What were once just homes...

Back when I was first getting started in the wine business, I had the fortunate experience of spending some time with a good friend. Bill Phelps, son of Joseph Phelps and current president and CEO of Napa powerhouse Joseph Phelps Vineyards, kindly invited me over to the winery and provided me with some needed and much-appreciated guidance.

I had been to the winery before, but was treated this day to a part of wine country many never see. Bill met me in the lobby and escorted me into the old family dining room. He explained that, at the time, that room was only used for gatherings of family and old friends. I was honored. It was far less "wine countryed" than the big dining room right off the lobby, but this room, with its dark wood table and lush decor, exuded old wine country charm from every angle. This charm was only enhanced by the speculation of the great gatherings, meetings and meals that took place inside its walls. The wine consumed at that table with the legends of the domestic wine business must have been really swell and, one can imagine, only enhanced by the conversation and the old wine country stories.

While part of the winery now, this particular room was once the centerpiece of the Phelps home. For many of the patriarchs, matriarchs and early pioneers of the wine business in California, what have become the facilities we now know as wineries started off as simply their homes. It is indeed a part of wine country that we seldom see.

Similarly in Washington State and here in Idaho, there are wineries that first and foremost are the homes of many winemaker/owners. Before we opened the shop, I remember travelling to Prosser to taste with Ron Bunnell, the great owner/winemaker at Bunnell Family Cellars. We tasted in his basement, right next to the wine production equipment and the crush pad. The Bunnells have since moved on to a more formal tasting room.

Tasting rooms and production facilities now run the gamut, from the opulent and at times flashy to the modest, where business and home pride are wrapped together in an emotional embrace. Just like the wine that comes from it, this is a business that engenders and is motivated by passion.

The trick for wine consumers is, of course, is being able to experience that feeling. It isn't quite as easy anymore as the business has grown, facilities have become bigger, and homes and wineries seem to separate. There are some left, though.

If you go to Sonoma, make it a point to go to Chateau St. Jean. While the winery is now owned by a huge corporation from Australia, the original home still sits prominently above the estate vineyards. It dates to a time before the winery started but spending some time there, it is not hard to imagine founding winemaker Dick Arrowwood creating some of the original great Sonoma County wines at the big dining room table.

Go down the road a bit to Pagani Ranch. This iconic Sonoma Valley ranch is not a winery, and it is unlikely you can get in to see the old farmhouse. Originally it was the site of Kenwood Winery, but now is strictly a farm. The view of the ranch from Highway 12, though, is one of the most beautiful in all of wine country, and is visited by artists and photographers regularly for the stunning and reminiscent visual it strikes with the white barn surrounded by fields of head-pruned vines.

If you have the chance after that, head up to the Russian River Valley and visit MacMurray Ranch, the wine country retreat of TV and film actor Fred MacMurray. Now owned by Gallo, it is one of the great wine country homes where Mr. MacMurray would spend time away from the bright lights of Hollywood with friends like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. This box canyon with many vines is charming beyond words and a great representation of homes that became wine properties.

The list is endless. In Napa, the old Chateau Montelena, Stags Leap Winery, Reverie, Beringer and more are all stunning examples of when homes were wineries and wineries were homes. Many are no longer accessible the way they once were but simply visiting them, you get the sense of what it was like when they were just homes. As wine professionals, that feeling never gets old - as it won't for most wine consumers, too.

If there is a topic you would like to read about, or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party, a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George has also worked as a judge in many wine competitions; his articles are published around the country and is the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene Magazine (www.cdamagazine.com). You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles, as well as other great wine tips, by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.