My life is not dull, at least, not all the time. And I am proud to say that not once, not for one single minute- not even seconds within a single minute- did I do any work whatsoever. I know, I know. Progress.
I was on my way through Sonoma to a work-related retreat in Jenner in 2004 with a winey colleague, Charlene, when we stopped at a number of wineries and stumbled on Imagery. I was totally blown away with that first taste and developed an enduring love and awe of these rip-your-face-off-reds that were about as big, massive, luscious and impressive as I was hoping for! I had, about 10 years earlier, found a wine called a "Petite Verdot" at McKinley liquor that I loved and never was able to find again, despite a decade-long search. Just on first glance at the basic tasting menu at Imagery, lo and behold there is a Petite Verdot.
"You had me at Verdot." Gasp.
It was kismet. I was in love. This was as big, as massive, as amazing as I had been pining for for years. I left with a lot of wine and a wine club membership. Imagery is also cool in that they pair art with wine- big, bold reds that are less commonly found is Joey Benzinger's focus, but each vintage and varietal gets a new custom created piece of artwork from any number of artists around the world. Around the winery, these images are hanging in an art gallery. It's quite an environment.
I remember stopping at Arrowood, who shares a driveway with Imagery that day, and enjoyed their wines which are usually of good quality but they were blown away by the lingering finish of Imagery.
A year or two later, I came back with my mom and we went back to the tasting room for a pour. I had been told a number of times by various friends that I should consider doing something in a tasting room on weekends for fun, so while my mom was savoring the Imagery wines, she casually let drop to the woman pouring for us that I would be interested in perhaps working there. Not known to me at the time, the woman pouring was Rebecca, the tasting room manager. I sent her a resume which was very fitting for a physician assistant, but had nothing to do with wine. I got a phone call a day later from Hal, the big boss of personnel for Bezinger and he hired me on the spot.
In 2009, I still work the occasional weekend in the tasting room at Imagery, and I'm still a wine club member. And I still set all winey benchmarks to this single standard. I can taste a good Barbera, but it's never as good as "our" Barbera.
I was on my way through Sonoma to a work-related retreat in Jenner in 2004 with a winey colleague, Charlene, when we stopped at a number of wineries and stumbled on Imagery. I was totally blown away with that first taste and developed an enduring love and awe of these rip-your-face-off-reds that were about as big, massive, luscious and impressive as I was hoping for! I had, about 10 years earlier, found a wine called a "Petite Verdot" at McKinley liquor that I loved and never was able to find again, despite a decade-long search. Just on first glance at the basic tasting menu at Imagery, lo and behold there is a Petite Verdot.
"You had me at Verdot." Gasp.
It was kismet. I was in love. This was as big, as massive, as amazing as I had been pining for for years. I left with a lot of wine and a wine club membership. Imagery is also cool in that they pair art with wine- big, bold reds that are less commonly found is Joey Benzinger's focus, but each vintage and varietal gets a new custom created piece of artwork from any number of artists around the world. Around the winery, these images are hanging in an art gallery. It's quite an environment.
I remember stopping at Arrowood, who shares a driveway with Imagery that day, and enjoyed their wines which are usually of good quality but they were blown away by the lingering finish of Imagery.
A year or two later, I came back with my mom and we went back to the tasting room for a pour. I had been told a number of times by various friends that I should consider doing something in a tasting room on weekends for fun, so while my mom was savoring the Imagery wines, she casually let drop to the woman pouring for us that I would be interested in perhaps working there. Not known to me at the time, the woman pouring was Rebecca, the tasting room manager. I sent her a resume which was very fitting for a physician assistant, but had nothing to do with wine. I got a phone call a day later from Hal, the big boss of personnel for Bezinger and he hired me on the spot.
In 2009, I still work the occasional weekend in the tasting room at Imagery, and I'm still a wine club member. And I still set all winey benchmarks to this single standard. I can taste a good Barbera, but it's never as good as "our" Barbera.
