August marks the 5 year anniversary of our tasting room opening as well as the start of our 9th vintage of wine. It often seems like we just opened our doors yesterday until I take a minute to reflect. Then all kinds of wonderful memories come to mind and I realize just how long it has been. I am reminded of the months of pouring wine on the weekends in the warehouse. (I am sure many of you remember this too.) And I think back to our “Sneak Peek” Grand Opening for our wine club members where everyone signed the 6L of Lizzy James that we enjoyed at the following Crush Pad Jam. And then I think about how young our kids were when we started this project and it becomes apparent that it wasn’t just yesterday! How they have grown and how the winery has grown as well.
We have been so blessed over these years. Our business has grown and we have been able to continue growing our wine production. While we opened our doors with under 800 cases of wine, we just recently bottled over 4000. Our tasting room traffic has steadily grown and we have needed to add additional staff. We have been blessed to find such great people to join the team! We have received great awards and accolades over the years too. In fact, we just received a Double Gold, Best of Class of Region for both the 2013 Albariño and the 2011 Old Vine Zinfandel, Lizzy James at the 2014 California State Fair! And, in July San Joaquin Magazine readers voted us Best Tasting Room! Humbling honors!!
However, the biggest blessing of all continues to be our loyal customers and Wine:Thirty Club Members! You are our biggest advocates and best marketers! But you have also become part of our lives in a way we didn’t expect. We have shared both joys and sorrows with you. We have shared the sorrows of illness and death and celebrated the joys of new marriages, new babies, new jobs and so much more. We have welcomed you becoming part of our family and you have graciously accepted us becoming part of yours as well. Thank you for being part of this journey we are on! Cheers to you and to the 2014 vintage! We look forward to sharing it with you!!
