Yesterday, a chance meeting with yet another technology-based entrepreneur with a passion for wine prompted me to write this short essay. This was originally published at my webblog Sacramento Executive.

What a stark contrast - technology geeks and wine! It’s almost an oxymoron. How many technologists do you know that have gone on to become CEOs of information technology companies and then moved into the wine business? Not many you might say. Au contraire! The truth is, as my wine enthusiasm deepens, I discover more and more technology geeks engaging in the entrepreneurial spirit of the wine industry. It’s fascinating. Go figure – contrary to popular opinion, geeks do come out of the lab every now and then and can have some fun.

I first discovered this phenomenon in 1999, the year I met Tom Flesher. Tom founded San Francisco based e-Net, an enterprise software provider for disaster and recovery applications, in 1985. Tom has two other passions – the piano and wine. He is an accomplished pianist (having played the organ at my wedding), and an avid producer of wines from the Napa region.

Barely after meeting Tom, I discovered Sir Peter Michael. His winery Peter Michael is producing fantastic wines in the Calistoga area of Knights Valley. Sir Peter hails from England where he made his fortune in the British electronics industry with companies to include UEI, Cray Electronics and Carlton Communications. Sir Peter went on to build the largest network of classical radio stations in the U.K. – Classic FM.

Do you see a pattern here - technology, music, and wine? Well, there is more.

Lew Platt, former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, left HP to become the CEO of Kendall Jackson. His HP career of 33 years began as an engineer in their medical products division. Sadly, Lew passed away this past September.

Although not a technologist, Mario Andretti, the famous international racecar driver, recently teamed up with former K-Mart CEO Joe Antonini to produce the Andretti and Montona labels in the Napa region. British music legend Sir Cliff Richards owns a winery in Portugal. Another tie-in with music and wine.

Gerry Forth, co-founder of Intellidot, a San Diego based healthcare technology solutions company, has a lovely ten-acre vineyard and winery on West Dry Creek Road near Healdsburg. A couple of years ago, the Sacramento Angels teamed with American River Ventures to make a seed-level private equity investment in Gerry’s start-up (the third start-up in his career). When the investment was made, Gerry was the CEO of Intellidot and several of the local investors mused amongst themselves how long Gerry would commute to San Diego from his piece of paradise in Sonoma County. Well, it turns out, Gerry recently found his replacement as CEO and is now free to devote his full time effort to the wine business (although he does retain the title of Chairman at Intlellidot).

And now there is John Argo. John has 17 years of experience at HP and EDS. John is the CEO of Q1 Nanosystems, an applied nano-technology company operating from West Sacramento’s Technology Development Center. Recently, Q1 Nanosystems came in second place in UC Davis’s Big Bang competition. Q1 Nanosystems is in the hunt for scoring a couple of Federal grants to fund its R&D efforts.

Yesterday, while I was visiting the Technology Development Center to meet with venture capitalist Scott Lenet of DFJ Frontier, I ran into John. Little did I know he too is a wine enthusiast and is partners in Crystal Basin Cellars, an award winning winery in Coloma. Q1 Nanosystems has a good chance of becoming another Sacramento area success story. If that happens, which end of the tug of rope will win – technology or wine? Time will tell. By the way John, do you have a love affair with music too?

Perhaps it is basic instincts working here - work hard, play hard. Technologists, like everyone else, have a zest for food and wine!

Pierre Cutler The Sacramento Executive