The weather is cold in Chablis – the coldest region in France where Chardonnay is grown – and the fields of vines seem almost hostile. Who would dare make wine from a region this uncomfortable for man? Make wine they do, though, some of the greatest in the world.

The grapes are grown in the Russian River Vineyard of Chuy Ordaz – one of California’s most celebrated grape farmers — and the plant material came from the former Joe Swan vineyard in Forestville.

Barbara and I had lived in Korea for a year, so exotic Asian cuisine was not new to us, and our regular trips to Paris merely confirmed our attraction to the food. One of our favorite Michelin-starred Parisian restaurants proudly boasted a wine list that consisted almost entirely of the wines of Pomerol.

Barbara and I arrived in San Francisco in May 1970, two years after what was then known as the summer of love. We were returning to the states from Korea, after I had spent 13 months as a guided missile officer assigned to a unit near the Demilitarized Zone.