deVine Blog

deVine Blog

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December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
June 2008
May 2008
March 2008

deVine Blog entries from 2006
deVine Blog entries from 2007

Decenber 2008

“Remember, life is just a memory.
Remember, close your eyes and you can see.
Remember, think of all that life can be. Remember.”
- Remember Christmas, Harry Nilsson
December 21, 2008

It's our last Sunday at the tasting room for 2008. The sign says
open, but Mother Nature says closed. Four degrees outside, high
winds and almost zero visibility. The wind chill is a negative
ridiculous and you realize the year is finally over. We'll spend the
next week or so focused on the holidays. The 2008 vintage is
resting nicely in tanks and barrels and can be left alone for a while,
other than the occasional testing for sulfur levels.

The tasting room is now closed until Wednesday, March 4th. We
use our dormant season for much needed rest and travel and
planning for 2009. I'm sure we will visit a winery or two along the
way.

What a year this has been. We won't remember it for any
special weather event. Well, maybe the ten inch rain in September.
I'm more likely to always remember it as the year Dad passed away,
and the year Kelly graduated from MSU. Our youngest is out of
college and on her way to parts unknown. Adventure. That's what
life is all about.

As we come to the close our seventh season of karma, we would like
to thank all of you who have made this adventure possible. I think
we've met people from every state and several countries who are
passing through our corner of Michigan. All roads lead to Coloma.

Enjoy the holidays. Enjoy your family. 2009 is going to be the best year yet! A year of incredible things. I guarantee it.

November 2008

November, 2008

“From the bottom of the ocean, to the mountains of the moon. Won't you please come to Chicago, no one else can take your place. We can change the world, re-arrange the world...”
Graham Nash “Chicago / We Can Change the World”

One of the great things about this corner of Michigan is how close we are to Chicago. Tuesdays being the one day we close Karma Vista and last Tuesday being election day something compelled us to
make the two hour drive around the lake to hang out with our oldest, Jake, and be part of history. We didn't make Woodstock in `69 or the Berlin wall in `89, but we can say we made Grant Park in
`08. The Chicago skyline at night is used to being the main attraction, but this night it was just a backdrop to the jumbo TV
screens located around the park. Maybe you saw us on TV, we
were the ones waving at the camera. No matter what side you identify with politically, it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Electric...eclectic. A gloriously beautiful November night in the
60's, both literally and figuratively. Hanging out with a few hundred thousand of, what was for at least that night, your closest friends. After a few great hours of standing around watching the early returns on jumbo CNN I began to realize that my legs would
have never survived Woodstock. We decided we needed to watch
the speech somewhere that involved a soft chair and a glass or two of wine. Heading up town against the stream of thousands of people still walking down to the park we managed our way into comfy chairs at the lounge of the new Trump hotel overlooking the river. What a relief! What a great place to be. The rest, as they say, is history. We eventually made it home about 3:30 in the morning, worn out but still geeked about how far we had travelled in the span of a day. It has been quite a year. When we drink the
wines of `08 we will have a lot to talk about.

“I have come here to lose the smog, and I feel to be a cog in something turning. Well maybe it's the time of year, or maybe it's the time of man...we are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
Joni Mitchell “Woodstock"

October 2008

October, 2008

“What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?”
-Nick Lowe

Mid October, the tree colors are at their peak and most of the
grape varieties are safely off the vine and in the tank. The air is cold, the days are much shorter and suddenly we are thinking about
getting fields ready for next year. This is one of the prettiest times
of the year at the tasting room and a perfect time for the release
of our `07 pinot grigio a.k.a “SoCo Grigio.” The SoCo of course
stands for the hip growing area south of Coloma. This is perhaps one of our most inspired labels from our third label artist from St. Joseph, Robin Maxon. We think it captures the spirit of tumultuous
change and creativity that evidently started here in Coloma and
seems to have spilled over into the rest of the country. Study it
hard enough and you can see the influences of a little bit of Dylan,
a little bit of Peter Max, and a little bit of our daughter Kelly. (That's her profile on the label, but that's not her real hair color.)

This will be another harvest for the record books. After a weekend deluge in mid September, Mother Nature has tried to make it up to
us with beautiful fall temperatures. We were still getting days in the 80's at the beginning of this week and the grapes have
responded nicely. Color and flavors are excellent at this point. We'll try not to screw it up from here.

The news is all pre-election, pre-economic apocalypse hype. A
wise man once said people need wine in good times and bad, and that seems to be holding true. Nothing is safer in hard economic
times than money under the mattress and wine in the basement. I think I heard that on CNBC. Our was it wine under the mattress
and money in the basement? Either way, it's a great time to get
out and wander the countryside.

