I had just turned 18 when my mom decided that it was time for me to go out into the world and explore some new cultures. My undergrad school didn’t offer any study-abroad programs back then, so she had to come up with her own experience for me…she sent me to Europe to spend a month with her colleagues and friends. I spent 3 weeks in the south of France – Montpelier to be exact, and I guess those 3 weeks were the foundation for my love of wine country 7 years later. The food…delicious. The wine…unlike any I’d had before. The landscape was breathtaking and I fell in love with lavender fields.

 

Since that trip I hadn’t seen landscape quite like the south of France again until a few weeks ago. I was working an event out on the west coast and I was fortunate enough to have some free time to go exploring. To Napa Valley we went and there were times when I felt like I was driving around Montpelier again, the landscape was so similar. It was gorgeous.