Hint hint hint.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, I walk into work and hit play.
Head to the kitchen and start some garlic cooking with some amish roll butter and fill the whole tasting room with instant delicious smells. I dance around on the way to check the messages then back to adding more components to the soup - onions cooked until they release their sweetness, add Jacob's cattle beans from an organic farm up the road along with other simple ingredients to make the base of my white chili stock. I arrange white roses for the bar. I put down all the chairs, wipe down tables, look outside at the rain trickling down the grapevines, run outside to cut some rosemary, and lament for a moment not getting garlic in the ground. There's still time. I come inside, check the weather, check out an online portfolio of a local artist who might display here in Feb., then make myself a sample of the sandwich special. Delicious! Needs a mushroom, white wine sauce and I personally like colby jack, but swiss might go better with mushrooms.
I can't believe it's one week before Christmas! Where did the time go? As the year rounds out, we're about sold out of our delicious off-dry white, Locomotion. That might be my stocking stuffer while we still have some left.
The weather looks like this is the warmest day for awhile... and we might have a white Christmas Eve. It's odd that December isn't acting like December. This year has been nothing but rain. It seems appropriate that through the winter it continues to pour down on us instead of snowing. I guess I'll take that over freezing sleet rain anytime.
Anyway, now it's time to make the mushroom sauce for my swiss roast beef sub and then work on the pile of dishes that's growing. This is after all, very hard work. ;)
Head to the kitchen and start some garlic cooking with some amish roll butter and fill the whole tasting room with instant delicious smells. I dance around on the way to check the messages then back to adding more components to the soup - onions cooked until they release their sweetness, add Jacob's cattle beans from an organic farm up the road along with other simple ingredients to make the base of my white chili stock. I arrange white roses for the bar. I put down all the chairs, wipe down tables, look outside at the rain trickling down the grapevines, run outside to cut some rosemary, and lament for a moment not getting garlic in the ground. There's still time. I come inside, check the weather, check out an online portfolio of a local artist who might display here in Feb., then make myself a sample of the sandwich special. Delicious! Needs a mushroom, white wine sauce and I personally like colby jack, but swiss might go better with mushrooms.
I can't believe it's one week before Christmas! Where did the time go? As the year rounds out, we're about sold out of our delicious off-dry white, Locomotion. That might be my stocking stuffer while we still have some left.
The weather looks like this is the warmest day for awhile... and we might have a white Christmas Eve. It's odd that December isn't acting like December. This year has been nothing but rain. It seems appropriate that through the winter it continues to pour down on us instead of snowing. I guess I'll take that over freezing sleet rain anytime.
Anyway, now it's time to make the mushroom sauce for my swiss roast beef sub and then work on the pile of dishes that's growing. This is after all, very hard work. ;)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
picture time
While going over the pictures on my camera, I realized that i have a ton of pictures of grapes. It's mostly a catalog of grape and sheep pictures. I love my sheep.
Perhaps its because I don't have any children, so maybe these are my little kids. Perhaps it's because I see this amazing beauty in not only the current state of hues of vibrant green and rich purples, but also I know where they've been and what potential they have in the end.
So here's a little catalog of pictures from this past year. Enjoy...
Marquette grapes on the vine... pick them quick! They turn it into our First Class
Perhaps its because I don't have any children, so maybe these are my little kids. Perhaps it's because I see this amazing beauty in not only the current state of hues of vibrant green and rich purples, but also I know where they've been and what potential they have in the end.
So here's a little catalog of pictures from this past year. Enjoy...
This picture will be a reminder in the dead of winter of how beautiful the gardens were
Our baby everbearing strawberries are living up to their name.
Tomatoes try to take over the yard.
Greetings. Welcome to Barrel Run Crossing in summer time!
With the weather chilling down and the wine slowly settling in tanks and barrels, it's really become time to think over this whole season so far and go... what happened?!
I guess my pictures on my camera have morphed from just grapes turning colors, grapes hanging on their trellises, grape blossoms, and grape harvests into pictures of how nice the tasting room gardens were and how happy people are when they try our wines. I also have a lot of food pictures, but those were just making me hungry.
This year I am very grateful for the amazing people who have come to the winery and the even more fun people who come back and bring their friends. It's so nice getting to know local people who care about locally grown foods and spirits. Mmm, now i'm making myself hungry again.
When I think back over 2011 so far (I know, I know, it's not new year's yet, but for a farmer, the season is just about over) I remember the rains that wouldn't stop, the frost that never came, and the people who flooded in as soon as we opened the doors.
I loved seeing new people come in after we were just open for a week who were just amazed that we had only been open for a week. I've been so lucky to find the best staff and blessed to be working with Nick, who is an amazingly animated and supportive boss.
Ok, so now I kinda sound like I'm giving an acceptance speech. Writing this all down is a way for me to really just soak in what is happening right now and while I'm soaking in, I guess I'm realizing that this place is awesome, the people are awesome, the wine this year is pretty stinking good, and the food is so much fun to put together and serve.
No wonder my camera is full of pictures from this place. It's the best place to be and I'm very happy. ;)
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Resting Post-Harvest
Wow. What a crazy harvest season.
With every year in Ohio there are new challenges. It's like playing poker - you don't know how good your hand is but you're betting all in and Mother Nature is holding all the cards.
This year, I got a Queen and a Jack and on the flop, it was a 2 and a 6.... Excellent spring. Beautiful. No late frost, I was thinking -Man, this year is going to be great! And then it never stopped raining. Well, it stopped for a bit in the heat of the summer but then it kicked back up again.
