Mister and I spent the weekend in Temecula, CA. We were volunteering at our friends’ wine tasting events. These were their first big shindigs, and we wanted to help.

 

Gagnon Cellars is a boutique winery, started several years ago by our dear, dear friends Gil & Rae Gagnon. It’s a family affair. As friends of the family, we’ve been honored to be somewhat involved for quite a while now. We tasted the first batches a few years ago and now we’ve worked 2 functions. I can’t stress this enough: we really like these wines! And I don’t know if this is supposed to be a secret or not, but I’ve never experienced a hangover after drinking Gagnon Cellar wines. That’s some pretty impressive pixie dust there, friends.

 

Anyhoo, I was put in charge of food and Mister took photos and video for the owners.

 

 

As I said, this endeavor is a family affair: one of the wine’s labels bears the artwork of the family’s oldest daughter. She painted this when she was 11. That’s right – 11!

 

 

We had an early start on Saturday, as the day’s first tasting began at 9 in the ayem and was attended by a Corvette club. That group was a lot of fun and it was an excellent beginning. After they moved on, we cleaned up, had some lunch and readied for the afternoon tasting. That one was pretty danged cool, too. And I’m not just talking the crowd.

 

It’s a steady 55 degrees in the barrel room. (In comparison, it was 85 degrees outside.) I wore jeans, a sweater, a scarf and gloves. I thought that would be plenty, but after spending hours inside, it was hard to get my core temperature back up. I did head outside a few times – just to warm my bones – and that was a nice respite. But I didn’t mind the cold so much, as the barrel room is so freakin’ awesome! Multiple wineries store their barrels there and being surrounded by all that wine made me super smiley. But I wasn’t just smiling, I was also learning: a barrel holds 274 bottles of wine. Who knew? Mister kept joking that he might just roll a barrel out to the car, as it would never be missed. Then he was told each barrel weighs 600 lbs! Needless to say, we did not bring home a barrel of wine.

 

When all was said and done, I hope it was a successful couple of tastings for our friends. They’re good people. They’re passionate people. And they’ve made some mighty fine vino. We were tickled to have helped, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

As for me, each time I sit down at home with my Gagnon Cellars wine glass, filled with Gagnon Cellar’s finest, I’ll be sure to toast my friends. The whole fam damily.

 

2 thoughts on “Gagnon Cellars Wine

  1. Mikki, it was joy to meet you on Saturday at the wine tasting. I spent some time yesterday browsing your site. Love your positive energy and am quite impressed with your artistic talents, both visual and vocal. Your writing is devine. I noticed that you like Rick Bragg, I’m also a fan. His book Ava’s Man is one of my favorites. It reminds me of my grandfather who was married to (get ready, here it comes…) my Grandma Vera. Your writing/insights remind me of another of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver.
    Next time you are in the area visiting Gil & Rae, please stop by. I would love to introduce you to my herd of 50+ alpacas. They are magical, each one so personable, I would love to share that experience with you. Bring along Mister and stay for a picnic.

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