Whats in a Name?
We thought that as the first entry in the blog that we would offer a little bit about the people behind Dacalier and explain what Dacalier is to us.
Eric & Lisa Gordon
I came out to visit San Francisco in 1996 and took a tour of the wine country. Absolutely loved it and decided this is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. In 1997 I packed up my car, sold whatever didn’t fit, and drove out from Florida. The second best decision of my life! Started working as a cellar rat that first year and was firmly engrossed in the science and art of making wine.
After the first crush I would take temporary jobs in the software industry to pay the bills while I studied making wine, with the job ending in time for the next crush. I kept that up until I met my future wife at one company, where she kicked me out of the software industry so I could pursue winemaking full time. I eventually ended up running a small high end custom crush winery.
I left the winery to pursue producing my own wine label and Lisa and I opened up a small wine bar in downtown Napa. While working in the bar I was surprised when Dave and Erica walked in. It was great reconnecting, and equally so great talking about the wines we enjoyed. I had become a big fan of Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines while touring Switzerland, and Dave also wanted to pursue making wine of that style. Dave and I kept in contact and next thing you know, the wine was born.
-eric
Dave & Erica Smigielski
The first memorable bottle of wine that I purchased was a 1998 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon. I shared that bottle with Erica while we were dating and we discovered that there were wines out there that weren't made of Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle put me on the road to discover how much about wine that we did not know about. I immersed myself in wine tastings, wine books, online learning and just tasting, tasting, tasting. We discovered as we tasted that our pallets were growing and becoming more accustomed to different styles and grape varieties. We became familiar with French and Italian wines and discovered the Southern Rhone region and really enjoy Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas as well as one of my favorites Bandol. After we took a 3 week trip to France & Italy, we made a pact to ourselves to come back to the states and we would make our own wine. We didn't know exactly what that meant at the time, but we are finding out what that means today and we are sharing that experience with you.
Erica and I had known Lisa & Eric because we used to work at the same firm in San Francisco. We reconnected with Eric and Lisa at their wine bar in Napa and I planted the seed about wanting to learn more about making wine and volunteered to work with him during the next crush. Eric and I discovered that we both had a desire to make a Southern Rhone style wine and we put the wheels in motion to create a partnership.
Elde Vin LLC
Once we worked out our partnership, business plan and budget we set out to find the right grapes. We will go into more detail about the vineyards and the people we have met on our journey in future entries, but we managed to find some great Grenache as well as a block of 80+year old Carignan. Now that the juice is in the barrel, we are now turning our focus on the name, labels, websites, wineblogs and getting our name out there.
The Name
Dacalier is a unique word that was created by combining different parts of the 4 partner names that make up the Partnership of Elde Vin. The four partners are Dave, Erica, Lisa & Eric. If you look at it like this; DAve, eriCA, LIsa & ERic; you have Dacalier. We made up a word that actually sounded French, now we needed to give it a definition that we felt good about. We came up with "A gathering of friends enjoying fine wine." This made sense to us because no matter what happens when we gather with our friends there is always wine.
Whats Next?
Well, stay tuned because this is where Dave, Erica, Lisa & Eric will share with you the ups and downs of making wine in Napa Valley. We feel that if we share our honesty and love of wine with you the reader that you will be compelled to give our wine a try. We look forward to your comments/feedback on our wine blog as we interact with you the wine lover.
-dave
Eric & Lisa Gordon
I came out to visit San Francisco in 1996 and took a tour of the wine country. Absolutely loved it and decided this is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. In 1997 I packed up my car, sold whatever didn’t fit, and drove out from Florida. The second best decision of my life! Started working as a cellar rat that first year and was firmly engrossed in the science and art of making wine.
After the first crush I would take temporary jobs in the software industry to pay the bills while I studied making wine, with the job ending in time for the next crush. I kept that up until I met my future wife at one company, where she kicked me out of the software industry so I could pursue winemaking full time. I eventually ended up running a small high end custom crush winery.
I left the winery to pursue producing my own wine label and Lisa and I opened up a small wine bar in downtown Napa. While working in the bar I was surprised when Dave and Erica walked in. It was great reconnecting, and equally so great talking about the wines we enjoyed. I had become a big fan of Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines while touring Switzerland, and Dave also wanted to pursue making wine of that style. Dave and I kept in contact and next thing you know, the wine was born.
-eric
Dave & Erica Smigielski
The first memorable bottle of wine that I purchased was a 1998 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon. I shared that bottle with Erica while we were dating and we discovered that there were wines out there that weren't made of Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle put me on the road to discover how much about wine that we did not know about. I immersed myself in wine tastings, wine books, online learning and just tasting, tasting, tasting. We discovered as we tasted that our pallets were growing and becoming more accustomed to different styles and grape varieties. We became familiar with French and Italian wines and discovered the Southern Rhone region and really enjoy Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas as well as one of my favorites Bandol. After we took a 3 week trip to France & Italy, we made a pact to ourselves to come back to the states and we would make our own wine. We didn't know exactly what that meant at the time, but we are finding out what that means today and we are sharing that experience with you.
Erica and I had known Lisa & Eric because we used to work at the same firm in San Francisco. We reconnected with Eric and Lisa at their wine bar in Napa and I planted the seed about wanting to learn more about making wine and volunteered to work with him during the next crush. Eric and I discovered that we both had a desire to make a Southern Rhone style wine and we put the wheels in motion to create a partnership.
Elde Vin LLC
Once we worked out our partnership, business plan and budget we set out to find the right grapes. We will go into more detail about the vineyards and the people we have met on our journey in future entries, but we managed to find some great Grenache as well as a block of 80+year old Carignan. Now that the juice is in the barrel, we are now turning our focus on the name, labels, websites, wineblogs and getting our name out there.
The Name
Dacalier is a unique word that was created by combining different parts of the 4 partner names that make up the Partnership of Elde Vin. The four partners are Dave, Erica, Lisa & Eric. If you look at it like this; DAve, eriCA, LIsa & ERic; you have Dacalier. We made up a word that actually sounded French, now we needed to give it a definition that we felt good about. We came up with "A gathering of friends enjoying fine wine." This made sense to us because no matter what happens when we gather with our friends there is always wine.
Whats Next?
Well, stay tuned because this is where Dave, Erica, Lisa & Eric will share with you the ups and downs of making wine in Napa Valley. We feel that if we share our honesty and love of wine with you the reader that you will be compelled to give our wine a try. We look forward to your comments/feedback on our wine blog as we interact with you the wine lover.
-dave
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