Boheme' at Lincoln Center. Although I didn't understand a word of Italian, I was mesmerized by the music and staging. The music, lyrics and staging of 'Rent' had a similar effect on me. I loved it. 'Rent' won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical. It ran for 12 years on Broadway and grossed over $280 million. It was also made into a movie that starred all but 2 of the original Broadway cast.

Mr. Larson was a remarkable man. It took a lot of talent and hard work to make this show happen. It's sad to think he never got to see it open on Broadway. All the songs carried power and feeling. They had a profound effect on me, especially the Life Support song, "Will I" -

Will I Lose My Dignity?

Will Someone Care?

Will I Wake Tomorrow

From This Nightmare?  

I'm sure Mr. Taittinger saw productions of 'La Boheme'. Champagne and opera seem to go hand in hand. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Taittinger never saw a production of 'Rent' but I could be wrong. There is a line in one of the songs in 'Rent' where the impoverished artists of Alphabet City lament the fact that they will not be able to pay last year's rent, this year's rent or next year's rent. I don't think Mr. Taittinger ever had a problem paying any year's rent. I'm not sure he ever had any rent to pay. But he was a people person. He would have understood their predicament. In my book, Mr. Taittinger's gifts are priceless. So are Mr. Larson's. I'm sad I never had the opportunity to shake Mr. Larson's hand. But I celebrate his words. 

Seasons Of Love

Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes

Five hundred, twenty five thousand moments so dear

Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets

In midnights, in cups of coffee

In inches, in miles

In laughter, in strife

In five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes

How do you measure a year in a life?

How about love?

How about love?

How about love?

Measuring love

Seasons of love

Seasons of love

Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes

Five hundred, twenty five thousand journeys to plan

Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes

How can you measure the life of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned

Or in times that he cried

In bridges he burned

Or the way that she died

It's time now to sing out

Although it's not the end

To celebrate, remember a year in the life of a friend

Remember the love

Remember the love

Remember the love

Measuring the seasons of love

Seasons of love