I learned to love wine in the early ’90s in the Bay Area.
Spending countless hours in the kitchens, barns and cellars of winemakers in Napa and Sonoma. I was then as now, interested in the human touch with people who brimmed over with their love of the vines and lore of making wine.
I got to know Cathy Corison, Art and Bunnie Finkelstein of Judd’s Hill and many of the incredible early winemakers and iconoclasts of the regions just North of San Francisco.
I had never heard of nor thought about natural approaches to winemaking back then and my understanding of the craft of wine was sparse at best.
Roll the clock forward a number of years.
More than a decade into blogging about wine, a deep passion for the natural wine movement, a global community and readership of wine enthusiasts, winemakers, wine professionals and many in the tech and art worlds who simply trust my passions on wine through my stories.
And quite a number of mostly large-format bottles I collected back in the beginning, that I don’t think about nor drink any longer. Sitting in cold storage since their vintage dates.
It is time to pass on that which others may appreciate more than I. Likewise this sale.
My friend Jamie Wolff, one of the co-owners of Chambers Street Wines, has agreed to handle this for me. Just as my readers trust me, I trust Jamie to handle the curate the wine carefully and be fair in pricing.
These bottles should end in the hands of those as excited about them today, as I was back then.
And yes, I have kept special bottles that despite the rigors of wine cooler space, I couldn’t bear to part with.
Most special is a mag of Cab with a birthday ditty written on it by my friend, the late Art Finklestein of Judd’s Hill. A fine human being, a gifted poet, a talented winemaker who did much for early Napa.
I’ve decided not to wax too poetic about this, though the image of a much younger me, traipsing around the back dirt roads in the wine country, hanging out at winemakers kitchen tables, chatting, eating cheese and tasting at 10am on a misty Napa morning makes me smile and fall into a deep, lovely moment.
If this is wine you love, this story and my care of these bottles is my present to you.
I pass it on to you with the sincerest affection for the specialness of what wine can bring to an occasion and friendship, and what these bottles meant to me back when I purchased them.
It’s healthy to embrace our changing tastes and find ways to pass on to others, something they will love and make their own.
If that is you, Please Enjoy!
I plan to use the proceeds from the sale to support small natural wine projects just finding their market.
Wine list and prices are available here. There are a few bottles from another cellar so please feel free to ask them the source of the bottle you are interested in.
