How I became interested in wine...

I was 25, eking out a living and working on a novel, living in Spain.

A friend suggested we go to Bordeaux for the grape harvest. “Easy work, great food, and all the wine you can drink,” he promised.

Well, he was right on two out of three; I still have scars on my hands.

But I discovered that wine is more than a beverage with a buzz; it’s an expression of a place, a time, an entire culture. I decided I wanted to learn more about it, and that passion has directed my life ever since.

I grew up near the vineyards overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where wine is a part of the culture.

People don't invite you over for a beer or a cup of coffee. They ask you over for a glass of wine -- and wine is not just drunk, it’s debated.

We didn't speak much about politics at the dinner table; but we did spend an inordinate amount of time and energy dissecting the finer points of this or that wine, and how it matched the food.

My parents emigrated from Hungary, where wine is as much a part of dinner as is bread -- so, even as a small child, I always had my own thimble-sized glass of wine.

But my wine awakening came when I was 25 years old.

It was a brisk fall evening, the candle-lit restaurant was romantic, the man was handsome (it was our second date) and the wine was a 1964 Amarone.

Although I had no clue whether Amarone was a grape or a place or even a brand name, I could tell that the wine was amazing; each time I took a sip, I discovered another flavor, which lingered deliciously.

The man? he didn’t last, but my love for wine has only grown.

It began as a James Bond fantasy.

When I was in my teens, I wanted to be worldly and sophisticated. This meant possessing the knowledge and ability to identify Dom Pérignon ’55 served at the perfect temperature (the women would surely follow).

My wine education began when I received Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas of Wine and Spirits as a gift for my 21st birthday -- as a geography major, I was always interested in maps, soils, geology and regions. I began reading everything about wine that I could get my hands on and by 1990, I worked in the wine trade.

I started drinking wine in college, but a trip to Napa and Sonoma in the early 1970s showed me the direct link between agriculture, climate, chemistry and wine that I find fascinating.

As I visited various tasting rooms, I was equally taken by the diversity of styles – from sweet Muscatos and Rieslings to heartier reds, such as Cabernet, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel.

In my youth, I was a counselor at a camp in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. During this time, I toured local wineries and bicycled through nearby vineyards.

In college, I visited Napa Valley and the wine regions of Europe.

But I got a hand’s on education in wine during my first job out of school; as a reporter at the St. Helena Star, a weekly newspaper published in the heart of the Napa Valley, I traversed the vineyards and got to know the local vintners and wineries.