09/15/2025
I can’t remember the day and time of the dinner other than it was in the late 1970s.
I don’t even recall the food I ate. Those details have long been abandoned by my memory. But the wine, oh yes, the wine I very much remember as if it was yesterday.
I was invited to a celebration of the approaching wedding for our winery’s CFO; a bachelor party of sorts. The venue was at Au Relais - now shuttered years ago - and at the time, one of the best restaurants in the North Bay region. There were 5-6 of us from the winery, each bringing a bottle of wine to share over the course of the meal. I have no idea what I brought although it probably was a Bordeaux. I wanted to know more about those wines and had begun to collect them as my meager budget would allow.
It was towards the end of the meal when the restaurant staff brought new wines glasses to the table. Those, now out of favor, heavy, fish-bowl glasses one might use for eating ice cream as much as wine. Joe Phelps, who arranged this dinner and had kept his bottle under the table, handed a Burgundy-shaped bottle to the waitstaff.
What came around into our glasses was a 1969 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves Vigne de l’Enfant Jesus; the “baby Jesus” vineyard as it’s known. The unmistakable, intense perfume of crushed red raspberries rose up from the glass. This was sublime with its red robe glistening in the bowl, incredible fragrance of red fruits, delicious raspberry-cherry flavors and fascinating texture. A wine relished well into the evening. I’ve never forgotten it.
When I think about this wine, this Pinot Noir, it recalls family, people, places and events from almost 50 years ago; how much I thought I knew at the time and how much more I had to learn. It also is a reminder that wine is a pursuit of pleasure, savoring and remembrances. Pinot Noir does that. And we hope our wine brings that sense of enjoyment and recollection to your table.
- Craig Williams