“What a beautiful world this will be. What a glorious time to be Free.”
“I.G.Y” Donald Fagen

September 2008

“It's late September and I really should be back at school.”
-Maggie May....Rod Stewart

Late September, of course

We were having such a great fall. August was warm and sunny and
very dry and the grapes loved it. First part of September was
warmer and sunnier and the grapes loved it even more. Just a little
rain and everything looks great. Now the weather gods are starting
to play with us. There are no hurricanes in Michigan. That's one of
the great advantages of our inland coastline along Lake Michigan.
So why should hurricanes in the Gulf cause so much rain all the way
up here? It seems a little ridiculous. I would like to lodge a protest
and I need to know where to send it! This is why I don't grow
grapes on the Gulf of Mexico. I don't see them getting snowstorms
in January. These are unstated, understood reciprocal laws of
nature. Wait a minute. I just checked the forecast on the web and
after this weekend it looks like beautiful sailing the rest of the
month....never mind.
The grapes in the picture are from our new block of Pinot Gris up
here by the winery. Pinot Gris is a white wine, but the grapes are
dark, or gray, which is where the word “gris” comes from. Evidently
it's Latin for gray. Those Latin's have a different word for
everything. Good thing it's a white wine. It would be hard to sell a
gray wine. Not a very appetizing color for a liquid, don't you think?
Anyway, it's one of the first grapes we will pick, hopefully before
the end of the month. Wait until you see the great new label. It
fits right in with our new “Peace, Love & Wine” theme. The label
art was just approved by the feds and is going to the printer as we
speak...if we were literally speaking that is. We have our first Pinot
Gris from 2007 in the bottle and hopefully on the shelf by the time
you get here. We have also introduced the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc.
It is our best yet and selling well. It has been a great summer for
us, perhaps one of the best ever. I'm not sure because there are
parts of it I don't really remember too well. But I'm told I had a
wonderful time and that's all that counts. Yes, it has been the
best summer ever. But now it's fall and I'm ready for the best fall
ever. When it's dry (there he goes again with the fine print!) it is
everyone's favorite time of year in this corner of the state. Fall
colors, beautiful sky, and just a hint of cool in the air. Football and
back to school feeling, even if you haven't been in school for a year
or two. We made our last college tuition payment this month
for Kelly. (She's the one in the sunflowers) Wow! After three
scholars and nine years of payments to the man (or woman, to be
politically correct in this political season) we are done. Perhaps it is
time for Sue and I to return to school. Ah, to matriculate once
again. No worries. No bills. No income. No thanks. We're needed
here. It's almost harvest time. Enjoy it while you can. There's a
time to study history, and a time to make a little. See ya soon.

August 2008

“When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around.” -The Police

mid August

Seems that once cherry harvest starts in July the rest of summer
flies by. We are now in the middle of peach harvest when we will
pick and pack peaches everyday until mid September when the
grapes start. The cool nights and mild days have been a huge
blessing. Too much heat too fast and the peaches get soft on
the tree faster than you can pick them. That means they can go
from being worth something to being worth nothing in a matter of
days. This has been an excellent summer for fruit so far. When
you pull up the driveway you will notice the last of the old cherry
orchards has been removed and the view is even more spectacular.
We’ll let the ground and ourselves rest for a year or two while we
figure out what to plant next. It’s not been all work and no play.
We’ve had great friends in from California, Texas and Ireland.
There’s the Venetian festival in St. Joseph in July; we took a
surprise trip to Milwaukee to see The Police and Elvis Costello and
visit my old college stomping grounds; had a high school class
reunion; and topped it all off with the 08-08-08 birthday celebration
on a party boat, also known as “Joe-Mania!” All in a month’s time.
Sue says that we need to pare down our social life or our work life,
one or the other. I’m still thinking that one over. Kelly is going into
her last week of work on the farm before heading back to Michigan
State for her final semester. That event will require even more
celebration this winter, but we’ll worry about that later. I will miss
having her around every day, but you will see her at the winery
most weekends this fall. The pinot noir grapes are starting to turn
from green to red on the vine and that means that Fall cannot be
too far away. But in the mean time, there are peaches to pick and
I think we’ve a wedding to go to next weekend. Man, it’s been a
great summer!

June 2008

You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real.
Van Halen , “Jump”

Early June.
We survived one of the colder, more dreary months of May in
recent history. I have a two acre syrah vineyard that looks like it
got clipped by several mornings of cold and frost throughout the
month. Looking back, it's amazing that we don't have more
damage. It was 26 degrees one morning when the cherries and
peaches were in bloom and there still looks like a nice crop of
both. Go figure. But that's all behind us. It's now June and hot
and we are off to the races with plant growth. That, unfortunately includes weed growth, and grass growth, insect
growth, and possibly mold and mildew growth on the vines. We
are hoeing every plant, removing sprouts from the grape vines
where we don't want them, and twisting growth in the new
vineyard up the strings that will guide them to the trellis wire.
It's blossom time in the grapes, but you can't tell that from
a distance. The miniature grapes just sort of get fuzzy looking as
the pistol sticks out of each potential grape.

