You often hear people say you should do what you love for a living. Unfortunately for professional athletes, no matter how much passion you have for your sport, it often doesn’t translate into a lifetime career. Forutnately, Rick Mirer found a new passion in winemaking.
“It started as a hobby,” Mirer says when discussing his current labor of love, Mirror Wine. “Late in my career, I spent two years with the San Francisco 49ers and two years with the Oakland Raiders, who had their training camp right in Napa. I was in that part of the country at the right age, when my wife and I appreciated good food and wine and travel.”
After retiring from football, Mirer found himself at home with his three young boys. “I loved being at home, but I couldn’t do that forever. I needed something that was going to make my brain work a little.” With that in mind, Mirer dusted off his marketing degree from Notre Dame and began working with Rob Lawson, a talented Napa winemaker who was introduced to Mirer through a mutual friend.
“It’s been the perfect opportunity for me,” Mirer says. “It’s a business that I can dedicate myself to developing without having to be in Napa every day. “ While Lawson handles the nuts and bolts of the winemaking, Mirer’s job has been to grow the following. “We’ve already gone from 500 cases to 1,000 cases,” he says. “For me, the goal has been for the wine not just to grow but to be taken seriously by the wine community. I don’t want it to just be a novelty for football fans or Notre Dame fans.”
One of Mirer’s goals is to have the wine grow enough to help fund the Mirer Family Foundation. The foundation focuses on kids and education. “We have a lot of kids from the Northern Indiana area where my wife and I grew up who are applying to college and need a little help. It’s hard to believe, but since 1998 when we started the foundation, we’ve sent 15 kids to college. I see all of their grades and it’s been an awesome experience. We’d love to help more people that need it.”
To Mirer, the winemaking experience has also helped his own children as well. “My kids see me working on this every day,” he says. “Doing this work stimulates my mind. Too often we read about guys in sports that got caught in bad investments or made bad decisions. I’m not saying everything I’ve done has worked out perfectly. I know how lucky I’ve been to do what I’ve done and to make that kind of money. That’s why I’m not taking this for granted. We’re doing everything the hard way, but in the end, that’s how it turns out best.”
To learn more about Rick Mirer’s wines, visit mirrorwine.com.
