It is back to reality, after a wonderful vacation exploring the wineries and eateries of Napa and Sonoma Counties in California.  As you probably know, I love wine, and I love learning more about how my food is farmed.  That's an irresistable combination in Wine Country, where you get to experience massive, industrial wine-making alongside tiny, boutique farming and wine crafting.

I'll have more to say about this kind of thing over the coming weeks, telling these stories in a trickle.  But I do want to thank Duane Hoff, who took a ton of time to show us around his Fantesca Estate Winery.  Good lord, that's good wine.
 
We tasted grapes right off the vine.  The cab grapes on this side of the row tasted different from the grapes on the other side.  The amount of sun exposure is a big thing, along the side of the mountain.


Duane used to live in Minnesota, he met his wife at the U of M, both worked at Best Buy from the very early days.  That paid off.  His wife Susan is the head of Best Buy's Children's Foundation.  Both live on the property in Napa.


We got to go inside the cave and taste directly out of the barrel.  (That's my wife Alyssa).  It was a great experience, and fun to talk about the differences in lifestyle from being a corporate executive to being a winery owner.  You can find Fantesca online, and in some local stores and restaurants.

I have more pictures from my trip here.