to our friends at the winery, thank you so much
we almost forgot one thing.
we're taking a leave, it's our winter reprieve
we'll be back when it's almost spring!

                      Love,
                                     Joe & Sue
                                                & jake & keith & kelly
 

�Some people like to go out dancing and other people like us, we
gotta work.  And there's even some evil mothers, they're gonna
tell you that everything is just dirt.�
Lou Reed, Sweet Jane

When it comes to wine, they�re right. Everything is just dirt. It�s
the different locations and soil types that make everything taste
different.  The French have a term for it.  I think it�s called Le
Dirt, or something to that effect. Who knows? Who can understand the French?  It�s always fun to start a new vineyard.
It is one of the great rites of spring to plant something.  It�s what
we do.  As you pull up the winery drive you will see our latest
vineyard, a combo of Syrah and Pinot Gris.  It is amazing that
inside these tiny little buds are the makings of many, many bottles of great wine.  Who knows what great thoughts may come from drinking that wine, and what great deeds may come from those great thoughts.  These vines could bring world peace.  It could happen. That is the potential of Spring.

Last week I read a great quote from Ringo in Rolling Stone to the
effect of �I can�t feed all the birds. But I can feed all the birds in
my garden.�  Much the same, I can�t take care of all the land,
but I can take the best care of the land I am in charge of.  If
everyone does the same the results will be spectacular.  World
changing.

Plant something. It�s what we do.
 

Mamas and the Papas.

From Oregon we high tailed it to California wine country.  About
five hours in the car and I was ready for some wine.  Our favorite town on the Sonoma side is Healdsburg.  We stayed in a great B&B right on the town square called Four Sisters.  There are tasting rooms, restaurants and bars all around the town square.  We recommend the calamari at The Healdsburg Bar, and the fried green beans at Zin for starters.  The tasting room experts at Toad Hollow and LaCrema right in town were great, and gave us some good recommendations. Over the next few days we visited
Sunce, Harvest Moon, Lambert Bridge, Ferrari Carano, Sbragia, Pelligrini, Foppiano, B R Cohn, Martinelli, Sterling, Laird, Opus One, Beaulieu, Domaine Carneros and Artessa.  Exhausting work, but we are, after all, professionals.  We visited friends from college and high school along the way, some of whom we have not seen in 20 years or so.  Like all good friends, we were able to pick up the conversation as if it had never stopped.  We spent several hours watching container ships glide through the harbors and leisurely
talking about anything and everything.  That is, after all, what wine is best served with; good friends and conversation.  Thank you all for being there.  We sent home a bottle or three to open judiciously throughout the year and remind us of our trip and our friends.  While we were happy to get home, we really were hoping the snow would be gone, or at least going, when we returned.   No such luck.  The tasting room is now open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, what we call our �groundhog hours.�  We�ll come back out for good when it�s warmer.  We return to our regular six days a week in April, only a few weeks away.  If it weren�t for St. Patrick�s Day, I think I could skip March all together!
 

�The future�s uncertain and the end is always near. Let it roll, baby roll.�
                            -Roadhouse Blues The Doors

Mid January and it has been a quiet winter so far. Very little snowfall and mild temperatures for the most part.  No complaints from me. Everyone is worried about it being too mild.  Everyone but me that is. You see, I can remember all the way back to winter of �83 when I was a young man and we first bought this property.  There was no snow to speak of that winter either.  We were able to bulldoze orchards, work the ground and pick up
roots all through February.  I get tired now just thinking about it.  So winters like this aren�t unheard of.  It�s somewhat of an inconvenient truth that we occasionally have mild winters.  But nobody wants to hear about that.  Relax and enjoy it! The local paper has already had their first �the farmers are worried about losing their crops� story.  There will be at least three more of those before the traditional �the farmers don�t know what they�re going to do with all of their crops� story that they run in the fall.
I�ll let you in on a little secret of the brotherhood.  It is a rule of thumb that farmers lose the same crop at least three times before harvest!  A paranoid, somewhat depressing bunch, taken as a whole.  Farmers always have their bedrooms on the first floor so they don�t hurt themselves each time they jump out of the window in a fit of �all is lost� depression.  You can say you heard that from me, but I will deny it.  (I am practicing for a life in politics), We will soon head out West where we will explore being on the other side of the tasting room counter. A lot of serious winking and drinking is in the plan. California, Oregon, Washington...you may soon feel a great disturbance in the force. We are coming. Stay tuned.