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.