The spring was wet. The fall is turning out to be wet. I can't tell you the panic I felt right before harvest as I watched the rain spread a fungus just days before harvesting and almost ruining my whole crop.
But it all turned out. Maybe not always the way that I had anticipated though, but this year's harvest is going to be yet another very interesting vintage.
That -no late frost- that I mentioned... well, turns out that if you don't have a frost to nip back all your primary buds then you end up with a whole lotta fruit. While I was running around putting together the tasting room, building a menu, and trying to figure out how to staff this place, I just curiously would look at the vines on occasion with a -that's weird- little look. I watched the blooms come out this year, which are huge on the primary buds with no late frost. I usually leave a lot of buds on when I first go through the vineyard and then go back through about 3 more times to cut more off and cut more off to control my crop, but time management got the best of me and I found myself spending more time putting grow tubes on the newly planted vines than thinning out the older ones. I figured, hey, I've been doing this for a few years and so I know what I'm doing. I don't need to count buds.
WRONG.
By the time the Marquettes had to be harvested in mid-September, I couldn't even properly do harvest estimates because there were so many clusters I couldn't see them all. It turned out to be over double what we harvested last year!
The Frontenac and F. Gris followed suit with massive yields as well. The Corot Noir, Vidal, Noriet and Traiminette, however, did not follow suit but instead succumbed to the terrible weather and didn't turn out producing much.
So now my tanks are full. We'll see how fermentation goes...
With every year in Ohio there are new challenges. It's like playing poker - you don't know how good your hand is but you're betting all in and Mother Nature is holding all the cards.
This year, I got a Queen and a Jack and on the flop, it was a 2 and a 6.... Excellent spring. Beautiful. No late frost, I was thinking -Man, this year is going to be great! And then it never stopped raining. Well, it stopped for a bit in the heat of the summer but then it kicked back up again.
The spring was wet. The fall is turning out to be wet. I can't tell you the panic I felt right before harvest as I watched the rain spread a fungus just days before harvesting and almost ruining my whole crop.
But it all turned out. Maybe not always the way that I had anticipated though, but this year's harvest is going to be yet another very interesting vintage.
That -no late frost- that I mentioned... well, turns out that if you don't have a frost to nip back all your primary buds then you end up with a whole lotta fruit. While I was running around putting together the tasting room, building a menu, and trying to figure out how to staff this place, I just curiously would look at the vines on occasion with a -that's weird- little look. I watched the blooms come out this year, which are huge on the primary buds with no late frost. I usually leave a lot of buds on when I first go through the vineyard and then go back through about 3 more times to cut more off and cut more off to control my crop, but time management got the best of me and I found myself spending more time putting grow tubes on the newly planted vines than thinning out the older ones. I figured, hey, I've been doing this for a few years and so I know what I'm doing. I don't need to count buds.
WRONG.
By the time the Marquettes had to be harvested in mid-September, I couldn't even properly do harvest estimates because there were so many clusters I couldn't see them all. It turned out to be over double what we harvested last year!
The Frontenac and F. Gris followed suit with massive yields as well. The Corot Noir, Vidal, Noriet and Traiminette, however, did not follow suit but instead succumbed to the terrible weather and didn't turn out producing much.
So now my tanks are full. We'll see how fermentation goes...
Monday, August 8, 2011
#@$%ing birds!!!!
So veriason has hit. It's the beautiful time of year where the grapes change color. It's so pretty when all the berries in the clusters don't change all at once, but they are all different shades between purple and green all in one cluster.
This year is a bit odd though. Usually when the berries change colors during veriason, I have a couple of weeks before the birds come and find them. This year, that is not the case. They are stripping every cluster right as it changes. They've found this buffet and they are stripping me clean already! It looks like the alfred hitchock movie with birds swarming my vines, plucking the ripe berries just as they turn.
If this is a little taste of what's going to happen this year, then we're in for an early harvest. If the sugars are good enough to eat right when they turned, then we must have had some magic in that constant rain of spring that broke into the 90 degree July heat. The vines are responding, the sugars are set, and 2011 vintage is really going to be an interesting one to see how it ends up in the bottle. I might name one wine Starling's Choice... well, if they leave me any to actually harvest this year.
Off to get that netting on! And quickly!!!!
This year is a bit odd though. Usually when the berries change colors during veriason, I have a couple of weeks before the birds come and find them. This year, that is not the case. They are stripping every cluster right as it changes. They've found this buffet and they are stripping me clean already! It looks like the alfred hitchock movie with birds swarming my vines, plucking the ripe berries just as they turn.
If this is a little taste of what's going to happen this year, then we're in for an early harvest. If the sugars are good enough to eat right when they turned, then we must have had some magic in that constant rain of spring that broke into the 90 degree July heat. The vines are responding, the sugars are set, and 2011 vintage is really going to be an interesting one to see how it ends up in the bottle. I might name one wine Starling's Choice... well, if they leave me any to actually harvest this year.
Off to get that netting on! And quickly!!!!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Perspective.
Wow. We're open now.
This seems so weird. It seems like a concept that I had thought about and dreamed about and planned, but the actual execution of the whole thing just feels so new. It's weird how much I'm loving every minute of it.
It's just this wonderful feeling where I put so much into growing these delicious grapes and learning all about how to make the wine and watching this wine be made and bottled and hand labeled and now I get to stand on the other side of the counter and watch as people take their first sip and a smile just spreads across their face.
