Uncorking Success: Michael Browne's Journey from Circus to Wine Legend

0:01John Lee Dumas:Light that spark fire nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today we'll be breaking down how to unlock success. We're talking Michael Brown's journey from circus to wine legend. And to drop these vibe bombs, I brought to Michael Brown and EO Fire Studios. Michael is the celebrated co-founder of Costa Brown, creator of Cirque and Chev Wines, renowned for connecting people through exceptional winemaking, rooted in craftsmanship, innovation, and personal passion. And today we talk about the roots of the orchard.

0:34John Lee Dumas:We talk about circus to confidence, hustle and ambition, mentorship and mastery, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Michael and our sponsors. Fire Nation, are you ready to build something special in the next 50 days? Check out my free YouTube series, 50 Days to Something. Short and strategic step-by-step videos by me, JLD. On day 50, you'll have a valuable asset. And the best part is it's completely free. Visit eofire.com slash YouTube and start day one today. Stop duct taping your business together. High Level runs your website, your funnels, email, automation, scheduling, payments, and memberships all in one place.

1:15John Lee Dumas:And when you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you get a 30-day free trial plus my exclusive bonus stack that includes weekly office hours with me and much more. Visit highlevelfire.com. highlevelfire.com. Michael, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:40Michael Browne:Yeah, that's an interesting question. Because first of all, becoming successful has many different definitions for who is defining what success is for them. So what people might disagree with is that it happens overnight. Like there might be a business that comes on the scene and oh my gosh, how did they get there so quickly? And I can't believe they're so successful so quickly. And they had, it's an overnight success. Well, no, it never happens that way. It takes a lot of time to build something up from concept, through execution, through a lot of hard work, a lot of sinew is needed in order to really persevere and get through to a point where you might be paying your bills and you might be making a profit and your product might be gaining traction.

2:37Michael Browne:So I feel that a lot of people either want to be entrepreneur or people that aren't entrepreneurs say, wow, that's so easy to do. I think that's a misconception because from my experience and for entrepreneurs that I know, it is certainly not.

2:53John Lee Dumas:I love that we're kind of focusing on success at this early point because that's kind of what the focal point, the theme, so to speak, of our episode today is going to be around and that's unlocking success. Now, I want to start by talking about roots in the orchard because Michael, you grew up in an orchard which gave you a front row seat to the beauty of farming that by the way, most of us never get. So how do those early days spark your lifelong passion for flavor, for craftsmanship, and eventually for winemaking?

3:23Michael Browne:This is a great question. As far as agriculture, yeah, my dad was an entomologist in Washington State University. He studied tree mites on apple trees. I grew up in the apple capital of the world, although there were other fruit trees, cherries and pears and apricots and whatnot. And one of my favorite things to do as a child with my friends would, we'd go sit up in a cherry tree when they were ripe and just gorge on cherries. I loved it. My dad would always bring home apples. We'd make baked apples, apple pie, all apples everywhere. It was awesome. I love the fresh apricots. But what I go back to this all the time.

4:00Michael Browne:One time when I was probably in seventh grade, it was summertime. And so we were walking around our town, you know, me and my friends, and we walked by this peach orchard. It was probably about 10 a.m. in the morning. I remember like it was yesterday. And that was our breakfast. We would cruise around and eat tree fruit because we didn't take time to eat breakfast, right? And so I saw this peach glistening in the sun. I went over and I touched it. It was warm to the sun and it fell into my hand. And I bit into that peach and the flavors of peach were incredible. I'm drooling. Unbelievable. The juices were running down my hand and I said, wow, that's it.

4:41Michael Browne:I still have not had a peach that good my entire life. And so that translates directly into grape or wine grapes to today.

4:50John Lee Dumas:I mean, I literally am drooling from that story. And, you know, being somebody that grew up in Maine, we had amazing apple orchards every single fall. And that was one of my best memories is going, picking an apple off of the tree, taking a bite and it's, you're just tasting pureness. I mean, I can't eat an apple to this day. Like my wife's from California. She doesn't get it. She's like, this is a great apple. I'm like, that apple is disgusting.

5:13Michael Browne:Also, John, what I loved, I'd walk into an orchard, no matter what fruit it was. And there was an aromatic in the air. There was an energy in the air. This place is living and it has its own sort of ecosystem for sure, but its own sort of personality and its own energy. And you can smell that you could feel that. And then when you pull a piece of fruit off the tree, wow. And then transfer that into wine grapes where we live right now. I'm looking at wine, grapevines as we speak. And it is high end agriculture. It is the best fruit I have ever tasted in my life. More than that peach when the grapes are ripe and it is magical.

5:56Michael Browne:And then we make wine out of that?

5:58John Lee Dumas:I love this. And Fire Nation, I think you're all probably thinking of your own childhood story with a relationship with fruit, and that's so powerful. But I want to move on, Michael, to going from circus to confidence, because you made a bold detour. Let's just call a spade a spade. It was a bold detour into the youth circus. I mean, what the heck motivated that leap? And how did mastering those unique acts shape both your confidence and your drive?

6:22Michael Browne:Another great question. And so in my hometown of Wenatchee, there was the Wenatchee Youth Circus. It was a kid circus, you know, kids from three to 18, about 80 kids. It was started by Paul Pugh, the principal of our junior high as an alternative to sports and whatnot. started as a tumbling group. And when I joined, I was 35 years old. It was a full blown circus. And we'd go before I joined, we'd go as kids. My dad would take my sister and I, and it was awesome. You know, clowns in a bandstand and high wire trapeze, fire eating unicycles. I go, this is awesome. And in seventh grade, one of my best buddies was the trapeze guy.

6:59Michael Browne:He goes, Michael, join the circus. And I go, I don't know how to do anything in the circus. He doesn't matter. You put on blue overalls. And again, I was 12 years old, right? You put on blue overalls, you spot people, we set the circus up and it's like a big sleepover and it's really fun. And the girls sleep in a tent and we sleep on, you know, trapeze nets or the trampoline or whatever. And I go, okay, that sounds fun to me. And then I said, you know, and that first year, I didn't do anything except for move mats. And then I said, I want to be on the unicycle team. So my parents bought me a unicycle that year.

7:32Michael Browne:And at this point I was 13. And so I'd ride that unicycle all over town, thinking I'm going to get on that act. And that was the first year I had my first job cutting onions and dishwashing at a Chinese restaurant, making$3.35 an hour rather than$5 a week mowing our lawns at home. And I'd ride that unicycle to work and I would ride it all over town. And then I finally got on the unicycle team. So that showed me something. and then I wanted to eat fire, you know, to read my book called Pinot Rocks. There's a bit of a pyro story in there, you know, but I was tamed, uh, pyro stuff. But anyway, I really thought that was awesome.

8:15Michael Browne:And I, you know, got on the fire eating team. Um, then I got onto the bull whip team where you, you bull whip a piece of paper out of girls' mouths. And that was super fun, very dramatic, but I could never be on the high wire because that was beyond me. I started practicing. Then I was in the high wire, riding bicycles across 25 feet in the air and carrying people on my shoulders. And I could never be on the trapeze because I'm not an acrobat. I wasn't a good guy that did flips and things like that. So I couldn't fly through the air with the greatest of ease. But they said, Michael, you're a strong kid.

8:49Michael Browne:You could be the catcher. And I said, okay. And I practiced and I became the catcher for the last two years. It was, you know, you graduate when you're 18. And so by the time I was 18, I was the main guy in the circus. I was doing quick changes beside the bandstand. I was the guy and people, kids would come up afterwards wanting autographs and things. That's cool. But it really taught me a lot about life. It taught me about practice, hard work, dedication to something, failure. That was a great lesson. Risk taking, big one, reward, showmanship, and just something where, wow, I fell off, I'm going to get back on.

9:33Michael Browne:I fell off, I'm going to get back on. And I got injured a couple of times, but I kept going. And so that translated into my life later getting into winemaking.

9:43John Lee Dumas:This is such an incredible journey. And Fire Nation, we're going to be talking about mentorship and mastery, evolving the vision, and oh, so much more when we get back from Thank you and our sponsors. There's no better time to review your systems than the new year. And one of the most important systems you can streamline right now is your communications. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications with more than 90 ,000 businesses from solo operators to growing teams, relying on Quo to stay connected, professional, and consistently reachable every single day.

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12:45John Lee Dumas:Stop piecing tools together. Start building momentum. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Michael, we're back. And as I kind of tease before the break, I want to talk about mentorship. I want to talk about mastery. Volunteering at Deerfield Ranch Winery was a turning point for you. Tell us what you specifically learned under Robert Rex's mentorship.

13:10Michael Browne:I will certainly do so. I'm actually having dinner with Robert on Friday. Oh, cool. My wife and son's awesome guys now, 82 years old. So anyway, I knew Robert. I met Robert because his son-in-law hired me at John Ashen Company restaurant. And we used to go to dinners at their house. It was really awesome. And I said, hey, I want to, can I go with you and make some wine? And so I showed up at his house one day and 7.30, I was late by five minutes and he was already taken off down the road and got on there. We picked a bunch of Chardonnay when he went back to his place and pressed it. And I go, this is really cool.

