ENTRY #6
Friends & Neighbors
THE MUSIC
This month, my song “The Beginning” grew up from the song in my head to a song everyone can hear.
Over the last few weeks, I worked with my friend Jon Gilutin to demo my song “The Beginning” and create a string arrangement together.
We started in the San Fernando Valley at Victor Indrizzo’s studio, laying down the foundation with the rhythm section. There’s something magical about the first day in the studio, when a song is still finding its legs and everyone is listening for its heartbeat. The groove settled in, the parts began speaking to each other, and suddenly this idea Eric and I had been carrying became something we could feel coming through the speakers.
From there, we drove to Republic Records Studios. This is a private studio reserved for Republic artists like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and The Weeknd — but through my friendship with Wendy Goldstein, Head of A&R at the label, we were graciously allowed to record there. Thank you Wendy!
Then came one of the most beautiful moments of the process: my friend Isolde Fair led an all-female string quartet. They were elegant, emotional, powerful, and completely locked into the spirit of the song.
The next day, I drove to Igloo Studios in Burbank to record vocals and sax. This was where the emotion caught up with me. I got choked up singing the song and missed a few lines here and there, then went back and re-sang them. I think it’s a good sign when a song breaks in and takes over. When you write something this personal, it can be hard to sing. That emotion is part of the truth of it.
The song in my head has now fully become realized and it gives me goosebumps to hear it.
Songs appear out of nowhere when you write them… and these past few days it just took a few talented friends to bring my song to life! Amazing.
Mindi 🎶
THE WINEThere are moments in this Whiteboard journey when Mindi and I just look at each other and think, how did we get here?
Last week we were in Napa checking out how the fruit was coming along for the 2026 harvest. Standing in the Oakville vineyard, looking out across the vines, that feeling hit us pretty hard. Right there, just next door, is Opus One. Across the street is Beckstoffer To Kalon. On the other side, Robert Mondavi To Kalon. Down the road are Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel. Not far away is Screaming Eagle. Up in the hills are Harlan Estate, BOND, and Promontory.
These are not just famous names. They are some of the most important and sought-after wines in Napa Valley — and, honestly, in the world.
And then there is our little patch of dirt.
That is what makes this so surreal. Whiteboard is not coming from some general idea of Oakville. It is coming from a specific block, in a specific vineyard, in one of the most extraordinary neighborhoods in wine. You do not just call up and get fruit from a place like this. It does not work that way. These relationships take years. Sometimes decades. And even then, opportunities like this almost never appear.
So when we stand there, surrounded by those legendary neighbors, we feel two things at once: pride and gratitude.
Pride because we know what this place is capable of. Gratitude because we understand how rare it is to be here at all.
As we get closer to our first Whiteboard release this September, that is the part I keep coming back to. This wine was never meant to be ordinary. It was born from a dream, a song, a whiteboard, and now from a small block of Oakville Cabernet growing in the company of legends.
Eric 🍷
