And now a word from Grgich Hills Estate...

So...I was surprised and delighted to receive a blog comment from Ken of Grgich Hills Winery in the Napa Valley today. Ken wrote to me concerned we'd been misinformed about the availability of their delicious 2006 Fume Blanc on our recent trip to California and readers, though you may be few in number, I wouldn't want you to go away with the wrong impression of Grgich Hills either, so here to set the record straight is Mr. Ken Morris....

I'm sorry you were told that the Fume Blanc is only available at the tasting room—we’ve always sold it nationally, although it can be hard to find, especially in the summer whenever seems to want a crisp, cold wine. If you remember who served you at the tasting room, that would be helpful in correcting misinformation. I’ve also passed along your blog to the tasting room manager to make sure he knows about your problem.

As for the price, we (as do all wineries) sell wholesale to a distributor, who then sells it to the restaurant/wine shop. We cannot legally tell them what to price the wines at but most sell the wine for around what we sell it at the winery. In fact, restaurants/wine shops become upset if we undersell them.I was surprised at the general comment from one of your readers that California wines are pricy—California, just like France, Italy and Spain, has a wide variety of wines from different regions and prices so its not really fair to dismiss all California wines as pricey. I enjoy your blog and hope you’ll visit us again. We do offer a few wines that are only sold in the tasting room, but that list has never included the Fume Blanc.

Ken Morris, Grgich Hills Estate

How's that for customer service!! Ken, consider me impressed!!