I feel like the excitement is infectious. It's this idea of growing your own, growing the best, just quality controlling these grapes to the point of exhaustion and then beating them, crushing them, pressing them, watching them, and then drinking the beautiful product at the end.
I love going to other local producers, farms, confection makers, bakers... talking with them about their passion and being able to put it on the menu for other people to enjoy.
I love showing my new hires how to tend the vines, properly grabbing their tendrils and placing them in just the right spot for sunlight to dapple through the growing leaves to the ripening clusters.
And I really love the taste testing of the new barrels that are fermenting and finishing wine to the edge of the bottle, which is coming up soon for our 2010 harvest so that we can get 2011 in the barrel and in the tanks. It's all coming so fast!!!!
Sometimes I focus on the details so much that I run around in circles, so it's nice to step back and see it all pan out. And I keep reminding myself that I need to take some time and step back and relax. I got the chance to ride a horse again, it's been years, but it's so amazingly relaxing and really puts things into perspective, especially since I spend all day on my feet. It's nice to use someone else's feet for awhile. Now it's back to the vines training my new workers, back to the farm stands picking up fresh blueberries, back to the barrels to see what's going into the bottles next.
This seems so weird. It seems like a concept that I had thought about and dreamed about and planned, but the actual execution of the whole thing just feels so new. It's weird how much I'm loving every minute of it.
It's just this wonderful feeling where I put so much into growing these delicious grapes and learning all about how to make the wine and watching this wine be made and bottled and hand labeled and now I get to stand on the other side of the counter and watch as people take their first sip and a smile just spreads across their face.
I feel like the excitement is infectious. It's this idea of growing your own, growing the best, just quality controlling these grapes to the point of exhaustion and then beating them, crushing them, pressing them, watching them, and then drinking the beautiful product at the end.
I love going to other local producers, farms, confection makers, bakers... talking with them about their passion and being able to put it on the menu for other people to enjoy.
I love showing my new hires how to tend the vines, properly grabbing their tendrils and placing them in just the right spot for sunlight to dapple through the growing leaves to the ripening clusters.
And I really love the taste testing of the new barrels that are fermenting and finishing wine to the edge of the bottle, which is coming up soon for our 2010 harvest so that we can get 2011 in the barrel and in the tanks. It's all coming so fast!!!!
Sometimes I focus on the details so much that I run around in circles, so it's nice to step back and see it all pan out. And I keep reminding myself that I need to take some time and step back and relax. I got the chance to ride a horse again, it's been years, but it's so amazingly relaxing and really puts things into perspective, especially since I spend all day on my feet. It's nice to use someone else's feet for awhile. Now it's back to the vines training my new workers, back to the farm stands picking up fresh blueberries, back to the barrels to see what's going into the bottles next.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
pink nail polish and motor oil
I have dirt under my fingernails. It's that kind of stubborn dirt that despite scrubbing, soaking, coaxing, or poking, I cannot get out. I think my nails are just french tipped black with dirt.
Usually there's no problem with my dirty fingernails. My vines don't mind cosmetic things like that. But now I'm serving food and suddenly noticing my weathered hands are a bit unappetizing.
So as I prepared to work the tasting room, I called back to my feminine tendencies that I've so long ignored to think of a way to become more presentable again. Hair pins: check. Fresh new shirt: check. Nail polish.... hmmm. I don't think I've worn that since that homecoming dance in high school and I think I bit it all off on the way to the dance.
Alright, that sounds a bit neanderthal, but I guess it's been over a decade and I was ready to try again. I settled on a light shade called "Italian Love Affair" which both made me giggle at it's ridiculousness and have fond memories of Italy at the same time. I only once found myself biting it off when my nerves started getting the best of me later in the night.
So now I feel super and feminine again. I'm not busting out my old heels for serving wine this Friday or anything, but my Italian Love Affair pink polish looked really good covered in motor grease as I checked my oil on Monday morning. Next step - purchasing nail polish remover.
Usually there's no problem with my dirty fingernails. My vines don't mind cosmetic things like that. But now I'm serving food and suddenly noticing my weathered hands are a bit unappetizing.
So as I prepared to work the tasting room, I called back to my feminine tendencies that I've so long ignored to think of a way to become more presentable again. Hair pins: check. Fresh new shirt: check. Nail polish.... hmmm. I don't think I've worn that since that homecoming dance in high school and I think I bit it all off on the way to the dance.
Alright, that sounds a bit neanderthal, but I guess it's been over a decade and I was ready to try again. I settled on a light shade called "Italian Love Affair" which both made me giggle at it's ridiculousness and have fond memories of Italy at the same time. I only once found myself biting it off when my nerves started getting the best of me later in the night.
So now I feel super and feminine again. I'm not busting out my old heels for serving wine this Friday or anything, but my Italian Love Affair pink polish looked really good covered in motor grease as I checked my oil on Monday morning. Next step - purchasing nail polish remover.
opening and blooming
The rain finally let up for a bit and the vines are really responding to the sunshine and plenty of water with lush green growth. At the same time, the fax came in and everything came down in a flurry of work and preparation and mulching and figuring out computers for our first opening of our doors.
The kitchen was buzzing for most of the night and meat and cheese trays were carefully arranged just as we'd planned. There was only one point in the night where Karl and I were staring at some Bruschetta that wasn't browning up at all and we were completely perplexed until we found that it wasn't even plugged in. Oops. But otherwise, the food went out pretty much on time.
