I had my first glass (or maybe I should say plastic cup) of wine when I was a teen. It was a sweet wine from a Farm someplace…I can’t recall whether it was apple or strawberry but it served its purpose of introducing me to something other than beer. I’m not a big beer drinker and this seemed a bit more sophisticated. My parents were not very big drinkers, a beer or glass of wine here and there. My mom liked Lambrusco. Maybe it was the effervescence or the dark red color, but I thought that this was the epidemy of luxury drinking. To give you an idea of my mother’s expertise in wine, she was very excited one day when she purchased a whole case of peach wine for $10! It was super sweet. Not really my thing. I’m more of a dry wine gal. But for her…heaven.

In my 20’s, I started dating this guy who was going to school in Boston to be a chef. He took me to a fancy Boston restaurant one night and proceeded to educate me on the finer points of drinking wine. At the time the whole swirling, smelling, sipping thing was just plain embarrassing. What did I know? Obviously, nothing at all.

So, I learned a few basic things about wine. He showed me that there were much better wines and they were from all over the world. They were MUCH better than the stuff I had been drinking. We had a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon….it felt and tasted so elegant. This wine was delicious and earthy. I wish I could recall what it was exactly but I was a newbie and trying a wine like this was amazing! From that day on I wanted so much more from my wine but I still wasn’t comfortable choosing a bottle in my neighborhood store so I stuck with Cab. I drank it. It was delicious but I didn’t experience it. (I know, I know too many years wasted).

Fast forward to my first trip to Napa Valley. I flew to San Francisco and headed north to Napa. As I drove into wine country, I was taken in by the beauty of the vineyards. One after the other. The scenery was so different from my native New England. It was breath-taking! I was going to spend a few days in Napa before heading back to San Francisco. I have to tell you that those days were life-changing! All I could think was, “How could I have missed this? I need to come here again and again.”

My plan was to go to 3 wineries each day and learn as much as I could about these Napa wines in the short amount of time I had. I knew it was Cab country so I thought that I could be fairly positive that I’d like these wines.

As I drove up Route 29, I was surprised to see that the wineries and tasting rooms were one after another along the highway like a neighborhood for vineyards. At least I wasn’t going to have to search for them. They were all so inviting but I knew I’d have to limit myself to 2 or 3 a day.

I stopped at Grgich Hills winery and walked inside. I had never been to a tasting room before. It was inviting and the tasting room staff were so friendly. I found a place at the “bar” and ordered a tasting of five of their Estate wines: Chardonnay, Fumé Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet, and Zinfandel. My mind was blown! They were amazing and delicious. I had a “refresher” course on how to taste wine and it was totally worth it! As I walked around the tasting room with my full, richly elegant Cab tasting, I noticed a case with a bottle of Chardonnay and a story about a Paris Tasting (more about that in another blog post).

Everything was fascinating and exciting and I couldn’t wait to get to the next winery and learn more. In those few days, I visited Duckhorn Vineyards, Domaine Chandon, Domaine Carneros, Robert Sinsky Vineyards, Freemark Abbey Winery, and Whitehall Lane Winery. Not chosen for any particular reason except they looked interesting. I took it all in. The wine, the atmosphere, the vineyards, the vibe. I loved it all!

As I headed home knowing that I’d come back and visit this place many, many times. In fact, my love of California wine….all of it from San Diego to Sonoma and beyond has inspired me to get wine educated (through the Napa Valley Wine Academy) and has brought me to so many wineries and beautiful wines across California, Oregon, and the rest of the country.

Thank you, Napa Valley for opening my eyes and my palate to the wonders of fermented grape juice!

www.grgich.com

Cheers!