What I'm Writing Wednesday:

 So today, I'm posting a short excerpt from my upcoming book,QUE SERÁ SYRAH. This is part three in a three book, multi-author series that I've been writing with fellow authors, Kate Davies and Kelly Jamieson. 

It's been something of a secret project for us, and today's teaser is that the series is set mostly in Napa, and mostly on a winery.

Spend any amount of time with winemakers and you’ll hear the term terroir mentioned, usually with a certain amount of hushed reverence. Basically, terroir refers to the various environmental factors that might influence or affect the growing grapes. Ideally, it’s what allows the grapes to become the fullest expression of themselves. 

When I wake up on the morning after my arrival, I know immediately where I am. It’s as though, from the depths of my soul, I can recognize my own terroir. From the cool, soft air slipping in through my open window—bringing with it the familiar sound of bird song and the equally familiar mélange of fragrances rising up from the earth—to the same familiar views I’d grown up with, everything looks, sounds, smells and feels like home. And I am quite sure that, before too many more hours have passed, I’ll be able to say that it tastes like home, as well.

This is the place that shaped me, that made me who I am. It’s impossible not to imagine that—if only I could run downstairs fast enough, before I’m entirely awake—I’ll surprise my Nona in the kitchen, fixing breakfast. 

To be sure, there have been some changes (and mostly not great ones) in my immediate vicinity. My room looks nothing like it did when I left it. In the years since I’ve been gone, someone has removed my belongings and most of the furniture, taken down all my posters, and painted everything—walls, ceiling, doors and trim—a dull, dreary white. Blech.

Fun Fact: Before Napa was known around the world for wine, it was best known (at least within the state itself) for its psychiatric hospital. Back in the day, if you’d said that someone had “gone to Napa” it carried very different implications than it does today. This room, with its sparse furnishings and uninspired color scheme, is deffo giving those vintage Napa vibes. 

https://www.pgforte.com/pour-decisions