The wine was flowing throughout the whole night. We had 3 people serving behind out little bar and Chad went out onto a table in the tasting room to pour for another group.
The tasting room is amazing when it's full of people. It just really comes alive and everything just clicks.
Oh man. I'm still exhausted. 12 hour days trying to get open were a bit rough. I started using the wrong words and my brain really got muddled by the end of the night. I'm not sure how doctors do their residency. That actually makes me more nervous than anything. Rest is really important and it took me all day on Sunday to get over the stun that was opening. On Monday it was back out to the vines to wrestle with the lush new growth that they are pushing out.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Fax?
My heart is in my throat and I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. The anticipation in the air is as present as the stuffy humidity after these summer showers we keep getting pummelled with.
I've jumped through all the hoops, met all the inspectors, followed every request down to the T and now there's just one thing left before we can open..... a fax.
I didn't buy a fax machine. I bought one of those 3 in 1 printers, but it was super complicated and I thought, who the heck faxes anything anymore. So I took it back and went for a streamlined and wonderful wifi printer with a scanner. No fax.
So now the last step before getting a license and a green light to open is one more permit that got sent to Columbus and the fastest way to get it back to us.... a fax.
Anyway, I'm getting a fax machine today and trying not to sit by it, waiting on the confirmation that we're good to go. We've got bands booked this weekend, but it doesn't matter if we don't have this fax. The singer and guitarist may as well play for us as we wash bottles or maybe wash bottles with us if we don't have this fax. It's so funny to think we're so close.
The vineyard is the same as it's ever been, which is nice to go out to and just relax in the repetition of perfecting the pruning on one vine and tying it up and making sure all the blossoms of future grape clusters are where they need to be before moving on to the next vine and the next and the next for acre after acre. With all this rain it's going to be tough to keep the diseases at bay this year. It's crazy to think that we're just a few months away from harvest. Time has been flying in a flurry of work and perfecting the menu and making sure the apple crop will be a success and protecting the newly planted grapevines. And heck, even planting new vines to replace the ones that didn't make it over the winter.
I just can't imagine after 3 years of working here and talking about opening and planning for the opening and thinking about the opening.... I can't believe it's just about to finally happen.
Eek. The humidity is making my hair curl. Or maybe that's the anticipation.....
I've jumped through all the hoops, met all the inspectors, followed every request down to the T and now there's just one thing left before we can open..... a fax.
I didn't buy a fax machine. I bought one of those 3 in 1 printers, but it was super complicated and I thought, who the heck faxes anything anymore. So I took it back and went for a streamlined and wonderful wifi printer with a scanner. No fax.
So now the last step before getting a license and a green light to open is one more permit that got sent to Columbus and the fastest way to get it back to us.... a fax.
Anyway, I'm getting a fax machine today and trying not to sit by it, waiting on the confirmation that we're good to go. We've got bands booked this weekend, but it doesn't matter if we don't have this fax. The singer and guitarist may as well play for us as we wash bottles or maybe wash bottles with us if we don't have this fax. It's so funny to think we're so close.
The vineyard is the same as it's ever been, which is nice to go out to and just relax in the repetition of perfecting the pruning on one vine and tying it up and making sure all the blossoms of future grape clusters are where they need to be before moving on to the next vine and the next and the next for acre after acre. With all this rain it's going to be tough to keep the diseases at bay this year. It's crazy to think that we're just a few months away from harvest. Time has been flying in a flurry of work and perfecting the menu and making sure the apple crop will be a success and protecting the newly planted grapevines. And heck, even planting new vines to replace the ones that didn't make it over the winter.
I just can't imagine after 3 years of working here and talking about opening and planning for the opening and thinking about the opening.... I can't believe it's just about to finally happen.
Eek. The humidity is making my hair curl. Or maybe that's the anticipation.....
Monday, April 25, 2011
It's not you, it's me.
So I went to another local winery to see how other local places do things and I just left very disappointed.
I like really good food and think that eating and drinking should be a holistic experience. I like when people are passionate about cooking or wine making or beer brewing. It seems like if you start a place such as a winery, you are passionate about wine, which would make you want to talk to other people about it and share your passion and excitement about it.
I walked into this place and there was only two other customers there. I wanted to do a full tasting, to get their whole menu of wines and see what they were all about. The descriptions were amazing so I couldn't wait to get started.
I got a halfway greeting and then the woman behind the counter turned her back to me. It took a half an hour from the time I walked in until the time I was served. And then once my tasting was all poured, she rushed to cash me out. Um, wait, that's one way to make sure that I don't purchase a bottle to take home or a glass to enjoy while there.
The food was not really appetizing looking at all, but I ordered something anyway. They didn't even open it out of the package, but plopped it on a paper plate and asked me if I would go sit down away from the bar with my wines to taste. I felt like a kid snubbed at the lunch table who was asked to sit somewhere else.
I wanted someone to tell me about the wine, what they grow, what they love, how they age their Chardonnay or what wines they are most excited about. All I got was another request to step away from the counter. For what? The other two people that were there sitting in the corner? To make room for the crowd that was coming through soon? This was the second place that I went where the server wasn't engaging, which made me think that maybe it's not the places I'm going, but maybe it's me?
The winemaker came out and I was excited to ask him about his wine. I asked him about one of his wines and I got a hurried answer that was just him rephrasing my question.
A lot on their wine list was from California, which is always a bit of a let down.
