To work in wine is to work incredibly hard. It is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. It requires deep knowledge in agriculture, science, and business with an instinct for what comprises fine art. It takes vision, patience, grit and being on the right side of serendipity, often. And, it is as equally uplifting as it is heart breaking, as preparedness is no guarantee of success.
Growing up in Rutherford and Oakville, Napa Valley, there wasn’t much of a neighborhood in the traditional sense. Vineyards stretched farther than streets and, on most days, the land itself felt like my only companion. Before the modern distractions of today came easily, I learned
Before Napa Valley became a name spoken with reverence, before its greatest vineyards were measured in scarcity and myth, there was land—quiet, uncompromising, and waiting. Andy Beckstoffer understood this before almost anyone else. He came west not chasing wine, but truth in farming. Trained at
At 5am on September 15th of this year, I set out in the pitch dark from Calistoga with Kirk Venge, third-generation Napa winemaker with two brands of his own and winemaking consultant to some of the most exciting wines being made in California right now.
