Varietals
Wine Advisor Stories: The Perfect Wines for the Perfect Day
11
Jul
Jul
The Perfect Wines for the Perfect Day
Vows, Vintages, and a Secret Venue
They met over Champagne. Literally. During a cellar tour, Camille had wandered away from the group to get a better photo of the riddling racks. Miles had too, for a very different reason: he couldn’t understand the guide because of his thick French accent. They nearly collided at the end of a row, and after a few awkward apologies, ended up skipping the rest of the tour to split a bottle at a nearby café.
One bottle on the list caught both of their eyes: the Domaine Pierre Gerbais N°18 – Experimental Cuvée. When they asked the waiter what made it experimental and learned it was a Champagne made from 100% Pinot Blanc, they both instantly said, “Let’s do it.” Each was quietly impressed by the other’s curiosity and sense of adventure.
A few years later, in San Sebastián, he proposed.
While she was napping, he wandered into a tiny wine shop tucked between a bakery and a pintxo bar. The shopkeeper suggested a bottle of the 2016 Abel Mendoza Selección Personal Rioja and said,
“This one tastes like old stories and new beginnings.”
That night, they climbed to the rooftop of their rental. The city lights shimmered across La Concha Bay. They opened the bottle. Talked about everything and nothing. And when the moment felt right, he reached for the ring.
We were so glad when we were able to find a few cases of both bottles for them to serve at their wedding. But it was their next request that truly seemed like an impossible task…
There was a winery in Sonoma they’d visited years ago: small, family-run, impossibly beautiful. There was just one problem: it didn’t host weddings. Or events. Ever.
“But that’s the place,” Camille said. “It’s the only place.”
Most people would’ve said it couldn’t be done. We said, “Never say never.”
What followed was a delicate dance of phone calls, emails, and texts. We knew someone, who knew someone, who owed someone a favor.
In the end, we made it happen. We’d love to tell you which winery it was, or how exactly we pulled it off, but let’s just say we’d prefer to stay on speaking terms.
And so, on a golden July afternoon, they poured the Champagne that first drew them close, the Rioja that gave him the courage to ask, and celebrated in a place that felt conjured from the very heart of their story…one that, for a day, existed only for them.
They sent us photos from their honeymoon with a note that said:
“Thank you for helping us pull off our dream wedding without sacrificing what made it ours. You didn’t just help us find the wine. You helped us tell our story.”