We are Ohio. Our winters are cold. Our springs and summers are unpredictable and sometimes brutal. We are not the Bordeaux region of France or the beautiful wine country of Italy. But then again, neither was California a few decades ago. They built up to being the wine heavyweight that they are today.
While I'm in Ohio, I don't aspire to make Merlot because in short, we can't grow Merlot grapes. Why would I pay for something to get shipped from so many miles away? Wouldn't shipping just sour the grapes?
I want to care for my crop, watch it grow, make sure that I raise it right to the highest quality, and be able to press right as soon as I cut them from the vine.
I also can't wrap my head around the serving styles of Ohio. I think this all kinda falls back a little bit to my first winery experience in Virginia. Jason and I walked in to Keswick Vineyards after playing in the ocean in the morning and then driving all day so I'm sure we didn't look fresh as a daisy. We were surrounded by people in golf shorts and loafers and we stuck out like a sore thumb, but the lady behind the counter did an amazing job of explaining all the wines to us as we did a tasting. She explained the different techniques they were trying and where the grapes came from. It was amazing and informative and I loved the way I felt when I was leaving.
My goal for BRX is to go never make people feel alienated when they're there and for my menu and wine list to be as local as possible. I want our menu to reflect the amazing local people making delicious and fresh products with locally produced ingredients.
I'm happy that most of our wines come straight out of the vineyard on the grounds and our ciders are made from Ohio apples as well. Our vines are hardy and exhausting vigorous (especially if you're the one pruning them.) The reds are so red that light barely can shine through because the skins are so thick. And I like that. It feels very "Ohio" to me.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I hope I never turn my back on someone who is interested in learning about how the wine is made or the grapes are grown. I don't want anyone to feel snubbed or that they don't know anything about wine, but rather to come in with an open palate and open mind and just taste what we have to offer. I'm pretty sure that between the sweet blush wines, the sparkling hard ciders, and the rich red wines, we'll have something most everyone will like. And if not, the goat cheese from Ravenna or the smoked sausage from Medina might please your fancy while you're here.
But if that fails, maybe eventually we'll work up to some Great Lakes beer on tap. Mmmm.... that would be so amazing.
Anyway, opening in about a month. Only a few more finishing touches......
I like really good food and think that eating and drinking should be a holistic experience. I like when people are passionate about cooking or wine making or beer brewing. It seems like if you start a place such as a winery, you are passionate about wine, which would make you want to talk to other people about it and share your passion and excitement about it.
I walked into this place and there was only two other customers there. I wanted to do a full tasting, to get their whole menu of wines and see what they were all about. The descriptions were amazing so I couldn't wait to get started.
I got a halfway greeting and then the woman behind the counter turned her back to me. It took a half an hour from the time I walked in until the time I was served. And then once my tasting was all poured, she rushed to cash me out. Um, wait, that's one way to make sure that I don't purchase a bottle to take home or a glass to enjoy while there.
The food was not really appetizing looking at all, but I ordered something anyway. They didn't even open it out of the package, but plopped it on a paper plate and asked me if I would go sit down away from the bar with my wines to taste. I felt like a kid snubbed at the lunch table who was asked to sit somewhere else.
I wanted someone to tell me about the wine, what they grow, what they love, how they age their Chardonnay or what wines they are most excited about. All I got was another request to step away from the counter. For what? The other two people that were there sitting in the corner? To make room for the crowd that was coming through soon? This was the second place that I went where the server wasn't engaging, which made me think that maybe it's not the places I'm going, but maybe it's me?
The winemaker came out and I was excited to ask him about his wine. I asked him about one of his wines and I got a hurried answer that was just him rephrasing my question.
A lot on their wine list was from California, which is always a bit of a let down.
We are Ohio. Our winters are cold. Our springs and summers are unpredictable and sometimes brutal. We are not the Bordeaux region of France or the beautiful wine country of Italy. But then again, neither was California a few decades ago. They built up to being the wine heavyweight that they are today.
While I'm in Ohio, I don't aspire to make Merlot because in short, we can't grow Merlot grapes. Why would I pay for something to get shipped from so many miles away? Wouldn't shipping just sour the grapes?
I want to care for my crop, watch it grow, make sure that I raise it right to the highest quality, and be able to press right as soon as I cut them from the vine.
I also can't wrap my head around the serving styles of Ohio. I think this all kinda falls back a little bit to my first winery experience in Virginia. Jason and I walked in to Keswick Vineyards after playing in the ocean in the morning and then driving all day so I'm sure we didn't look fresh as a daisy. We were surrounded by people in golf shorts and loafers and we stuck out like a sore thumb, but the lady behind the counter did an amazing job of explaining all the wines to us as we did a tasting. She explained the different techniques they were trying and where the grapes came from. It was amazing and informative and I loved the way I felt when I was leaving.
My goal for BRX is to go never make people feel alienated when they're there and for my menu and wine list to be as local as possible. I want our menu to reflect the amazing local people making delicious and fresh products with locally produced ingredients.
I'm happy that most of our wines come straight out of the vineyard on the grounds and our ciders are made from Ohio apples as well. Our vines are hardy and exhausting vigorous (especially if you're the one pruning them.) The reds are so red that light barely can shine through because the skins are so thick. And I like that. It feels very "Ohio" to me.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I hope I never turn my back on someone who is interested in learning about how the wine is made or the grapes are grown. I don't want anyone to feel snubbed or that they don't know anything about wine, but rather to come in with an open palate and open mind and just taste what we have to offer. I'm pretty sure that between the sweet blush wines, the sparkling hard ciders, and the rich red wines, we'll have something most everyone will like. And if not, the goat cheese from Ravenna or the smoked sausage from Medina might please your fancy while you're here.
