James Laube on Brian Larky and Wine Spectator "Wine of the Year"-11/17/06

Before founding Dalla Terra in 1990, Brian Larky was a winemaker who satisfied his hopeless addiction for wilderness and selected related sports on a much more regular basis. A U.C. Davis Fermentation Sciences graduate, he held several winery production jobs in facilities such as Far Niente and Domaine Chandon before heading to Italy to work as assistant winemaker, then winemaker, at the prestigious Ca'del Bosco estate. Before (but not much since!) starting Dalla Terra, Brian kayaked and rafted down most of North America's major rivers, as well as many in Europe and Asia. A three-month stint as head whitewater guide on the African Rainbow Equatorial Expedition, the first known crossing of equatorial Africa by boat through the waterways between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, was the proverbial trip of a lifetime. He has sailed the seven seas, including many transoceanic voyages and yacht races. He is a private, commercial and instrument rated pilot, a scuba Divemaster, catches (and releases) lots of fish, and shreds deep powder from Cortina to Taos. He's climbed from Nepal to Tibet and is an inveterate photographer of these numerous activities. On the rare occasions when he pursues these passions now, he works market visits into road trips--cell phone glued to his frozen hand on the chairlift.

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