This past month a very good friend of mine passed away. Jim Laube died after a short illness. When he passed away he was surrounded by his loving family. He was 73 years old. He started his career as a newspaperman, and went on to dedicate 40 years of reporting for Wine Spectator, as well as authoring four books, including “Wine Spectator’s California Wine.”
In the last dozen or so years, Jim and I formed a close friendship. He was a great mentor to me and shared lots of great wine industry stories. In November 2018 he and I sat down to discuss his career. He encouraged me to publish his story in a series of posts, of which this is Part Two. (Please note: I did write these stories in 2018, putting many edits into them and finalizing them in 2019. Posting them here as he retold them makes it feel like he is right here with us today.)
Crafting a Career in Journalism, Part Two: Getting the Story through Nuts and Bolts Journalism
In our last interview, Jim said that the essence of journalism is taking a complicated issue and breaking it down to the fundamentals and explaining it to the reader. Over his years in news reporting, he broke complicated issues down for his readers to easily understand. Jim’s success in reporting and wine writing did not happen overnight but was the result of what he calls “nuts and bolts journalism.” This is putting the time in, getting the story and reporting it back for readers in a concise manner.
Through our conversations, it is clear that Jim put in his time and stuck true to his belief in nuts and bolts journalism.
To get the story, Jim spent a good part of his early days reporting on a wide variety of issues. These included local political issues, winemaking topics, harvest yields, and public interest stories. He went out, told the story, and reported the issues factually and relatable for the reader. As he put his time in, he ended up getting some memorable scoops.
Jim, first and foremost, what do you think led to your success? Why were interviewees willing to give me information? They came to really trust me and my reporting. I didn’t wing it. I built my reputation and built trust. I don’t bullshit. I tell it straight. People respect that.
Having put your time in, can you tell me about a memorable scoop you had early on? Writing for the Vallejo Times-Herald, I had built friendships with law enforcement, and would get invited on ride-alongs. One Sunday night a friend at the sheriff’s office invited me along on a drug bust. I didn’t hesitate. I jumped at the opportunity to go, and that night I got the scoop on the largest drug bust in Northern California. That story and my photos landed on the front page of newspapers throughout California.
Can you give me another example of a time you were putting in the work and it paid off? Another scoop I got was reporting on the Napa Valley Vintners inaugural wine auction in 1981. The Vintners held their first auction to raise money for the St. Helena Hospital. Vintners from the Napa Valley donated wines to the event. I attended the auction which was held at Robert Mondavi Winery. It was a hot day, and I was reporting on everything from the wines that were being auctioned off to the fact that the event was running out of drinking water to quench people’s thirst due to the heat.
At the auction, one of the auction lots was a case of wine from a new venture in the valley, Napamedoc. This auction lot set a record that day, being won by Charles Mara for $24,000. That was $2,000 a bottle! I ran the story about this winning lot and about the entire event. The next day was Father’s Day, and feel good stories do well on days like that. My story made the front page of papers around the U.S. My name and photos were again above the fold on papers throughout America that morning
That’s a great story! Was that the highlight of that weekend? It could have been, and my editor gave me the day off. But my friend Harvey Posert invited me to a vertical tasting of Mondavi wines that Bob Mondavi was putting on for the auction winner, Charles Mara. Again, I didn’t hesitate to take Harvey up on the opportunity and went to that tasting. There, I was sitting next to Bob Mondavi and learning about the partnership he had with Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Napamedoc is now known as Opus One.
Right after the tasting, I was sitting with Michael Mondavi in the winery’s Vineyard Room. Looking out of the windows across the Napa Valley, we saw smoke climbing out of a vineyard in the Stag’s Leap area. “Is that a fire?” It had been unseasonably warm and that day there was a strong wind blowing. I jumped in my car to see what was going on. I got to the fire and was one of the first witnesses of what was happening. I started reporting. That day my office became the AP headquarters and I was running five reporters on the story. My story was on the front page of newspapers around the world the next day.
Wow, in two days, you had authored two front page stories that ran worldwide. You were on a roll. Why do you think you were in the right place at the right time? Nuts and bolts journalism. I put in the time, had the relationships that got me the story and I told a factual and enjoyable story for my readers.
Often people say you should make a career doing something you love. Talking with Jim, he really loves journalism and has made a fulfilling career out of it. He had been advised against journalism by friends early on, but he knew he wanted to write and that he is a newsman through and through. He has shown us that you really can do what you love, and do it well. By putting in the time, he got some great scoops too.
