Corkscrew Chronicles: Remembering wine industry icon George Hammer

The Hammer Co., founded in 1914, was one of the country's finest family-owned wine houses. George Hammer, an industry icon who was known for his honesty, integrity and wine knowledge, was its second-generation president. Lorain County consumers might not know Hammer personally, but he distributed many of your favorite brands in his 63-year career. If you worked for the Hammer Co., you knew him as Uncle George, as you were considered family. Hammer always had time to discuss challenges and answer questions. He encouraged bringing customers in for tastings and for the sales force to put together meals for events, as that was how he believed strong business relationships were forged. Hammer started at the company founded by his father by caring for the vats of sherry and dessert wines in the cellar of the offices. His godfather was Georges de Latour, founder of Beaulieu Vineyards. Relationships of that era between industry tiers were cemented by personal familial ties. Hammer always was extremely gracious. Returning from Las Vegas, I stopped at the Hammer Co. looking for work between Christmas and New Year's, one of the year's most hectic weeks, and he very generously showed me the warehouse/cellars and talked privately with me for over an hour in a week when 16-hour days were normal during "the season." When we carried pagers, Hammer always called twice and left two voicemails. "Gary, 30 seconds is simply not long enough for me to leave a message," he'd say, chuckling. He also was a great storyteller. I once joined Hammer and an industry group traveling to Germany and France. In Germany he was quite reserved, but when we landed in Bordeaux he evolved to childlike enthusiasm. He became our tour guide and took over the mic on the bus. "See that drainage ditch? It separates Pauillac and St. Julien. There is no discernible change in the land or climate, but the wines are so different in style." All in all, he had probably been to Bordeaux 26 times in his life and knew it intimately. It was wonderful to experience the region with him as he imparted his knowledge along the way. Hammer's wife, Maryellen, was his proper, delightful counterpart. She had some people over for lunch and thought, "I can pick out a wine from the cellar. How hard can it be?" She went down and found something that looked interesting. Well, the group loved the wine. Maryellen's son, Dan, turned pale when he later saw the empty bottle. Maryellen laughed, "Well, it's not like I opened Dom Perignon." Dan whispered, "No, this was much more expensive." Maryellen smiled, "Just don't tell George." The love, patience and sense of humor they enjoyed together was nothing more than marvelous. Hammer and I belonged to a yearly tasting group that focused on red Bordeaux. He would inevitably bring the two lowest-rated vintages of the featured Chateau for the event. I finally asked him, "George are you trying to make a point, or are you just cheap?" — which he found highly amusing. He said, "Wines from the finest vintages are seldom as fine as they are made out to be while those from the worst rated years are seldom as poor as they are reviewed." Turned out that cellaring made those wines much better than on release and his "off-vintage" submissions usually ranked in the upper portion of the tasting. Sadly, we lost Hammer on May 22. He was one of my mentors, an inspirational leader, a fine wine enthusiast/promoter, and a true gentleman of the wine industry. I raise my glass to him. Gary Twining is a certified wine educator who worked 34 years in the wholesale fine-wine industry. Email him at winingwithtwining@hotmail.com.