Arya Campbell , Her Family Owns LAUREL GLEN winery in California, Postcard She Sent

It's so rare today to receive something written by hand, in one's own handwriting today! No One seems to do it anymore and that saddens me greatly. It's even more amazing when something comes in the mail these days like a post card. I received one and I kept it. I love to correspond and spend dome time thinking and writing. It's a marvelous way to reflect and remember and grow from the experience. Back in 2005 I met Arya Campbell of the LAUREL GLEN Winery in the Sonoma mountains. I think that my rep from the Henry Wine Group Joe Manekin brought her to the store to taste the new releases of " Reds " and the famous " Counterpoint " Cabernet Sauvignon( we had the 2001 - great vintage ) , the ZA ZIN and the Laurel Glen red, too. I don't think the " Che " was available back then. Anyway, I knew the wines pretty well because when I had worked wholesale back for the Forman Brothers distributing company I had represented them. I had always been told such intriguing stories about Arya's dad and so I have looked forward to meeting him now for the longest time. In the meantime though I got to meet Arya his charming and beautiful daughter who is an artist( jewelry designer ) and both passionate and completely professional and dedicated to spreading the word about Laurel Glen. She's got fire in those eyes of hers that demand one's attention.

She came in one night to do a store wine-tasting and she did really well. It was not just any store tasting : we also had Alphonse Mellot of his own French Loire Sancerre winery there : ALPHONSE MELLOT winery. She held her own with Alphonse who is oozing with charm and personality and passion, too. He's quite a bit older than Arya. We also had the son of another French winery, a Pouilly-Fuisse and Saint Veran producer there that I was neither expecting and knew nothing about except that his parents both had already been in the store tasting their wines earlier this year. But I will write more about that and about Alphonse later. We tasted whites mostly from France ( one Pinot Noir from Alphonse ) and all reds from Arya. What a nice balance for an evening of adventure, fun and learning in Cleveland Park Washington D.C. N.W! I will include a couple of photos here to make you want to read the next installment about this wonderful evening back at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits.

For the meantime this blog is about Arya and the postcard she sent and the art of writing as well as the art of wine and wine-appreciation. I did enjoy Arya's jewelry by the way. She always wears it and it does look especially nice around her neck or on her wrists as she is so striking herself. You can see it in these photos. Someday I will get a chance to sit down with Arya and chat when we are both not so focused on selling another bottle or case of wine. I can only gather snippets of info and detail as I work the floor and pass the customers on to the pouring wine owners and makers. It's intense and a job that I have to stay focused on if we are to be successful in the store and sell wine. It's fun for the customer I sincerely hope ( that is the idea ) and work for the rest of us. So I hope to get a coffee with Arya someday and hear a little more about her story which has taken her traveling around the country so far.

We hit it off really well on the first meeting. She came in when there were other wine owners/ makers in the store as well as other wine salespeople. It was probably a Wednesday when I receive a lot of salespeople. Anyway, as I think is only considerate and best I usually draw everyone together, certainly introduce people and see what transpires. Arya met several people this way and I think appreciated that. I tasted her wines and told here what I was going to buy and explained some my philosophy and invited her to come taste in the store with customers anytime that she was free.

She took me up on my offer and came to pour her California Sonoma red wines as well as her " Reds " and it might have been from Argentina, I can't remember. Memory fades. We had a blast with two French men and one American young lady tasting. They all three stood around the round wine table and poured and customers gathered readily and tasted and bought.

Here is what Arya wrote me in her postcard postmarked North Bay CA. 949. She used a 24 cent stamp and over it the words HAPPY HOLIDAY can be seen. It's a stamp of a common Buckeye butterfly. That interests me today, July 6th, 2008 because I just read in the Wildlife magazine a disturbing story about the disappearing habitat/breeding grounds for the Monarch butterflies and others. So far this year I have only myself witnessed about five Monarchs and that's a far cry from what we normally have flying and feeding from our huge butterfly bush out back. Where are you Monarchs?!? I miss you.

Arya writes : " Dear Anthony, I wonder if I will begin to meet all the stars from your book now that I've moved back to CA ! So do you get to Sonoma sometimes? Hope everything is going well for you out there as you gear up for the holiday season! " Arya Campbell. Looks like it was postmarked 13 DEC PM sometime ?

Arya got to see the books that i fill with signed pages and business cards and photos of all the wine-makers and owners that come to the store. There are many of them as I started back in mid 2000 doing this and my passion has only grown more since to do more of all of this. These " stars " are what I refer to in the wine business as our " rock stars ". When you see this Arya I hope that you send me another post card. Also keep sending them to people. It's a really nice touch and so very welcome, too when it arrives in the mail. It's a lost art that we must encourage and try and keep alive - a life-force of kinds that's tangible and real and that only that person could have done or created. It's an example of one's own self taking time to reach out and touch another human being. WOW.I loved the artist's rendering of the Laurel Glen winery on this postcard. It looks so bright and inviting. I'll have to get out there sometime when you are there and can properly introduce me to you family. Is it a silk screen image or some type of mixed-media? I can't tell.

Pictured are some of our favorite customers like Ramona and Kristin. Also importer and president of Elite Imports Laurent Givry is pictured. The pictures are over two times that Arya came to the store. The ones with her all alone were taken just after Nicole Kidman was here filming in Cleveland Park the remake of an old classic horror film. That, too created quite the stir here in Cleveland Park.

Anyway Arya thanks for the postcard and until we next meet. I really like your wines. They are balanced and well-defined and clearly designed to enhance both food and gatherings of family and friends. In my humble opinion you make more European-style, traditional-style wines using the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes as well as California's delicious Zinfandel grape. What other grape-goodies do you have up your sleeves that you blend to make the " Reds " ? Pray tell me sometime. Any Charbono or Valdigue or ruby Cabernet or Barbera or Sangiovese? Bravo to you and your family. Keep up the good work and let's organize another tasting sometime and focus on selling more of your excellent reds from California and Chile. Cheers, hope you and your family have been enjoying a nice 4th of July 2008 weekend. TONY