To have the best chance of succeeding in a new endeavour, particularly in a highly risky and challenging one, you need to fully embrace it. In my case that means switching my mindset from “I want to be a winemaker” to “I am a great winemaker “. But even though we’ve worked hard and sacrificed […]
The Angst of the Artist Read More »
Happy people enjoying our weekly Winemaker’s Cheese Tasting and Tour
Wine and Cheese in the Vineyard Read More »
I’m thinking thoughts in the quietude of the vineyard. Today, we’re working on tying up vines. At this point they’ve been dehilled. In the warmth of the spring sunshine they are starting to push out tiny pussy-willow like buds. I contemplate the vines.. Inside each primordial bud is a microscopic miracle of an entire shoot.
Trips to the County and our Vineyard have always given us great joy, and we want to share that feeling, so we bottled a new sparkling Riesling “Exuberance”. It’s a delicious, celebratory wine, truly the closest we can come to actually bottling the feelings of exuberance on a Spring day in the country. Come visit and we’ll share
Exuberantly Bottling Bubbly Read More »
This past Wednesday we bottled a thousand cases of wine — a drop of wine by industry standards but a new record for us. As a small winery, we bootstrap whereever we can, so instead of buying bottling equipment, we rent a bottling line. The Custom Quality Bottling transport truck arrives on bottling day at
Bottling day: Neighbours Helping Neighbours Read More »
It’s Spring and we’re back with a vengeance to working in the vineyard and the winery. The lights are on, the tractors are roaring and the tasting room is buzzing. In between the many rainy days, we’ve been dehilling vines and bottling wines. I scouted the vineyard on one of the rare dry days last week.
Bud Break at Broken Stone Read More »
…the best wine comes from grapes that are grown on the edge…
A County Winemaker at Large, in Patagonia, Argentina Read More »
“Never worry about things you can’t control.” Farming is about controlling everything you can and not worrying about things you don’t control. And you eventually realize you have control over nothing. Hubris has no place in farming. Last summer it was way too dry, and this spring it’s way too wet. I woke up this
Rainy Days in the Vineyard Read More »
One chill morning I awoke before dawn and waited for the sun to begin rising over the vineyard. Morning light is perfect for invigorating one’s spirit and for photography. In search of a picture or two, Woody and I wandered through the back-acre chardonnay and then down a path to where my kids had nailed a
The vines are buried, the tractors are silent, the tasting room locked until Spring, and another vineyard season draws to a close. Every season brings constellation of new challenges and this season was no different. We enjoyed every second of it. The last couple of days were spent assembling a pile of year-end orders. I felt like
Shipping Wine for Christmas Read More »