He hauls his six-foot-four-inch frame up from the chair, flails his arms, mugs, shrugs and entertains his audience with stories about commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, film production and of course, wine making. Gray Hartley hosts a wine dinner the way he apparently does everything else; 'Damn the torpedos...full speed ahead!"

Mr. Hartley is one half of the talented team that owns the Hitching Post Winery and along with his partner, Frank Ostini, he produces some of the most credible, and famous, pinot noir vintages in the US. To be sure, Hitching Post works with other varietals but let's face it, pinot noir put them and the map. But as the winery that was the inspiration for the 1994 hit movie, "Sideways", Hitching Post also did a lot to put pinot noir on the map in this country.

All in all, taking into account the inspired menu of Chef Gulija, the antics of vintner, Gray Hartley and the five special Hitching Post vintages, this proved to be one of our most entertaining wine dinners.