It’s not unlike the feeling I used to get when a pair of concert tickets found their way into my hands. I started thinking about the parallels between ‘the big wine show’ and ‘the big rock show’.
Recently I saw an ad for the upcoming Coachella Music festival here in Southern California. Quite a lineup, I thought… Jay Z, Thom Yorke, Devo.. Kind of like when I looked over the Pinot Days lineup. “Dude, Soujorn’s gonna be there! So are Pisoni and Merry Edwards!!” I exclaimed during a conversation with a wine buddy of mine.
When the big day finally arrived, I woke up early and found myself putting on the concert t-shirt that I had planned on wearing (ok, it was actually a WineExpedition shirt, but the feeling was the same). I jumped in the car and headed down to the show, tickets in hand.
We arrived at the venue and drove up to the gate, the guys in orange vests guided us to our parking spot. (I didn’t see any ticket scalpers; imagine how funny that would be: “Psst… hey buddy… need tickets? I got VIP passes to meet Merry Edwards: $200 for the pair…”)
We locked the car, got in line, got our tickets scanned and held out our left arms to get ‘wrist-banded’ (after showing our IDs of course).
The hustle bustle inside, accompanied by the clinking of wine glasses, reminded me of the din of anxious rock fans waiting for the lights to go down.
And by the way, going back to the Coachella point: there’s no question that Jay Z is a pretty big star in the music biz, but Gary Pisoni is the undisputed rock star of California Pinot Noir. While at Pinot Days, I had the equivalent of a backstage encounter with him. There he was, strolling around the event in his wine-splattered shorts and flip-flops. I introduced myself, and he proceeded to pour me a very-healthy ‘taste’ of his Pisoni Family Estate Pinot Noir, and I spent the next twenty minutes sipping that wine and getting an earful of his priceless wine growing stories. Couldn’t have been a nicer guy. I forgot to ask him for an autograph. Damn.
I went from table to table and tasted one amazing Pinot after another. Each pour was accompanied by friendly conversation with a winemaker, an enthusiastic vintner or happy-go-lucky winery employee. It reminded me of all day concert festivals, where we’d walk from one stage to the next. Every table was like another band taking the stage, and each taste of Pinot was like the band kicking into another song.
Just when I thought the show was over, it was encore time! (Remember going to a show at the amphitheater and screaming “MORE!” as you pounded the back of your folding chair? The Pinot Days encore came in the form of Sojourn Cellars’ Craig Haserot calling me over to his table to try a yet-to-be-released Pinot- just thieved from the barrel. The bottle sported a white label with some illegible scribbled handwriting on it. It was sweet, syrupy, barrel goodness. I asked for another pour (a 2nd encore if you will).
Alas, the show had to come to an end. I walked out into the evening with a purple smile on my face, and rather than clinging to a drumstick that was thrown into the crowd and caught, I kept a Pisoni Vineyards calendar as my souvenir.
Sadly there was no tailgating or parking lot party at this affair; it was a rare day of pouring rain in Los Angeles. However, if I flashback to another recent wine show: last years Family WineMakers of California tasting in Del Mar, there was some tailgating of sorts going on. After a day of tasting and interviews, my trusted cameraman Fernando and I made it to the Del Mar train station and prepared to board the LA bound train. We discovered we weren’t the only ones who had chosen this train. Essentially the entire ride home was an ‘after party’ of sorts, as happy wine tasters ordered the best bottles on the Amtrak list and ‘kept it going’. The only thing missing was music blasting from a car stereo, but if I recall, someone was singing a bad rendition of an AC/DC song.
Wine show or rock show; I guess it’s all about enjoying the moment, coming together with good people, and letting the wine/music touch your soul.
Come to think of it, this years Family Winemakers of California event is coming up. I guess I better try and get a pair of tickets…
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