The Rocking Peju Winery in Napa

Probably everyone who steps in to Peju Winery and is fortunate enough to get Alan Arnapole as their pourer thinks they have stumbled upon one of the best kept secrets of the Napa Valley. I know I did. Tasting wine with Alan Arnapole as your host is a new and exciting experience in wine tasting.

Peju Winery was the last winery we visited on Sunday. So, I’d already had a day full of this wine is blah, blah, blah with a nutty, floral, fruity, dry, smooth, distinct, oakey, heavy, fresh, light, dense, muted, gentle taste with a hint of blah, blah, blah. I was just going with the flow of wherever my friends took me and enjoying the beautiful scenery and the pleasant tasting wines but I pretty much tuned out what the people were saying about the wine.

Peju Gift Shop

When we entered Peju Winery we were greeted and escorted to a tasting counter. I saw a white guy in a tie. I was ready for more blah, blah, blah when suddenly this guy broke out in a rap song about the wine, then continued with some hip hop, yodeling and a bit of opera and some random jokes. This guy is Alan Arnapole and he is hilarious and talented. He had the four of us cracking up and looking around at each other in a sort of disbelief thinking is this guy for real? He was, and he kept going. We stayed and tasted all that he had to offer. We also left with a few bottles of very nice wine in hand.

I was so impressed with Alan that I went home and did a little research on him. Turns out we’re not the first people to discover him. He has been featured in guide books, has been on travel shows, and was recently featured in the Napa Valley Register.  Alan even has CDs where he tells the story of Napa Valley with his singing.

You can listen to samples of Alan’s yodeling here.

Peju winery is beautiful and Alan Arnapole is a breath of fresh air in this sometimes stuffy culture of wine connoisseurs.

I found this YouTube video of Alan doing his thing.