Do you remember the first time you had a great bottle of wine? Ours was a chardonnay. During the panic of Y2K, a group of us worked New Year’s Eve to address issues with the millennium bug (bust). As a thank you, the company gave us a sizeable allowance to expense a personal dinner. For two poor kids in Boston, that was some treat! We totally took advantage and dined well out of our league. A dinner at that level we knew required wine, but we had no clue what to order. Fortunately the nice “wine guy” guided us to a bottle of outstanding Grgich Hills Chardonnay.
Mike Grgich photo from grgich.comAt the time, we knew nothing about the wine. We just knew it tasted damn good. On our first trip to Napa, Grgich Hills was a required stop. During this visit we learned just why the wine was so special – the winemaker. Mike Grgich gained international recognition at the historic Paris Tasting of ’76. The chardonnay he produced at Chateau Montelena took home top prize among the white wines – shocking the French.
Over the years, our love for this chardonnay has not wavered. Not only is it an excellent wine, but every time we pop a bottle we recall our many wine adventures and discoveries since that first bottle. For our anniversary, Jeff gave me the perfect gift ~ 2009 Grgich Hills Chardonnay. It didn’t take long to pop open the bottle. This wine has flavors of citrus fruits, balanced with notes of minerality. It does not undergo malolactic fermentation, preserving the acidity. It was a perfect pairing with our meal, and our stories.
Grgich Hills will always be our first shared bottle.