Niels Udsen Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year!
A couple of months ago, Bimmer Udsen found out that her husband and co-owner of Castoro Cellars winery had been selected as the 2009 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year, however she needed to keep the news a secret from Niels so the presenting of the award would remain a surprise. In the months and weeks before the award ceremony Bimmer worked hard to keep the award a secret and proceeded to invite members of the Castoro Crew to the ceremony and of course ensured that her two sons would be attendance.
As the date approached Niels remained oblivious and everything seemed to be in place for a good surprise . . . . but then it started to rain and snow in the golden state. Niels is an avid skier, as is the whole Udsen family, and during the week leading up to the award ceremony the whole family was enjoying some time up in the mountains at the Kirkwood Ski Resort. As the storm got stronger and the snow began to dump Niels suggested the family stay longer, perhaps through the weekend. At that point Bimmer reminded Niels that they had two tickets to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance Ball on Friday and they needed get back. Niels, who had forgotten about the ball entirely said, “We don’t need to go to that we went last year and this year it is snowing so we have a good excuse to miss it.” At this point the family knew they were going to have their work cut out for them if they were going to get Niels back in time for the Ball.
Fortunately, due to bad weather, the mountain closed down and Niels decided it was excusable to head home to the land of no snow. When Friday night rolled around Niels still had no idea he would be receiving any kind of award and he was unaware both of his sons were secretly changing into formal attire at the house next door with plans of surprising him at the event. When Niels arrived at the Ball he was surprised to see so many people from Castoro at the event but he was easily convinced that is was because there were extra tickets given out this year due to a lower than usual attendance. Then, Luke and Max arrived along with Luke’s girlfriend Lauren and Niels began to suspect something was up, however once again he was easily convinced it was a last minute thing because of the extra tickets.
At this point everyone around the table was struggling to keep the smirks from their faces. Could Niels truly be this oblivious to what was going on? YES. It wasn’t until they began to announce the winner that Niels’ face turned red and he realized what had just happened. It was truly a sight to see and there couldn’t have been a more deserving winner of the award. Niels has done so much for the Paso Robles wine industry and community over the years and many people thought he must have already received the award, including himself. He admitted afterwards that he didn’t suspect he was receiving the award because he thought he had already received it. In his defense he had won a similar award before but it was presented by the Paso Robles Mid-State Fair not the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance.
To say the least, spirits are high at Castoro Cellars and we are all proud of Niels for the recognition he has gotten for all of his hard work over the years.
Til’ Next Time
Luke
