By Reynaldo Mena
It wasn’t yet dawn, but five-year-old Fidencio Flores listened to the voice of Mariana, his mother.
“Come on, son, get up! Let’s go to the ‘run-run’,” she said.
Now, Fidencio Flores remembers it with laughter.
“The ‘run-run’ was the tractor. I would quickly get up, and off we would go to the agricultural fields to work. My whole family picked crops, and I was already part of the crew,” says Flores. “I was very young; I helped however I could, either on the tractor or riding my bicycle to scare away the birds.”
Fidencio, now a wine producer and an expert in the entire process from the land to the glass, gave life to his own brand, Esfuerzo, after many years. With this brand, he seeks to honor all those who have worked for generations to produce world-class wine.
Fidencio Flores entire family has a strong connection to the fields.
“We are ranchers,” Fidencio Flores says proudly. “We’ve always harvested the land; we’ve produced everything.”
When I called him for this interview, I apologized. I had a sore throat and blamed the weather for the cough attacking me. With all familiarity, he disarmed me if you will.
“Yes, I understand. I have a cough too. We worked all night, from 8 in the evening until the early morning, in the fields,” he tells me.
I fell silent, embarrassed, and said to him, “Well, you’ve got me. I was complaining about the weather, and you worked all night,” I say with laughter.
Three generations of his family have worked in the vineyards. It started with his great-grandfather Salvador Zepeda during the Bracero Program, continued with his grandfather Armando, and carried on with his father, Lupe.
“Our family has been responsible for diversifying production wherever we’ve worked, not just wine, but other fruits and vegetables,” he says.
Fidencio didn’t long to play with toys as a child; he loved horses, trucks, anything that represented his life on the ranch.
“I was already in the crews at 13 or 14, cultivating tomatoes, going to sell vegetables all over Santa Barbara. My family taught me how to be a good negotiator. And like everything else, sometimes I won, and other times I lost,” he adds.
One of the things he loved and still loves the most is horses.
“It’s not just about the horse; I like to connect with them, have a relationship, an understanding. I also love music, playing the guitar, drums; I’m a cheerful, sociable guy,” he adds.
He declares himself an eternal ‘enamorado’, even from a young age.
“I’ve never stopped being in love; we may not be handsome, but we’re very ‘querendones’. I love to dance and was always the first to dance at parties, setting the mood. Once, we went to the ranch in Mexico, and I wanted to dance with a young girl. She kept telling me, ‘No, you don’t understand, you’re Fidencio, you’re Fidencio.’ I didn’t understand. I asked her what she meant. And she told me that I was practically ‘muy fiestero’,” he says, laughing.
All that family experience, within the community, opened his eyes to approaching the wine industry in a different way.
“I realized that wine is not just the bottle; it involves an entire community. I was 14 years old and knew that this is bigger than I thought,” he adds.
While this industry has typically been dominated by white people, Fidencio and his family made their way in the community.
“We’ve earned the respect of people; they value us, include us in their projects, and know that we know how to get things done,” he adds.
He didn’t always think he would work in the fields; at times, he thought he would wear a suit and work in finance in the city. However, during that time, he returned home once and started helping his family with economic projects, with production, and realized he didn’t need to go elsewhere; that was his place.
“Besides, the city is so boring,” he says with a laugh.
With the education he received at the schools he attended and the teachings of his grandfather and father, he has established a model that other investors are seeking.
“They seek me out; they want me to make their dreams come true,” he says.
However, there’s one element he has always defended vigorously: respect for the workers.
“Right now, we’re conducting tests to produce tequila; we have some land in Jalisco, and we’ve started our process. We want to make artisanal tequila, but we won’t finish it there. I don’t want to be like others who take advantage of workers and exploit them,” he says.
In his company, they have always cared about respecting the people who make this kind of wine, these products, possible.
“We make them feel part of our project; we pay them more than the average wage, we treat them as if they were one of us. We are used to hard work; we know how tough it is, and it’s only fair that they share in our success,” he says.
He remembers that his mother always made sure everyone was well-fed.
“We don’t eat individual dishes at home; we have pots of food because we don’t know how many we’ll be. This is the sense of community. And since our working hours are so varied, sometimes at night, in the early morning, or at dusk, she brings us food to the fields, whatever it may be, always concerned about us,” he says.
The love for wine in the Latino community is on the rise.
“It’s always good to have a glass with a meal; we don’t drink tequila because we get drunk. I remember that I started drinking it from a young age; by the time I was 12, they gave me a taste, they added water so it wouldn’t feel too strong,” he recalls, laughing, always with laughter and a very positive sense of humor.
For Fidencio, wine represents the community, it’s the excuse to gather, share a meal, have a conversation with friends or family.
“Without the community, we are nothing,” he says.
The future of Latinos in this industry is positive.
“There’s nothing that happens in California in which we’re not present. We have a piece of this economy. I try to help in any way I can, just as others have helped me. I work with many non-profits; I send them wine for their events to help them raise resources. We have to support each other. During the pandemic, I saw that solidarity. Times were tough, but people called me to ask for wine, to help us. They knew we were going through difficulties, but they knew we had been there for them before, and now they were there for us,” he says.
Many investors complain about his prices. They tell him he’s too expensive.
“No, I tell them firmly. I’m not expensive; it’s the value of my people’s work, my community. I’ve reached a point where I choose to work with those I want to work with; if I see there’s an interest and they want to exploit us, I turn my back on them. Latinos have earned that right,” he adds.
In the near future, he sees his Esfuerzo brand solidifying its place in history.
“Our Esfurezo brand is synonymous with heart, hard work, community. I want to continue with this blend produced with our own hands. I’ve never bought a product to make it; everything has come from our harvests,” he says.
Regarding the challenge of Climate Change, he sees it as something negative but also as a challenge.
“We have to adapt, find places where we can continue our work, help the land. We have to understand that we are connected to the land; it’s what has fed us,” he says.
At the end of the interview, I’m left with the image of that child who used to get up at five in the morning to go to the ‘run-run,’ the dancer, the one who set the mood at parties.
“And are you still like that? Haven’t you gotten married?” I ask.
“That hasn’t changed,” he says with a laugh. “The woman who can handle me hasn’t come along yet; she’ll come someday.”
