His is one of those stories that seems made up because it’s so Hollywood perfect.
But Jim Dyke really did get his start in Washington as a Senate parking lot attendant. He really was a GOP and Bush spokesman. And he really does own a Napa Valley boutique winery in California that boasts a cabernet that beat acclaimed Screaming Eagle in a blind taste test.
After an accidental 2005 meeting at a Washington bar with Mondavi winemaker Gustavo A. Gonzalez, the two eventually started Mira Winery four years later and have been producing wines for a few years.
And last week, they finally celebrated the opening of a tasting room where a private sampling runs $100.
“Gustavo and I talk a lot about miracles. Each growing season, turning grapes to wine, how we met, having a family, sometimes just getting through a day. Einstein said there are two types of people. Those who don’t believe in miracles and those who think everything is a miracle. Mira is the Latin root of miracle,” he said.
They have a sophisticated plan, growing grapes around Napa in “some of the best blocks from leading vineyards.” The result is a cab costing $280 a bottle.
Along the way, Dyke kept his fingers in politics, heading the public affairs firm JDA Frontline until it recently merged with Washington’s Blue Engine.
“I loved politics from my first internship and still do. I think it’s kind of an addiction that you can’t ever shake you just have to manage,” said Dyke, who has worked on five presidential campaigns, was the communications director for the Republican National Committee, a Commerce Department press secretary, and aide to former President George W. Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
But he’s embraced his adopted home.
“I grew up in Arkansas and would have slapped you if you asked me five years ago if I was moving to California. It began as practical decision based on where I work and the strains the commute put on the family combined with the reality of a major construction project. But the Napa Valley is one of the most beautiful places on God’s great Earth and having lived its magic for the past two years I can’t imagine being anyplace else,” he told Secrets.
