Pacific Northwest

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Out In the Vineyard With Carl

July 25, 2011 in A Sense of Place, Farming the Vineyard, Life of a Start-Up, Moving Along, Our Wine, Wine Marketing | 1 comment

Our latest installment on The Daily Meal. We (mainly me, Stephanie) write a bi-monthly piece called “Diary of a Start-Up Winemaker.” What we(well, I)’ve written to date are HERE.

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We’ve only been “in business” for just under a year, and are working on finding like-minded wine adventurers who appreciate wine like ours, as well as our endeavor. It’s a crowded, crazy market these days, as you all know, but we’re slowly reaching some of you individuals who dare to step off the well-worn route, or should I say, you’re discovering us, as true adventurers are apt to do.

Carl found us through Scott’s parents, out in Missouri. He was so interested in The Grande Dalles that he purchased six bottles of our inaugural wines: two ’09 Leroy’s Finest, our bone-dry Riesling; two ’08 Gampo, our sangiovese blend; and two ’08 Home Place, our tempranillo blend, just like that. Since his order, we’ve exchanged a few chit-chat messages, so imagine our surprise, when he told us he’d be out in the Pacific Northwest (a rare visit, he said) and wanted to meet! Our first fan from afar wanting to come and learn more! We were thrilled.

So off Sam and I went — Scott had to stay in Portland, holding down his day job that keeps this dream alive — to meet Carl.

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Eagles and Turkeys

January 7, 2011 in A Sense of Place, And Then Some, Life of a Start-Up | No comments

That’s what we saw last weekend on our drive to the vineyard. The bald eagles up in trees along the Columbia River—I counted four within a 50-yard distance, could’ve been more—off of I-84, right before our turn-off. The flock of wild turkeys were less than five-minutes later, off in a stand of trees, along 8-Mile, us just into the twists and turns of the road as it followed the meandering of the creek. There must have been a couple dozen of them along the water’s banks. Lined up eagles and a flock of turkeys. A national symbol and a national meal. Quite an ornithological dichotomy within minutes of one another. What does this mean?

All you rational people will say, “You’re in the Pacific Northwest, ferchirssakes, and so happened upon these feathered friends in their natural environment. What, do you think they were waiting there for you?!” No I don’t think they were (ha!) but I believe with this poignant showing of nature, there is something to take from it.

Thinking about life right now, there’s no denying the stress of trying to find those people who appreciate a more individual wine. So many “what’s all this for?” moments as we dip our feet into the industry and find out how hard it is to swim upstream when everyone’s swimming down. The closed minds of people are beginning to numb our own, and I wonder, have our heads dropped to the ground, like those turkeys pecking along the stream bank, unaware of the broader picture, or, on a more positive note, is it simply focusing on the task at hand? And what about the eagles? Are they there to remind us to keep our heads up, and not lose sight of the bigger picture? Or perhaps, and pardon the cheesiness, that we should soar above all the turkeys out there?! Or maybe it’s just to scavenge what we can and feast on it. I don’t know. I only know it was quite a mix of birds that day.

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