But if that fails, maybe eventually we'll work up to some Great Lakes beer on tap. Mmmm.... that would be so amazing.
Anyway, opening in about a month. Only a few more finishing touches......
Monday, April 11, 2011
What really matters
I had a total revelation this weekend. It was a nice realization like the Grinch in the end of the movie, where it finally hit me -the true meaning of a winery.It started with a whole bunch of stress. Stress over this process taking a long time and worrying over furniture or glasses or where to put the wine racks. Worrying over having the right floor, the right paint, the perfect sized tables and chairs and how the front walkway looks.
There's so many things to think about when opening up a new place and hundreds of decisions along the way. I started over thinking every little detail.
So Janice and I stopped moving furniture from one side of the tasting room to the other and went to another local winery to figure out how they did it.
We walked around the retail area and studied their shelves. We looked at their chair orientation and how many chairs per table, and the table top material. We studied every picture on the wall, looked at their fireplace, checked out the ceiling and the lighting, and the outdoor patio area. The bar was scrutinized, behind the bar was analyzed, and the fake light up grapes were giggled at. And then we went through the tasting....
The first woman behind the bar was soooo pleasant and fun to talk to. She offered what few bits of information she knew about the wine and chatted us up, keeping the tasting going at a fine pace. She smiled and made us feel happy we came out and not judged at all when we liked or didn't like a wine. She was great, but then there was a shift change and she smiled and said goodbye.
Her replacement was TERRIBLE!!!! Oh man, she didn't even say hello to us, but turned her back and separated out her tips instead of engaging us in conversation. When I asked about what blend on particular wine was, she answered me so fast and walked away like I wouldn't understand what she was saying and she was annoyed at the question. She didn't pour for us for another 15 minutes. When I asked her what grapes they grew there, she sighed at me and then rambled them so fast I couldn't even hear her. Really, I couldn't believe she SIGHED at me! Wow.
So we grabbed a few of the bottles the previous girl had smiled about earlier and ran away from the evil tasting room staff person. The saving grace of the day was the guy that rang us out was incredibly friendly and obviously loved the wine. He was happy and chatty and made us smile again.
This got me thinking, what are the real priorities behind starting any new place, be it a restaurant, brewery, coffee house, winery, whatever. I think it's a combination of the three top things: excellent product, engaging staff, and good prices.
Overall, if I couldn't have afforded any bottles they were selling, I would have bought maybe a glass of wine there. If the wine wasn't good, I might have bought the obligatory one bottle and probably not gone back. If the sighing girl was the only one serving me though, I would have never gone back and probably told all my friends never to go there either.
There is a little diner in Massillon that I go to every week called the Coffee Cup, Massillon's oldest restaurant. It's a tiny little greasy spoon type diner with amazing gravy and a grill cook that really knows what he's doing and the price is just perfect. As I sat there yesterday with my plate full of deliciousness topped with the perfect gravy, all for under $5, my coffee cup constantly full with quite decent coffee, this really cemented my conclusion. The little boom box on the counter buzzed out some old Neil Diamond as the waitress laughed and danced along with a kid bouncing in his booster seat. The bathrooms have this dizzying floral wallpaper, the walls are kinda plain with a shrine to Massillon football, Ohio State, and some Nascar memorabilia from the glory days of one of their regular patrons. The booths, tables, color of the walls or counter or the lighting.... it all really didn't matter. That place makes me happy. It makes me feel comfortable. I can afford it, my coffee cup is always full, and the food is consistently good. If you're ever in Massillon for breakfast, I highly recommend it. It's on 3rd St. :)
So now all I really want to do is get this place open. I have amazing 2009 wines to sell and some nice, light sweet 2010 wines in the bottle and ready. I've got my vineyard helpers, Nick, and myself ready to work behind the bar with a ban on all sighing and I'm always happy to talk about the grapevines, varieties, wine making, and wine drinking and the cider too. I have a collection of amazing local breads, cheeses, and meats ready to pair with the wines all at affordable prices. The weather is warm, the time is right, we've just got a couple lose ends to tie up and then we'll be open....
...soon.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Pruning has begun!
The timeline has been set and the pruning schedule for 2011 has been put into motion. It's me and my lightweight Japanese pruners against the thousands of cuts to be made to the thousands of vines. My callouses are growing back, my hand is starting to automatically mold into the shape of my pruners, and I see grapevines on high cordon wire systems every time I close my eyes now.
It's a race against the clock. It's a gamble with the weather and a whistle and a prayer that what I've learned over the past few years of pruning pays off this year. The vines are tied up just right, which is a good start to the pruning season. Now all I have to do is start at one end of the 10 or so acres in productive, hardy vines and prune until I get to the other side and then race back over and do it all again.
Step one - prune fruiting wood back into what buds I'd like to produce.
Step two - as the little blossoms emerge, prune back clusters to make sure each plant can support a good crop
Step three - arrange the fruiting crop for maximum sunlight, airflow, and productivity to get the finest quality grapes and avoid diseases and pests with healthy plants.
And that's just the spring training system. Summer is a whole different set of steps.
I'm about halfway through step one. It's probably the most taxing to do as wrestling old grapevines out that have knotted themselves together means making many cuts and pulling and then cutting again and pulling until the vine looks manageable again and ready for a productive season. Move to next grapevine and repeat.
