The Beginning

Our journey actually began in June of 2006. I was in NY visiting my parents, when Diane awoke with severe chest pains. It's possible to make this a long story, but the bottom line is that she spent the next two years trying to figure out what was wrong with her. There were medical tests, trial medications, and diet modifications. Throughout most of this time, she could not consume any alcohol. My cousin, Michael, who is a phyicisian in CT, suggested a possible diagnosis, which I then researched on the internet. You can imagine the attitude of Diane's gastro-enterologist, when ignorant old me mentioned esophogeal spasms. He politely dismissed my ideas and continue his own diagnostic trail. In the meantime, we battled our insurance company to have tests done that were considered "experimental", and I regularly offered to urinate (or worse) on the doctor's office wall. (Why she wouldn't let me, who knows.)

Finally, the GE doctor sent her to see a specialist at MCV in Richmond. He actually LISTENED to the detailed history that Diane had been keeping. He quickly suggested a specific test (which the other jerk had dismissed as unlikely to give us usable information), which told us . . . that Diane had espohogeal problems. This was almost a year and a half after I first mentioned this to the first GE. The solution was mostly medication and a slightly altered diet. Diane didn't have the nerve to ask, but I did. "What about drinking alcohol?" The answer was to stay away from hard liquor and carbonated drinks, like beer. "Was wine okay?" "Yes."

So with this new knowledge in hand, we invited our best friends, Deb and Mike, to go to a local wine festival. We had so much fun that someone suggested a weekend visiting wineries. There are a slew of them, but we chose a handful in the Charlottesville area.

It was during that first trip that we learned A) There were over 150 wineries in the state and B) It would be possible to visit each and every one at least once.