In the grand scheme of things, I am relatively new to the wine lover’s community. It was about fifteen years ago when I started to understand and develop a love for wine. At that time, I had a few friends who were in the trade, so I was regularly given different wines to try and I found out I truly loved wine – the whole experience, the wine paired with food and friends. Thus began my journey.
It really took off when some girlfriends and I created a very intimate group that meets six times a year. The focus is on finding the perfect wine and food pairing. We pair up and each pair hosts an afternoon of wine and food paired courses. It has been challenging and so fulfilling! Think Top Chef-type challenges matched with different wines. That was nearly fifteen years ago. Today we still meet and we have all expanded not only our wine horizons but our culinary ones. We look forward to this and schedule our lives around it.
Not too long after that, another group of us started taking trips together. We mostly travel to the California regions close by within a two-to-four-hour drive. These trips have become my best vacations. Quality time with good friends and filled with amazing one-of-a-kind experiences with wine and the winemakers. These experiences are what I want to make my column about. “Behind the Wine” will be a peek behind the curtains of the industry and deep dives with the winemakers. Each time I will pick a winery and its winemaker and go step by step with them through their beginnings, inspirations and most important the wine. My hope is to inspire you the reader to explore beyond the varietal you prefer and try all the many amazing wines out there. Please join me on this journey!
