It is the time of year when restaurateurs and retailers descend upon Napa for a weekend of drinking, eating and bidding.
I love this time of year.
This love is a new realization. I used to equate this time of year with exhaustion: Waking up way too early to stand for hours and hours in uncomfortable shoes and smile a lot and stalk wine writers and make them try barrel samples and hopefully get them to say nice things about the wine. And I would dread the actual auction because I would have to sit there and wait for the lot to come up and it would never go for what I wanted it to go for and then I would feel bad. And I would go home wondering what I could possibly do to get people to respond better next year.
But this year, I am not so concerned about the barrel sample and the auction lot. This year, it has become about connecting people -- running into people I haven't seen in awhile, making sure my winemakers get face time with the media, trying to get to know my new co-workers better. I spent the afternoon working at an open house at one of the properties, and it was great -- good company, good food and of course, good wine.
And the Valley itself is absolutely gorgeous right now -- the mustard is in bloom and everything is green from the recent rain.
And afterwards, I met a friend at Bottega tonight and crossed one off my New Year's list. We had some Cab and some burrata and some molten chocolate lava cake. And we promised ourselves, Let's do this more often, let's make this a regular thing.
Cheers to that!
No comments
Post a Comment