Credit: Gil Kulers
Credit: Gil Kulers
What do Chipper Jones and Michael Bishop have in common? Both were born in Florida. Both are Atlanta icons—one in the baseball field, one in the wine field. And both started and finished their careers with the same organization.
While Jones may have hit .364 in 2008, Bishop wins the longevity contest having worked 41 years exclusively for Green’s Package stores. (Jones was an Atlanta Brave for merely 19 years.)
Bishop, the wine buyer for Green’s two Atlanta locations for nearly all of his four-decade tenure, hung up his trademark apron this past October. Much like Jones, Bishop’s departure had a lot to do with aching knees. He had knee-replacement surgery in October and is scheduled to have his other knee done in February.
Credit: Gil Kulers
Credit: Gil Kulers
Bishop arrived in Atlanta from Jacksonville to attend Oglethorpe University in the early 1970s. While attending classes, he saw a help-wanted flyer on a university bulletin board in 1973 for a part-time wine stocker at Green’s.
“I thought it might last a couple years,” said recently Bishop in his Dunwoody home. He advanced quickly and soon took on the position he held until this year.
More than any one thing, Bishop will be remembered for introducing many Atlantans to the wines of Bordeaux. It started in 1974. Bishop convinced his boss to buy a large quantity of 1970 Bordeaux at close-out prices.
"We had Château Latour for $25 a bottle and super second-growth Ducru-Beaucaillou for $7.99 a bottle," Bishop recalled. "It was crazy." And it was a huge success. Green's soon became known as the place to buy Bordeaux in Atlanta.
From that point on, the script was pretty much written. Bishop became enamored by Bordeaux and would eventually make more than a dozen trips to the renowned French winemaking region. Through Bishop, Green’s became one of the first shops to offer Bordeaux futures to its customers. Bishop would broker purchases a year prior to the release of a particular Bordeaux vintage. If the vintage turned out great, the customer gets a price lower than the release price. If the vintage turned into a bust however, a customer would pay more.
Since Bishop was one of the few retailers to taste the barrel samples before the futures were sold, he provided great insight to customers as to whether or not to buy and which château held the most promise.
Bishop says there is no great secret to his longevity. He simply liked what he was doing. “The Greenbaum family gave me a very long leash,” said Bishop, referring to the owners of Green’s. “There were goals and directives, but I was given great autonomy. It was like I had my own shop with great financial backers.”
After our interview, Bishop called back to add to his secret for success. It involved the notion of trust.
“I tasted all promotional wines before committing to buy. The wine sales staff and I tasted 20 wines per week and on average found three to four examples that met our criteria of quality and value. We followed this formula for almost the entire time I was there… It gave us a lot of credibility.”
The 1970 Latour is now long gone. Bishop drank his last one (he was one of his best customers) about 15 years ago. Like great vintages, great ballplayers and revered wine retailers, all things come to pass. His knees may have hastened his departure, but only by a year.
“They need to get someone who in there who’s more comfortable with all the new technology. A lot of that stuff is beyond me,” said Bishop. And while Green’s may find a new wine buyer who’s more adept at social media, filling the shoes of this hall of famer will be a tall order.
Gil Kulers is a sommelier and maitre d’ for an Atlanta country club. You can reach him at gil.kulers@winekulers.com.
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