The greatest pleasure afforded by our work is making the wines themselves. That is why these pages document day after day on the crush pad. But the second greatest pleasure is intense on its own and supremely rewarding: presenting the wines, watching faces, hearing reactions. Mostly I present to wine buyers, sommeliers, other nabobs of great distinction. But sometimes we organize tastings and get to talk to, and drink with, normal people. Sometimes even the nabobs are quite normal. Some of the most fun this year has been watching people approach the 07 prince with the expectation of disgust, and then seeing their faces light up, smiles erupt, orders placed—clearly against all rational expectation on the part of the buyer. And some of the most rewarding experiences, because least expected, have been outside of the centers of sophistication (and wine-geekdom)— for instance, the owner of a steak and red wine emporium somewhere outside of Clearwater, Florida who tasted all of my wines then began his order with a request for “A case of that fucked-up Sauvignon Blanc!”

Here are some of the events where we have been able to present the wines to many people at once: