:: Jorian Hill Vineyard ::

Although its true that I never thought I would be a vintner, its also true that I never thought that I would live in California, be a partner at a leading entertainment law firm or be the mother of three kids—all of whom are still talking to me. Veering off plan has always brought the best results. So when, a little over a year ago, we chanced upon an organic vineyard in our search for property in the Santa Ynez valley, I wasn’t scared off. As with all of my other endeavors, not knowing what awaited me made for bold beginnings.A lot of what awaited me over the past year has been just want you would expect in the cycle of wine—veraison, the gorgeous ripening of grapes, harvest, crush and then a long, long wait. Discarding an acre or so of San Giovese grapes and grafting the much more Syrah compatible Grenache on their rootstock, designing a label, designing a website were all much more fun and way more time consuming that I ever expected. But the making of the wine is a mystery still unfolding to someone who started the process by asking for the recipe for Syrah and Viogner. And, despite the absence of an index card with an ingredients list and numbered instructions, the both wines came out beautifully. The terroir of Jorian Hill and the skills of winemaker Bruno D’Alfonso overcame my ignorance, thank God.

Now we are ready for our debut release and it is all about the wine. Now, all of the details have been obscured by that seminal moment when the glass is lifted. I am trying to get better about not holding my breath until tasters try the first sip and not exhaling with a huge sigh of relief when they smile and take a sip.