Working Girl

Part memoir, part business book and with a focus on women and wine, this is an in the trenches book about how Charlton rebuilt her winery as told through some hilarious stories using zany antics and off-the-wall guerilla marketing. Light up that entrepreneurial gene inside you as she shares, throughout this book, her own "Working Girl" approach to business. Including her constant focus and passion for her customers, without whom there is no business.

Sixteen years ago Kathy Charlton made a hard right turn, the new owner of a bankrupt winery, knowing nothing about running a small business, nor wine other than she liked her red wine served cold, sometimes over ice if she was in a hurry.

Gone was the security of her 25-year corporate career. Semiconductors to Grapes while not a natural career path helped unveil the entrepreneur gene inside her. That gene went on steroids and marketing became her middle name.

"I took every wine-pouring gig I could get to get my name out there. Even poured in a funeral home with my wine displayed in a "stainless steel casket." Local wineries told me to shut down; my business reputation damaged beyond repair and I'd never make it with no experience . . . . . . well, maybe not a smart personal trait on my part but never tell me I Can't Do It."

Sipping wines at sunset it wasn't . . . as Charlton details battling everything from a leaking septic system that shut the winery down, exploding wine presses, shortchanged bottle inventory, and a now-legendary lawsuit to halt her business by the United States Olympic Committee.

How did she do it? Well, that's where the hard work and yes, the fun began as Charlton (with no background in the wine industry) takes a winery with little name-recognition and massive quality issues and parlays it into an award-winning operation with double-gold medals to prove it.

So, pour yourself a glass of wine and put your feet up. This Working Girl has a story to tell you -- from Behind the Cellar Door.