Back in April 2008, Damaris Colhoun got in touch with me about a book that she and Samantha Nestor were putting together on custom wine cellars called Living with Wine. She asked if they might include some of my client's cellars in the book and of course I said, hell yes. My friend Alice Feiring was writing the text so it sounded like a great project and long overdue.
Damaris' family has Landmark Vineyards in Sonoma County which makes wonderful chard and pinot and is in one of my favorite hangs, Kenwood. They have a long family ag history as her mother is the great, great granddaughter of John Deere. Most importantly though, they have a wonderful cottage on the vineyard to stay at if you are in the area.
This was all going great and then it didn't...
My dad's family was in the restaurant business from 1900 so as much as I hated washing dishes, I loved the practice of communal dinner. So later on, it wasn't a big leap for me to talk about food and winemaking with clients. I have been very fortunate having been involved with the intimacy of people's homes but I assumed that they would want to share their space with others.
To my surprise some of my clients did not want to be interviewed, photographed and advertised in a wine book. So, they declined. Needless to say, the book went on without me; c'est la vie. The good news is that the book is out, I have met many of the wine cellar artists featured as well as the folks involved in bringing it together. Everything has a purpose. Check out the book, as Amazon has it less expensive than the $75 list price.
