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Access Alts China Members Meet 2018, Shanghai
11-12 September, 2018 / / The Grand Kempinski
Dear Members,
In the tradition of bringing in new families in the Access Alts club, I am delighted to introduce David Sinegal, owner of the Sinegal Estate Winery and son of the Sinegal family that founded the iconic retail chain Costco Wholesale Corporation in US.
David will host a wine tasting at our China Members Meet this year, and sharing with us the inspirational story of his father, James Sinegal, who starting with a humble background, built Costco into the $96 billion international retail powerhouse with 746 stores around the world.
Interestingly, Coscto is more than just a commercial success story. It pioneered membership-only warehouse clubs in America, selling high volumes of a small variety of goods at wholesale-level prices to a select group of customers who became members. Costco is now the world’s largest retailers of prime beef, organic foods, rotisserie chicken….and Wine.
Which brings me back to David. After spending 20 years with Costco Wholesale, David moved to San Francisco and turned into a passionate vintner, producing some of the top-ranked luxury wines at his stunningSinegal Estate Winery https://www.sinegalestate.com in Napa Valley. David is also an avid investor in technology venture capital sector through his family office and precisely the kind of member we expect at Access Alts. Someone that combines great personal capital with professional acumen and a keen interest in technology, innovation and investing.
While the Estate itself is drop dead gorgeous with its historic yellow Victorian house, an old stone winery, organic vines, olive trees and a beautiful private lake with rowboats and gazebo), what is remarkable about the winery is an infusion of obsessive detail, high technology and data driven process, all of which clearly stem from David. David’s idea is to build small batches of premier luxury wines at “wholesale prices” accessible to wine lovers through a membership that gives them access to the estate and best wines early on. Each wine bottle from the Sinegal Estate goes through a painstaking 1403 steps from the field to the vine to the glass, including soil samples, micro farming and labeling the bottles.
As David and I got to know each other better and became good friends, I have come to appreciate not just his tenacity, passion for precision and strategic thinking but his humble and understated approach that cleverly masks his product development and marketing genius.
We look forward to welcoming David Sinegal to family Access Alts and to raising a toast, with his spectacular wines, to you all. Contact us for Access Alts memberships and access to our Member Meets.