I'm quite addicted to listening to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros while tackling this task for it's upbeat nature and there's nothing like a good singalong and a slight dance in your step to keep things rolling.
These few beautiful March days have really catapulted my mood into a soaring hopefulness. It's just warm enough to enjoy the sun and the smell of the mud. The grass is just starting to blush a bit of green, very cautiously as it slowly emerges, not too quick as the threat of a few more winter storms still lingers in the air.
Still not open yet. Still working on the renovation. The wine is shaping up very beautifully. The cider is doing something amazing. I hope we're open in the next few months. Until then, I'll be outside happily pruning.
It's a race against the clock. It's a gamble with the weather and a whistle and a prayer that what I've learned over the past few years of pruning pays off this year. The vines are tied up just right, which is a good start to the pruning season. Now all I have to do is start at one end of the 10 or so acres in productive, hardy vines and prune until I get to the other side and then race back over and do it all again.
Step one - prune fruiting wood back into what buds I'd like to produce.
Step two - as the little blossoms emerge, prune back clusters to make sure each plant can support a good crop
Step three - arrange the fruiting crop for maximum sunlight, airflow, and productivity to get the finest quality grapes and avoid diseases and pests with healthy plants.
And that's just the spring training system. Summer is a whole different set of steps.
I'm about halfway through step one. It's probably the most taxing to do as wrestling old grapevines out that have knotted themselves together means making many cuts and pulling and then cutting again and pulling until the vine looks manageable again and ready for a productive season. Move to next grapevine and repeat.
I'm quite addicted to listening to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros while tackling this task for it's upbeat nature and there's nothing like a good singalong and a slight dance in your step to keep things rolling.
These few beautiful March days have really catapulted my mood into a soaring hopefulness. It's just warm enough to enjoy the sun and the smell of the mud. The grass is just starting to blush a bit of green, very cautiously as it slowly emerges, not too quick as the threat of a few more winter storms still lingers in the air.
Still not open yet. Still working on the renovation. The wine is shaping up very beautifully. The cider is doing something amazing. I hope we're open in the next few months. Until then, I'll be outside happily pruning.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
vineyard horses, gorilla suits, and menu plans
The snow flying puts this white haze over a sleepy vineyard and it's about this time in the winter when I really start daydreaming. It's a combination of hiding from the cold and trying to find inventive ways to get my tasks done that has my mind really wandering.
On my list of things to do is count all the replacement vines so we can put an order in. This means walking the entire vineyard, actually all three vineyards, row by row and counting how many poor little vines didn't make it. So I'm daydreaming of doing this task on horseback because really, if you have a horse, how often is it that you can use it to do something useful like walk around the vineyards to count vines. And I don't really have to get down on the ground to see that a vine didn't survive, so I'd save myself many steps and my feet would be at least a bit warmer than walking in the snow. Do you think that horses get cold feet in winter? I guess maybe I should daydream about a 4 wheeler, but those are loud and smell like gas and are not nearly as romantic of a scenario as a snow covered vineyard as seen from horseback.
And yes, I am making up ridiculous scenarios. It's winter. This is what I do.
It's about this time that I realistically start putting together my game plan for the vines. I'm calculating man hours and how long it will take me and x amount of people to go through each pruning step in order for everything to be done on time. I'm looking at last years spray schedule and thinking - how can I make this better, more perfectly timed and effective. How can I make each pass over the vineyard with my pruners yield the best grapes possible with the most effective and efficient cuts.
So of course naturally, I daydream about all the possibilities of vineyard helpers and pruning techniques and a little voice in the back of my head, Karl's voice, says that maybe pruning in a gorilla costume really would be nice and warm and make you work faster.
Ah winter. How much longer?
Anyway, I wish I had a time frame to tell you all that the tasting room would be open. I wish I could put my finger on a date and say "yes, certainly it will be --/--/2011," but I can't. It's contingent on so many pieces and parts and the stars being just in line for everything to work out perfectly. And as much as I'd love to plow forward and get open so I can talk about wine and growing grapes, everything is going at it's own pace and that's ok for now.
But, in the meantime, I'm working on a killer menu of local foods. I found the perfect bread baker and I'm so excited to pair her delicious olive and onion loaf with a nice rich Frontenac red wine or a glass of our cherry cider. Jason is perfecting his pepperoni roll recipe, herb crusted and to be filled with our home grown tomatoes. I tracked down the best smoked sausage and some delicious local cheeses too.
For me, I think that a nice winter soup would lend well to a crusty roll and a bottle of red wine. Now I'm daydreaming about a wild rice and mushroom creamy soup or a delicious winter squash and sausage soup.
Menu suggestions, by all means let me know. I still have a couple of months to perfect them before we open our doors for wine tasting. Until then, I'll daydream and wait.
On my list of things to do is count all the replacement vines so we can put an order in. This means walking the entire vineyard, actually all three vineyards, row by row and counting how many poor little vines didn't make it. So I'm daydreaming of doing this task on horseback because really, if you have a horse, how often is it that you can use it to do something useful like walk around the vineyards to count vines. And I don't really have to get down on the ground to see that a vine didn't survive, so I'd save myself many steps and my feet would be at least a bit warmer than walking in the snow. Do you think that horses get cold feet in winter? I guess maybe I should daydream about a 4 wheeler, but those are loud and smell like gas and are not nearly as romantic of a scenario as a snow covered vineyard as seen from horseback.
And yes, I am making up ridiculous scenarios. It's winter. This is what I do.
