If you think you’ve had a bottle of Sparrow Lane, but it was a Howell Mountain Napa Valley Zinfandel, you’re right.
In 1984 Phil Toohey started his winery and produced Zinfandel under the Sparrow Lane label. “I began in the wine industry. I came to California from Colorado when August Sebastiani and Louis Martini were leading the movement away from a focus on French wines and making fine California wines, and Alice Waters was just raising the flag for California cuisine.”
Phil’s wife Denise owned the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company for 20 years and also started Olivier Olive Oil. “She’s a real foodie,” Phil says. In 1998 they saw tremendous new opportunities in the specialty food business.
They launched Sparrow Lane with a very grass roots approach, testing their varietal vinegars with chefs and students at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena and the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.
“We are in the perfect location,” Phil explains. “The Napa Valley is nationally known as the fruit basket of America. Everything is here—ingredients, talent, technical tools—the pulse of the food and wine business.”
For the same reason that the one wine does not pair well with every food, Phil is offering a choice in vinegars. “Every ingredient matters. The foundation of any great food is built in the pantry with the most intrinsic elements, so we give people who cook at home the same choices that chefs have. The difference between a wonderful dish and an incredible dish may be just the nuance of flavor our varietal vinegars bring to it.”
“Frankly, our vinegars are what every great world-class wine aspires to be someday!”
But this is only part of the Sparrow Lane story. “It’s important to me to have a balance in food and in life. We operate our company with what I call ‘conscious rectitude’. Sustainability is vital to us, as are the benevolent projects that we’re involved with.”
Phil and Denise use Sparrow Lane as a bridge to make the world a better place. “We care about our employees and their families. We intentionally have made our company a place where they want to come to work. We buy ingredients from local, small businesses.”
In addition to having a positive local impact, the Tooheys want their company to have a global reach. Phil has worked with his Rotary Club to send 3,000 wheelchairs all over the world.
All of this adds up to a satisfying life. “I’m happy to be on the fringe. I think innovations from the fringe—the cutting edge—tend to spin in. I loved the wine industry, but I have to say that I’m having the time of my life!”
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