WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING? : David Stare, Dry Creek Vineyard

“Every Tuesday afternoon we have a wine tasting for the staff. Usually they’re themed, but for Christmas, I just told them to bring their favorite wine. The one that impressed me the most was a Rho^ne wine, the 1994 Guigal Co^te Rotie that they call “Brune et Blonde.” It was almost ink-black with a lot of black pepper and cinnamon spice in the nose. The thing I liked most was that it had very soft tannins. It was a warm, approachable wine; you could call it a good snuggly wine.”