It's about this time that I realistically start putting together my game plan for the vines. I'm calculating man hours and how long it will take me and x amount of people to go through each pruning step in order for everything to be done on time. I'm looking at last years spray schedule and thinking - how can I make this better, more perfectly timed and effective. How can I make each pass over the vineyard with my pruners yield the best grapes possible with the most effective and efficient cuts.
So of course naturally, I daydream about all the possibilities of vineyard helpers and pruning techniques and a little voice in the back of my head, Karl's voice, says that maybe pruning in a gorilla costume really would be nice and warm and make you work faster.
Ah winter. How much longer?
Anyway, I wish I had a time frame to tell you all that the tasting room would be open. I wish I could put my finger on a date and say "yes, certainly it will be --/--/2011," but I can't. It's contingent on so many pieces and parts and the stars being just in line for everything to work out perfectly. And as much as I'd love to plow forward and get open so I can talk about wine and growing grapes, everything is going at it's own pace and that's ok for now.
But, in the meantime, I'm working on a killer menu of local foods. I found the perfect bread baker and I'm so excited to pair her delicious olive and onion loaf with a nice rich Frontenac red wine or a glass of our cherry cider. Jason is perfecting his pepperoni roll recipe, herb crusted and to be filled with our home grown tomatoes. I tracked down the best smoked sausage and some delicious local cheeses too.
For me, I think that a nice winter soup would lend well to a crusty roll and a bottle of red wine. Now I'm daydreaming about a wild rice and mushroom creamy soup or a delicious winter squash and sausage soup.
Menu suggestions, by all means let me know. I still have a couple of months to perfect them before we open our doors for wine tasting. Until then, I'll daydream and wait.
Monday, January 3, 2011
oh winter
It's that dead part of winter - post football, or at least post Browns season, where time just hovers and stands still like the cold swirls of breath in the freezing air. I walked around the vineyard today after the encouragement of a few days of unseasonably warm weather and started thinking about getting back to my vines. Soon, but not today.
This is an incredibly exciting time. It feels like it's all pent up in my throat, where we're about ready to open and I'm sitting in a room filled with boxes of engraved wine glasses and paint samples and wine racks. I'm like a kid before Christmas just waiting for the tasting room floor to be finished, the walls to be up and painted the perfect hue that just embraces you in the warm fuzzy feeling that's so conducive to drinking wine in.
I'm plotting and planning for this next year, building on the beauty of the vineyard and the deliciousness of our finished wine. I'm thinking about growing a couple rows of basil so that we'd have fresh, organic herbs for our home baked bread we'll serve in the tasting room. I'm thinking about getting a couple of pigs so that we could sell our own smoked sausage that we raised ourselves with locally made cheese plates. I'm planning the warm soups and the simple menu, imagining chatting over a beautiful wooden bar with open bottles and smiling people on the other side, just tasting the fruit of Ohio vines in the peak of their glory for the first time.
Ah yes, I'm probably getting ahead of myself. One step at a time, Janeé. It's a couple of months before we're open still.
Anyway, we're going through the filtering process for our 2010 sweet wines and some of our dry reds now. They're getting chilled to perfection to make the sediment drop to the bottom of the tanks. Then they go through our new plate frame filter, many, many times. Then they go back into tanks to sit and think about it for a bit, then they get filtered by a different filter. Then they're bottled.
It looks like another couple of months before we are going to do another round of bottling. We've got plenty to do to get ready in the mean time and our 2009 wines are all in bottles and getting labeled with great care right now.
I'm happily standing in a relatively warm building, staring out the window at the vines, just waiting for a break in the weather to start tying them up again. But man, when the snow starts flying, it sure is nice to hibernate in the production room, surrounded by cases of wine and looking forward to opening day...
This is an incredibly exciting time. It feels like it's all pent up in my throat, where we're about ready to open and I'm sitting in a room filled with boxes of engraved wine glasses and paint samples and wine racks. I'm like a kid before Christmas just waiting for the tasting room floor to be finished, the walls to be up and painted the perfect hue that just embraces you in the warm fuzzy feeling that's so conducive to drinking wine in.
I'm plotting and planning for this next year, building on the beauty of the vineyard and the deliciousness of our finished wine. I'm thinking about growing a couple rows of basil so that we'd have fresh, organic herbs for our home baked bread we'll serve in the tasting room. I'm thinking about getting a couple of pigs so that we could sell our own smoked sausage that we raised ourselves with locally made cheese plates. I'm planning the warm soups and the simple menu, imagining chatting over a beautiful wooden bar with open bottles and smiling people on the other side, just tasting the fruit of Ohio vines in the peak of their glory for the first time.
Ah yes, I'm probably getting ahead of myself. One step at a time, Janeé. It's a couple of months before we're open still.
Anyway, we're going through the filtering process for our 2010 sweet wines and some of our dry reds now. They're getting chilled to perfection to make the sediment drop to the bottom of the tanks. Then they go through our new plate frame filter, many, many times. Then they go back into tanks to sit and think about it for a bit, then they get filtered by a different filter. Then they're bottled.
It looks like another couple of months before we are going to do another round of bottling. We've got plenty to do to get ready in the mean time and our 2009 wines are all in bottles and getting labeled with great care right now.
I'm happily standing in a relatively warm building, staring out the window at the vines, just waiting for a break in the weather to start tying them up again. But man, when the snow starts flying, it sure is nice to hibernate in the production room, surrounded by cases of wine and looking forward to opening day...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
