Who does not love a trip to wine country and I do mean ANY wine country. They are all beautiful! The terroir β the combination of climate, terrain, geology β whatever it is that helps grapes and everything else thrive is simply spectacular. Of course, it helps to love wines, but that too is not a requirement. Waking up in the vineyards, watching the fruits plump, seeing the workers tend to the plants, and the farmer baby his crop, awaiting the perfect moment to harvest, always praying for the right amount of rainfall.
I think I, like many wine-enthusiasts, perhaps under-appreciated the wines from this region of California. There are so many mass-produced big box wineries that it frankly can be tiresome. What we opted for was more of a boutique approach and were so richly rewarded! Thorpe, a retired surgeon who makes an absolutely phenomenal Adastra Proximus Pinot Noir among several other notable Syrahs, Merlots, and Chardonnays. Thorpe is a real character with an incredibly witty and dry sense of humor who was glad to show us around the grounds, his gorgeous old barn, and even invite us into the cellar off a trap door in his living room floor!
Being a former hotelier myself, it was great fun having lunch with Stan Boyd, former VP of Sales and Marketing of Fairmont Hotels, and his wife, Joan, who left Qantas Airlines, and along with Stan built a lovely home on an idyllic vineyard.
Dennis has a wealth of knowledge, connections, and a quick wit that would be hard to replicate. A great time was had by all sitting around his desk, notwithstanding his sharing of some of the best wines of the entire trip! A chardonnay that was so perfectly balanced and elegant that it was best just barely chilled and a reserve pinot noir worth its weight in grapes, I mean gold.
The grounds were beautiful and we had ironically stumbled upon them earlier that morning taking an off-road jogging route through the spectacular vineyards β a wonderful way to get the palate and body ready for the days work!
