This is an article I didn’t plan. The idea came to me this morning, Thanksgiving day, and I cobbled it together in between dog walks, bread baking and turkey roasting, grabbing any moment to write about four people for whom I’m exceedingly grateful.
A generic AI-generated image.
This is a late Thanksgiving post. I apologize, for I know everyone by now is digesting the turkey and thoughts are turning to Black Friday and Christmas shopping. But I hope you’ll indulge me for these thoughts that came to me this morning as I had a rare moment of clarity and thought about what — and who — I’m truly thankful for. I wrote this post quickly, snatching moments when I could.
My family isn’t sentimental. We dig into the turkey, resuming our petty arguments and shushing Ringo as he chirps and squeaks under the table until my mother-in-law slips him some food. (He has an amazing pitch range.) We don’t talk about what we’re thankful for, because that touchy-feely stuff isn’t us. Our love is largely unspoken, expressed in being together. Thanksgiving is an excuse to have delicious side dishes, my MIL’s cranberry relish, my daughter’s pumpkin cheesecake, and better and more wine than usual.
But today, while my focaccia dough rested and the dogs got antsy for a walk, I reflected on four people in our wine community I’m especially thankful for. These are people who have faced down life’s worst and prevailed. Whenever I feel myself starting to whine about anything, I remind myself of them and what they’ve accomplished. I know about them because they’ve been open about their ordeals on social media, an openness I could probably never display. (I may be a total mess, but if you ask me how I’m doing, I’ll just say, “Fine, thanks!”)
So while the bread baked and the turkey roasted, while we laughed and enjoyed dinner, I silently raised a glass in thanks for these four inspiring people I’ve met on my own wine journey who remind me that each day is not a challenge but an opportunity to experience and share joy.
Yannick Benjamin is one of New York City’s most charismatic sommeliers. Paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident in 2003, he puts the lie to the phrase “confined to a wheelchair,” because nothing can confine this dynamo. He has “rolled” marathons. He co-founded the restaurant Contento, whose three-year run ended at the end of 2024, and was honored by the Michelin Guide as New York’s best sommelier. Yannick co-founded Wine on Wheels, a charity benefiting people with disabilities and advocating for better access. He now owns Beaupierre, a wine store in Hell’s Kitchen.
In February of this year, Yannick suffered a severe injury that required hospitalization and a grueling recovery. His struggle inspired him to study the writings of the Stoics, and he shared their wisdom along with reports of his recovery on social media. On November 1, he completed the Way of the Seven Churches in Rome, rolling more than 20 miles to raise money for a church back home. A personal triumph that had his friends cheering with joy.
I’ve only met Yannick a couple times at wine events, but I find it impossible to spend just a few minutes with him and not feel the possibilities life offers ahead.
Yannick Benjamin inspires me to look beyond the static of the day and focus on a beautiful horizon ahead.
Ali Smith Story met her husband, Eric, when both were working in wine retail and distribution in Texas. They fell in love, moved to Sonoma County to follow their wine dream, eloped in Hawaii and started their winery, Smith Story Wines, in 2014. Eric handles the winemaking while Ali does the marketing, including driving throughout California to deliver wines and maintaining an active social media presence.
Along the way, the Storys adopted a white goldendoodle puppy they christened Lord Sandwich. The dog became the social media marquee of their budding brand, a symbiotic relationship that helped them market a business based primarily on direct sales to consumers. Ali’s social media, done in Sandwich’s voice (he refers to Eric as “the fun parent”) made her followers part of the family, at home as well as in the winery and tasting room. They named a couple wines after the dog and donated proceeds to buy socks — Sandwich’s favorite thing to steal — for needy families. That’s how I came across them and wrote about them in The Washington Post. I’m a sucker for dogs, after all, and as it turns out, Lord Sandwich was born the same day as my Ringo.
In 2021, Ali was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. She stayed true to form, tenacious and transparent, as she shared her ordeal and ultimately her recovery with her followers on Facebook and Instagram. This was during an already difficult period when the pandemic challenged their business model by devastating winery tourism. And the wine market was already beginning to soften. Sandwich, now joined by a younger black goldendoodle named, of course, Sir Soup, is showing his age and struggling with his own infirmities, but Ali is in remission and broadcasting determination on her socials and her Substack, “The Chapters.” Because her story isn’t over, and despite the challenges facing small artisan wineries like Smith Story Wines, she and Eric are determined to prevail.
Ali Story is my inspiration because of her tenacity and her insistence that the future is hers to define.
Janie Brooks Heuck had no intention of pursuing a career in wine. But when her older brother Jimi, a rising star in the Willamette Valley, died of a heart attack at age 39 just a few days before harvest in 2004, she found herself the caretaker for his fledgling winery on behalf of her nephew, Pascal, who at 8 years old was undoubtedly the country’s youngest winery owner. The 2004 vintage was made with the help of a dozen winemakers, friends of Jimi’s who urged Janie to keep his dream alive. She’s done that and more, helping build Brooks winery into a stalwart of the Eola-Amity Hills, championing Riesling, Pinot Noir, and biodynamics. Janie’s been active in the Willamette Valley Wineries Association and Wine America and also supportive of Heart’s Delight, a wine auction that supports the American Heart Association. Her latest innovation is the Wine Atlas Collective, an organization of eight similar family-owned wineries in different regions who offer reciprocal benefits to each other’s club members to help spread their message during a difficult market downturn.
Pascal Brooks has spent the last several years in France, where he has worked several harvests and done his cellar-rat apprenticeships at Domaine Ostertag. In recent posts, Janie has indicated with great excitement and relief that Pascal is planning to come back to Oregon soon and join the team at his winery.
I have a sentimental connection to Brooks wines, as I may have been the last journalist Jimi interacted with. I corresponded with him a few weeks before he passed about his love of Riesling, for a piece I wrote on Dave McIntyre’s WineLine called “The Alchemy of Riesling.” And I recall meeting Pascal on my first visit to the winery, in 2009, when he was 13. Even then, he said he wanted to follow in Jimi’s footsteps and make wine. Several years later, he gave an inspiring speech at Heart’s Delight about his father and the value of research into heart disease.
Janie Brooks Heuck inspires me for her determination and ability to turn tragedy into opportunity and build a legacy that helps make the world a better place for everyone.
Drew Baker is incredible. I wrote about him recently in my account of Burnt Hill Farm, so I won’t repeat the story here of how he battled leukemia while bringing his family’s dream of Burnt Hill to fruition along with his sisters, Lisa Hinton and Ashli Johnson, and his wife, Casey Baker. I met them in 2013 when they debuted their first wines from Old Westminster Winery in Maryland. I followed the evolution of Burnt Hill Farm from their purchase of the property in 2016 through the exploration of soil pits the next year, planting of the first vines in 2019, and tasting the first wines in early 2022, just before Drew’s diagnosis.
The Baker family — Drew, Lisa, Ashli and Casey — inspire me with their love, family and faith. They embody the ideal that together, we can overcome anything.
Of course, I’m also thankful for the wider wine community, including you, my subscribers, who inspire me to continue exploring the world of wine and to bring it to you through my modest scribblings here on WineLine. I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with your circle of loved ones and I wish you an amazing and joyful holiday season.
Small wineries unite!
Joining a wine club is no longer just a way to get discounts and special access at your favorite winery: Under a new consortium being announced today, club membership can be your passport to delicious wine experiences around the country.
The Magic of Burnt Hill 
A new winery opening may seem run-of-the-mill, even if more wineries appear to be closing, but there was nothing ordinary about the opening of Burnt Hill Farm in late summer.
Dining and Cooking