Not that it's all work. We did go to Grand Rapids last week to see Van Halen at the Van Andel and it was Van Awesome! Wow! What a concert. David Lee Roth and the Van clan; Eddie, Alex and mini-Van, for two solid, loud hours of rock hits. I still don't think I've regained complete ear drum function, but it was worth it. I think President Ford must have rolled over in his grave. No really, he is only buried about three blocks away from the arena
and the bass and drums must have moved the guy a few times. This was their last stop on a tour that grossed just under $100 million. Good to know I contributed to that.

Only one more week until the Weko Beach wine fest in Bridgman
on June 21st. All the southwest Michigan wineries, three bands,
good food and a beautiful setting on the beach for the longest
Saturday night of the year. It runs from 1p.m. to 10 p.m. this
year. A great way to officially kick off the summer. See you there.

March 2008

March 1st, 2008

“I'm back in the saddle again.”
Gene Autry

So this is the first of March? Like ground hog's day, we are
sticking our head out and trying to figure out if we want to
do anything yet. The worst of winter is behind us but the
snow just won't go away for any length of time. We have
to start trimming one way or another. Look at the calendar.
Look out the window. It's a tough call. The vines in the
picture are the Pinot Noir outside the tasting room door.
They're not necessarily the first ones we like to trim, but
they were close to the driveway and the driveway is plowed
and we can't get out to any other vineyards because the
snow is too deep. These are the type of management
decisions I get paid the big bucks for.

We are back to being open six days a week now at the
tasting room (closed Tuesday). We had a great winter.
Saw Memphis, New Orleans, Tampa and Nashville in a
driving trip the end of January. Went to Chicago more than
once. We just got back from a Michigan winery conference
in Traverse City where we mingled with most of the other
wineries in the state. It's great to see all the excitement
and growth in the Michigan wine biz. We have a new Pinot
rose' to release in April, (cool label)... just in time for
Michigan wine month. More on that next month. We're
getting the field behind the winery ready to plant more
Sauvignon Blanc in 2009. This year we will focus on the
Syrah vines we just planted last spring. You'll see them
when you pull up the driveway. The second year is amazing to watch as they climb up the wire. We are trying to create a framework to hold the vines first crop in year three. The
forecast is for cool and wet, followed by April. St. Patty's
day is the same week as Easter...what's up with that? It's
going to be an interesting year. You'll need wine.

May 2008

To every thing, there is a season, turn, turn, turn.
The Byrds / Bob Dylan / Ecclesiastes

May 2nd, 2008

It's the first week of May, everything is in beautiful full bloom, and
it's the first bloom the farm has ever experienced without my dad.
His funeral was a week ago. Dad passed away while working on
the farm, the way he had lived pretty much his whole life. I really
didn't know if the trees would bloom without him here. It just doesn't seem possible. Dad and I planted every tree and vine
that is on the farm today. He always did all of the weed spraying,
covering some 350 acres of planted fruit, driving up and down
each row at least twice every year. When his lung disease meant he had to carry an oxygen tank with him, he just bought a tractor
with a cab on it so he could keep taking care of things. You
control the things you can, and adjust to everything else. He
planted all the grass, worked all the open ground, and kept us all
on our toes with a never ending list of things to do next. There is
a wonderful beauty to the farm, but it doesn't happen all by itself.
It takes someone who cares and who understands all that needs
to be done. When we bought the property Karma Vista now sits
on it was nothing short of a mess. It was almost overwhelming to
stand on top of the hill and see all the old broken trees and
rough terrain that needed to be dealt with, but Dad loved the
challenge and we went to work. He was the fifth generation of
Herman's to care for this land in this corner of the world. A few
summers ago Sue and I drove back to an open field on a far
corner of the farm to find out Dad had planted a four acre field of
sunflowers. They were already head high and nothing short of a
spectacular sight. So much so that we had to grab our friends
Tony and Liz from Contessa Winery and go back there to have an
evening glass or two of wine among the sea of bright yellow
heads. It was magic. Dad always made magic happen. A
thesaurus will tell you that vista means vision, perspective,
horizon. Dad had all that. Karma is the echo of the vibrations we
create. Dad's echo will be surrounding us forever.
We love you Dad.

Karma Vista Vineyards & Winery
6991 Ryno Road
Coloma, MI 49038

Hours
Closed Tuesday
Open: 11 - 5 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday, 12 - 5 Sunday

Phone: 1-269-468-WINE (9463)
Email: info@karmavista.com

Last Edited: 03/05/10
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