Kit and Gary’s White Road Wine Adventure
Blog Post By Linzi Gay
Clif Bar started around the idea that you could make a better tasting energy bar for all of life’s adventures. And the products speak for themselves – good taste, high quality ingredients, sustainable and organic sourcing, packed into a bar that is ready to grab for a little extra energy on a run or the added fuel that is needed for a 100+ mile bike ride.
This focus on high quality products made for life’s adventures is also what Clif Family Winery was built on. From day one, Kit and Gary have supported organic agriculture, family farms, artisan crafted foods, locally grown ingredients and careful food preparation with the highest quality ingredients. Each product we make emphasizes the value of food, wine and companionship.
The experience that we offer at Clif Family was inspired by Kit and Gary’s white road adventures (if you need a little background on what inspired the white road, check out Gary’s book “Raising the Bar”). Long days of cycling in the Italian alps would often end in good hospitality, wine and a delicious meal at a Rifugio located at the top of famous mountain passes. This down-to-earth hospitality is what inspired the Clif Family Tasting Room and Bruschetteria Food Truck. We want every guest to feel like a member of the family.
These experiences also inspired Clif Family Wines. When they first moved to the Napa Valley, Kit and Gary had no intention of making wine. Rather, they wanted to spend their time experiencing what the Napa Valley had to offer. But call it a restless entrepreneurial spirit or a passion for farming, they ended up getting their hands dirty in the vineyards and the cellar. Their first wines were the 2003 Kit’s Killer Cab and the 2003 Gary’s Improv Red Blend. Still around today, these wines are the cornerstones of many Tasting Room and Virtual Tasting wine flights.
Kit and Gary have been making wine in the Napa Valley for 18 years and in that time, our wine portfolio, food offerings and experiences have changed a lot. But you can still experience the early days of our Tasting Room experience with a Clif Bar + Wine pairing flight. We call it our “Kick it Old School” flight and although it doesn’t have quite the same culinary flair you will find in one of today’s tasting experiences, there is a certain amount of nostalgia and white road adventure that goes along with it.