Passion v. Arrogance: A Dana & Goliath Story of Wine, Women and Wrong!

By Margaret E.J. Broderick

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976259761
• ISBN13: 9780976259763
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Passion Power Press, Inc
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

A Cautionary Tale of Owning a Winery

If you've ever considered starting your own winery, then it's well worth it to read Passion v. Arrogance: A Dana and Goliath Story of Wine, Women & Wrong! by Margaret Broderick. The title pretty much says it all. This is a small-vs-large, legal battle set between a pair of female lovers and the banks that first help them, then turn on them when things start to seem tough. In many ways, the story isn't just about wine. In fact in the important ways, it is barely about wine. It begins as a love story, where you learn how Angee and Margaret first meet, fall in love, and become life partners. It progresses into a story of small business triumphs, as Angee and Margaret begin buying grape juice and creating well-received wines in a city in Indiana. They hold parties, weddings, events, and sell volumes of bottles from their mid-city location. The bank loves them, their patrons love them, and life goes well. You learn a lot of business-savvy advice from Margaret as she describes the various ups and downs the winery goes through, from the hiring and firing to the trials and tribulations of moving stock and keeping the supply flowing. Anybody who thinks owning a winery is a quick ticket to millions should really read this book and study it. Running a winery is hard work, and earns few rewards. As Margaret explains, in their last year of operation (when things were in full swing and doing well) they took home under $10,000 for the entire year's work. The first half of the book is fascinating as Margaret and Angee find solutions to problems and are on a great path of expansion and dreams. About half-way through the book, though, things turn down. With the year 2000, an economic downturn couples with Angee's worsening health problems. The winery is expanding, but there's just not enough income to make things work long term. The couple's dreams of retiring to Key West with a dog and a Baileys / Grand Marnier combo cocktail are just not working out. After a great deal of angst, Margaret and her soulmate decide to fold the business. You would think this is where most books would end. But Margaret is just beginning, and this is where the book changes from a story about the life and death of a winery into a diatribe against the evil forces that tromped her into the dirt. I can't fault Margaret at all. The bank was truly both nasty and blatantly illegal in its actions, judging from the book's records. Annoyingly, the book ends before the actual court cases do, so you don't get any sense that the bank was ever punished for its misdeeds. You do know at least that the FDIC was in the process of taking action against the bank. But in any case, a lot of the purpose of the second half of the book seems to be revenge against the bank and against the attorneys that mis-represented the winery. There are pages and pages of FDIC website printouts. Pages and pages of audio transcripts from meetings. Where the first half of the book was a joy to read and had me flipping p

Truly a must read.

Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (1/06) In the early nineties, the author and her partner, an award winning winemaker, had a dream, a passion if you will, to open a unique, female owned winery. They succeeded in their quest, going international with their own private label wine, until 2002. As the country dealt with the aftereffects of the dot-com economy crash and venture capital money sources dried up, they realized that they had no option but to close the business. They carefully structured a plan which would allow them to fully satisfy all their creditors and even realize a small remuneration for themselves. Armed with this plan, they met with the bank holding their loan.....and the nightmare of their passion versus the bank's arrogance began. This book follows them as they attempt to execute a dignified closing of their pride and joy while dealing with a life-threatening illness. You share their journey as they deal with arrogant, corrupt attorneys and bankers, enter the courtroom to go before an incompetent judge and watch their dream, literally, go down the drain. The author takes great care to make a clear separation of facts and opinions, drawing heavily on e-mails, letters and trial transcripts to lay out all the facts in an unbiased manner. I found myself unable to stop reading, getting up early in the morning to finish the book. I can only hope writing this book was a catharsis for the author. I shared her passion, her pain, her disgust, her hopes and her fears. Finally, in the author's own words: "....this story was designed to be an education in passion versus arrogance, right versus wrong and even, at times, women versus men." Truly a must read.

A cautionary tale for small businesses

This is the true story of two women, Margaret (the author) and Angee, who decide to start a woman-owned winery in Indiana. In general, things go exceptionally well. There are the usual ups and downs as with any startup, but for Margaret and Angee, it's mostly up. They experience double-digit growth each year, their winery becomes known internationally, and their business reputation is excellent. They also go through a number of salespeople, of varying degrees of competence. After six years of long nights and weekends, and after failing to get financing for expansion, the decision is made to close the winery. Margaret and Angee already had a plan in place to take 90 days to complete the closing. That way, the creditors would be paid, and it could all be done the "right" way. The bank said No; they wanted their money now. Throughout the whole closing process, the (unnamed) bank exhibits a level of professional incompetence that borders on unreal. At one point in the process, Margaret and Angee are refused entrance to the winery, by the bank, in order to sell bottles of wine already on the shelves to raise money to pay off creditors. At another point, a barrel of unbottled wine has to be dumped because it has gone bad. Margaret and Angee are refused entrance into the winery in order to bottle and sell the wine. Around this time, Angee contracts an undiagnosed, chronic pain condition that puts her out of action for much of the closing process. A poorly planned auction for the winery's assets is held by the bank. It nets them a couple of percent of the value of the assets; if the bank had followed the Margaret and Angee Plan, they would have received over 90 percent of the value of the winery's assets. The reason for the bank's strange behavior is discovered later in the book. They are in trouble with the FDIC over their debt level, and have been told to reduce it, now. The American Dream of entrepreneurship becomes a nightmare of lawyers, bureaucracy and court appearances. This is an excellent book. It isn't just an interesting startup story, it's also a must-read cautionary tale for all small business owners. Don't assume your bank is one of the Good Guys; prepare yourself, financially, ahead of time. A good place to start is to read this book. At the risk of sounding like a cliche: This could happen to you!

A truly great read

In a groundbreaking partnership Angee Walberry and Margaret Broderick collaborated to launch a business venture called Gaia Wines, Inc. This was the first solely women owned American winery. Gaia Wines won them the "Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist" award. Gaia Wines also achieved six years of consistent double digit annual growth -- no small accomplishment in the volitale and highly competitive field of wines. In "Passion v. Arrogance: A Dana & Goliath Story of Wine, Women and Wrong!", Margaret Broderick vividly recounts the compelling story of this small Midwestern winery under female ownership, competing in what was traditional considered a "man's world". With their impressive start and remarkable international growth, the women were eventual to face the difficult business decision to close down their enterprise. "Passion v. Arrogance" details the results these women faced from the business world, as well as revealing the excitement, the commitment, the dedication, the hard work, and the dream that they (like all aspiring entrepreneurs) must possess when they start a commercial venture. "Passion v. Arrogance" also chronicles the inevitable changes in relationships, fluctuating economic times, and just how government involvement with a financial institution's operation in a private venture caused a cascading of ultimately disastrous actions leading to the demise of a once promising and successful entreprenurial venture. Of special note is Margaret Broderick's candid discussion of the mistakes, the struggles, and an ultimate belief in the leadership and management that allowed her and her partner to continue a final two year struggle against the rising odds against them. Highly recommended for Women's Studies and Business Studies supplemental reading lists, "Passion v. Arrogance" is informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, and from first page to last, a truly great read.