Joel A. Clapick – Executive Producer/Winemaker
I’ve always been enamored with the journey, the promise and the mystery of wine.
I’ve had the great fortune to travel to many of the world’s greatest wine growing regions. Through these formative experiences visiting chateaus, walking rows of vines, experiencing the excitement and buzz harvest time activity and speaking with winemakers, I have developed a true respect and affinity to wine. Yes, it’s just liquid in a glass; a consumable product. Here one minute, and gone next. But it’s really more. Wine is a conduit to people, places, sensations and experiences.
When I drink certain wines, I am instantly transported back to my original experience with that varietal. Brunello di Montalcino – “that unforgettable week of homemade dinners, way too much wine and the never ending nights of limoncello and laughter with great friends at a vineyard house in Chiusi, Italy.” Riesling – “oh yeah, that week of intoxication, drinking my way up and down the impossibly steep vineyards of the Mosel in the immediate days just before ‘competing’ in Ironman Germany.” Malbec – “great steak dinners in Mendoza, Argentina, hot days driving dusty unnamed roads searching for inspiration, new found friends, crazy South American experiences, and ultimately the impetus for my desire to make my own wine.”
The greatest wish that I can make for my own wine is that it somehow finds its way into a memory or two, for you. I look forward to the pleasure and honor of personally sharing a glass of my wine with you sometime soon. Cheers!