After nearly 30 years of living and breathing their business, the Chaddsford Winery, Eric and Lee Miller had finally reached the stage where they felt comfortable leaving it in the care of someone else for an extended period. They moved off the winery property last year and had slowly extricated themselves from the day-to-day operations. Now it was time, they decided, to take that long trip they’d always dreamed about.
“This was a change year in our lives, and we felt it was time to do more of the things we’d always wanted to do, and travel was one of those,” says Lee, 62.
Sure, they’d traveled in the past, often to the wine regions of Europe, but work and family always dictated that the trips be fairly short. Now they could savor the experience and have some time to reflect on what they wanted to do next with their lives. “I think at some point in order to get new insights you need to break the pattern, to not always be looking at the same thing,” Lee says.
“We wanted to live a different culture and speak a different language,” adds Eric, 63.
Wine is Eric’s passion. He grew up on a vineyard in New York state. He had long wanted to explore the wine regions of Argentina and Chile. Lee was perfectly willing to visit South American wineries with Eric, but she had two conditions: that they see Argentina’s and Chile’s other attractions, and that they end the trip with a month relaxing on the beach in Barbados.
