Michel Bettane's Visit - April 2008... My Hero!

Much to our delight we were graced with the visit of Michel Bettane, the leading French wine critic! Very daring of him to bother visiting a work-in-progress winery, perhaps he was initially intrigued by the fact that one of our winemaking advisors is Zelma Long, the world reknown oenoligst who we hold in high esteem.

Getting to know Michel was a revelation - what a fascinating, multi-faceted man! His exceptional reputation within the wine world preceeded him, and in that regard he did not disappoint. What caught me off guard was the remarkable breadth of his weltanshauung. Little did I know that he had trained as an orchestra conductor, taught classics in the best French university, as well as French literature at Yale. What an impressive intellect! I was also bowled over by his ability to notice and evaluate every single detail, not just in wine-related subjects but also architecture, psychology, nature, art and so on.

Accompanied by Amy Lillard, the charming smart American winemaker who collaborates with him, he inaugurated our (not really finished) tasting room and put our wines to the ultimate taste test. Excruciating suspense... His ensuing enthusiasm touched me deeply. The most I expected was "keep up the good work" not "this is the most impressive new project I've seen in Europe". This was a much needed validation of all the hard work and soul searching of the last 10 years... Anyway, he added a great big fan to his giant fan club.

A most memorable 24 hours!