Brothers
Somewhat unique to Forum, but emblematic of the concept, is the collaboration between two brothers. Some likely shudder at the idea, with thoughts of “family business” horror. However, it’s the foundation of this project—and its greatest strength.
For us, it starts with a common vision. One forged over years of shared experiences, perhaps fostered in briefly sharing a bedroom when we were kids. More likely, it is born of shared meals, holidays, discussions, trips, and our own individual experiences garnered through careers, relationships and experiences acquired in adulthood.
Founded in a style and quality of wine, family, sharing of ideas, concepts, goals, aspirations and visions for life, we established Forum.
Greg & Brad at Vieux Telegraphe in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Brad Bullington
From Brad’s earliest memories, likely a function of being born in close proximity to the Napa Valley, wine has been a part of his life. To this day, he can still remember participating in cave tours around age 5 taking in the musty smell and the mystery of it all. This experience clearly left an imprint at a young age and incredibly so, after not even getting a chance to taste a drop of wine!
After years of regaling (or perhaps boring!) dinner party guests with his encyclopedic knowledge of all things wine, Brad decided to pursue his passion in a more structured fashion. In 1998, he started making wine with a colleague from work. This project only fueled his desire to continue his own wine making and after much conversation with his brother Greg, they decided to meld together their vision for family and wine pursuits.
When he’s not tending to Forum Cellars, Brad spends time with his wife Colleen, Forum’s “CMO”, son Kieran and daughters Emery and Brooklyn, enjoys University of Washington “Husky” football, skiing and traveling. He works professionally in the technology industry.
Greg Bullington
Greg has been an entrepreneur since the day he was born. At a tender age he was already planning and executing profitable lemonade stands and garage sales, followed by managing his own paper route. Growing up, his early liquidity enabled him to be an underwriter of NINJA loans to his older siblings and he realized how much he liked being his own boss! In 2006, after starting his own successful consulting business, helping build and grow over 30 different startups, he realized that he would love the opportunity to bring his rigorous planning and execution to an artisan business. Seeing that he and his brother were naturally gifted with complementary skill sets, Greg put the wheels in motion to begin the process of operationalizing their vision of a family wine business. From this start, Forum Cellars was born.
Greg co-founded and runs a startup medical device company, holds leadership roles for a number of charities and enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, skiing and biking. Additionally, he loves vying for favorite uncle status with his nephew, Kieran and nieces, Emery and Brooklyn.
Winemaking Team
Critical to the early success of Forum wines are our winemaking partners, Justin Neufeld and Sean Gilbert. Serendipity brought us together and they have both been fantastic partners and friends in helping craft Forum. Having one of the best up-and-coming wine makers in Washington State, as well as one of the real innovative winery proprietors support us every step of the way has been critical to the “running start” quality of our initial vintages of Forum.
Justin Neufeld
http://www.jbneufeld.com/about/
Sean Gilbert