Tales of Fulfilling One’s Wine Dreams
My approach and experiences with the expansive and ever-expanding world of wine have changed over the years.
Early on, I drank to fit my budget. My palate was inexperienced and my wallet was thin. The wines I consumed were rather vapid. I purchased them as much for the benefits of the alcohol content (as a social lubricant) as for their quality. There were fine wines on retail shelves, but I never took the time to explore; cost was my guideline.
As my palate and I matured over the years, my appreciation of better wines grew. I discovered new wines and experimented with those from California and a smattering of Western European offerings. My budget increased and I abandoned the wines of my youth.
These days I have found wine nirvana. As my budget continues to increase, my palate has become quite refined. My focus is on wine regions around the world, not the California-centric choices of earlier years. I can enjoy this lifestyle into the sunset of my years.
Or so I thought.
Ever the explorer, I decided to embark on a journey to seek out small California producers who are living their dream, ones I’ve been overlooking or weren’t on my radar screen.
So, with my wine region app downloaded to my smartphone, my Waze app fired up and my credit card having ample capacity, my wife and I recently explored northern California, seeking out new winemakers and their wines.
In the last few columns, I provided my road map and game plan for finding and purchasing new California wines made by artisans pursing their winemaking dreams. Several are living their childhood dreams and others are living their adult dreams (while a few are content living someone else’s dreams).
Here is a summary of our discoveries. In order to gain a meaningful perspective of my goal and the current state of California wine sales, please refer to my previous columns.
Living a Childhood Dream. When Grant Long Jr. was growing up in Napa Valley, he was captivated by his father’s wine collection and the allure of those fine wines. He bided his time and began producing his own wines from purchased grapes a number of years ago. He learned much of his skill by trial and error, developing his winemaking philosophy along the way.
Several years ago, he further realized his childhood dream; he and his wife Megan purchased a vineyard and home/winemaking facility. From this winery, he produces 4,500 cases per year, all sold through an exclusive buying club. His wines, primarily a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Bordeaux-style blend, are bold and well-balanced, redolent of black fruit.
Recently, he realized another dream. In memory of his father, he planted a small hillside plot of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Living an Adult Dream. Phil Steinschriber has been in the wine industry for over three decades and was the winemaker at prestigious Diamond Creek Vineyards in Napa Valley from 1991 until 2020. In 2003, he decided to live his dream of making wine on his own. Not giving up his day job, instead levering off it, he sought out grapes from local Napa Valley growers and produced his private label wine at the winery.
Today, he produces about 500 cases from several vineyards as the WaterMark brand.
We tasted Phil’s wines, with his wife Diane (the marketing and sales manager), in the dining room of their home on Howell Mountain. This was a dream come true for me: sampling big, bold Cabernet Sauvignon wines, sourced from Napa Valley, as a guest of the winemaker and his wife in their own home.
Phil’s dream is about to embark on a new chapter. He has purchased land just outside his front door, and is now cultivating his own Cabernet Sauvignon. Look for his proprietary wines on the winery’s eponymous website in the near future.
Nick Antonaccio is a 45-year Pleasantville resident. For over 25 years, he has conducted wine tastings and lectures. Nick is a member and program director of the Wine Media Guild of wine journalists. He also offers personalized wine tastings. Nick’s credo: continuous experimenting results in instinctive behavior. You can reach him at nantonaccio@theexaminernews.com.
