Post Card from Napa Valley

     Greetings from the beautiful Napa Valley, California's premium grape
growing and wine making district.  I wish you were here.  My name is Robert Delaney,
and  I am  a native and year-around resident of this region of natural and man-made
splendor.  My daily lifestyle resembles a vacation.  I live in the middle of the Napa Valley
on a three acre pastoral estate surrounded by grapevines.  I watch hot air ballons float
overhead on most mornings, so close that I can hear people on the balloon ride talking!  
I attend winetastings and dinners with world famous winemakers and vineyard owners.  
I visit the hot springs in northern Napa Valley.  And most enjoyably for me, I make my
living by sharing experiences daily with visitors from around the globe.  I have the good
fortune to work for a Napa Valley winery visitors center.    

     Winery hospitality and sales shops also become fairly dormant during the winter. 
There are fewer visitors during the winter, as the days are shorter and cooler, not as
suited to outside activities.  So many Napans, myself included,  focus on family and
friends with many holiday parties and gatherings.  Wine is always an invited guest. 

     Those with a strong feeling of holiday sentiment, myself included, send Christmas
and Holiday cards to friends and loved ones.  We exchange gifts and special bottles
of wine with neighboring wineries.  My friend Harvey, from Elyse Winery down the road,
brought me a wonderful bottle of Elyse 2000 Syrah.  I gave him a Laird Family Dyer
Ranch Syrah 2001.  Both wines are very small production, just a few hundred cases,
so they are special. 

     As the Holidays draw ever so near the excitement is growing.  Tomorrow evening
I am meeting my brother and sister for an intimate pre-Christmas dinner.  I may show
some family and landscape photos for fun after dinner and dessert, with some Port. 
Then next week Christmas Eve my entire family gathers for dinner and unwrapping gifts. 
It creates a joyful, warm, and special feeling that will carry over to Christmas Day,
when we go to my niece's home for lunch and more presents. 

     But before Christmas I have to work also.  Today I helped Rebecca Laird,
the general manager and my boss prepare some gifts and arrange some shipments. 
Rebecca's two beautiful dogs were visiting and playing around the winery and offices. 
We had decorated a Christmas tree for the tasting room last week, dressing it with
ornaments and small colored lights.  Beneath it are colorfully wrapped bottles of wine. 
The lights reflecting against the glass walls of the room seem to sparkle as raindrops
splash against the other side of the glass.  Andrea Bocelli's "Sancta Maria",
the beautifully rich and soaring aria from Mascagni was on the sound system. 
Sometimes I can't believe they pay me for doing what I do.

     The Laird family patriarch, Ken, is spending the holidays in Hawaii. 
Ever the businessman, Mr. Laird had me send him a case of "samples" for the
restaurants he visits.  I am not surprised to learn that some of the Laird Family
Estate wines are now available in select Hawaiian restaurants.  On the telephone
yesterday Mr. Laird said it 85 degrees in Hawaii.  I mentioned it was raining and
55 degrees in Napa.  But the warm glow of the valley decorated for the Holidays
is warming our spirits and the nearness of friends and family is warming our hearts. 
The fireplace is warming our toes, and the wine is warming our souls. 
I'll close for now, with wishes you can come visit me soon.