13:45Michael Browne:And then we kind of lost touch. I moved back to Seattle and I called him because I wanted to move back to Sonoma County and make wine. This is when I was 27 years old. And I called him and I said, hey, Robert, I want to come down and make wine. Can I work with you? He goes, yeah, I can't pay you, but I'll teach you.

14:02John Lee Dumas:And I said, perfect.

14:04Michael Browne:I'll make wine or I'll make wine during the day and I'll work at John Ash at night being a sommelier or bartender or whatever. And my girlfriend at the time, Sarah Brown, I said, hey, I'm going to do this magical adventure some way. And she came with me and we're still married. That's another story. But he taught me. But the cool thing about that experience that I had, it was a very small, tiny little winery. And it's since grown into a bigger winery. But he just let me loose. He goes, here's how you do it. Go for it and do it. If you have any questions, I'm at the top of the hill. Ask me. And I learned by doing.

14:36Michael Browne:I learned by making mistakes. And I learned by just getting my hands dirty. Right. And and that was how it all started. And the same year, Dan Costin, myself, saved ten dollars a night in tip money from John Ash and Company restaurant to buy a half ton of grapes, a barrel and a hand cranked a stemmer. And we made one barrel of wine. And I go, we are doing it. Right. And that turned out good. We used to sell that out the back door at John Ash for 25 bucks a bottle. So we're now in business, right? And then the next year, we made a couple of barrels of wine that were terrible. The next year, we got some investors involved that were our best bar customers.

15:18Michael Browne:And we made 2 ,200 cases of Lake County Sauvignon Blanc and Costa Brown was born. Wrong move. We should have started with 300 cases. But I always wanted to, but we made, here's the business strategy. We made Sauvignon Blanc because it's a quick turn. You pick your grapes in the fall, you make the wine, and you can release it in the spring so we can get our money back to pay for the next round of grapes. Pinot Noir is different. It'll take two years to get your revenue back, and, you know, that's the wine business. So we did that, and it turned out okay. And then I said, you know what, I really just want to make Pinot Noir, like William Sellium.

15:55Michael Browne:That was what I wanted to be like. It was a very high-end winery at that time, still is today.

16:00John Lee Dumas:But Michael, before you continue, can you just share why you wanted to go the Pinot Noir exclusive route?

16:06Michael Browne:Yes, I can, because I used to be in the Zinfeldels, bigger wines, Cabernets, big red wines. And one day in 1994, I had a 1991 William Silly Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir, and it blew my head off. I had never tasted a wine like that in my entire life. What I say is my head detached from my body, spun around in the air and replanted and said, that is wine. And I want to make that style of wine. Then we started Costa Brown.

16:36John Lee Dumas:And I want to talk about evolving the vision because your passion for the Russian River Valley, it actually led you to founding Cirque and then later Chevre Estate with your wife, Sarah. So how is your vision for both great wine and legacy, keyword here, legacy, evolved through each chapter.

16:52Michael Browne:Costa Brown was our first venture. We did that for 20 years, and that became the most premier Pinot Noir winery in the country and one of the top Pinot Noir wineries in the world. And, you know, the Wine Spectator has their top 100 every year out of like 17 ,000, 18 ,000 wines worldwide. We were top 20 like five times. One year, we became number one wine of the world, the only Pinot Noir to ever get that. So that business was a rocket ship. It was lightning in the bottle. We transacted that business three times to private equity and other people, finally sold it to Duckhorn. And that's when Sarah and I took our money and ran.

17:32Michael Browne:But in the meantime, earlier in that storyline, I knew I'd be out of Costa Brown at some point. So I started Cirque in 2009 with a vineyard and 2011 with our first wine. And Sarah and I got our first distribution from Costa Rale for$200 ,000. I took$100 ,000, put it into a vineyard and didn't tell my wife, Sarah. Not the best move, but it worked out. And then we started Cirque, and my vision for Cirque was to make the best Russian River Valley Pinot Noir in Russian River, bar none, because I've already made some of the best, right? Let's make it better, and I still have that goal today. Our business is quality-driven, qualitative, not quantitative, right?

18:20Michael Browne:And that's what we started Cirque, and then I wanted to do a sister brand because Cirque is an expensive wine. And so I wanted to have a sister brand, which is still expensive. That's why we started Shev. And also that's more of a regional approach. Oregon, Russian River, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Lucia Highlands, a study of the West Coast of America. And that's what that is, right? So, and now we're continuing doing the same thing. And now we own our own winery, brick and mortar. Sarah and I own the majority of it. And we have a great team of nine full-time, about three part-time people. And this is our life professionally.