August already? Wow, the summer is flying by!! The good news is that this means that our yearly harvest is just around the corner which means that more wonderful wines will follow which means I - um - I mean you will have even more delicious wines to savor in the coming year. This harvest is especially exciting with our new winemaker, Jef, on board to work his own brand of winemaking magic on our humble little grapes. We absolutely can't wait for the end result!
(No pressure Jef, no pressure at all.)
Speaking of Jef, he's getting all settled in here and things are even better now that his wife and darling daughter have arrived. What a change of scenery! A lifetime in Napa, California and suddenly you find yourself in Northern Virginia staring down the throat of your first East Coast grape harvest. I think he's excited though. Look forward to hearing from him in future newsletters. He's very keen on keeping you up to date on what's happening in the vineyard and with winemaking starting next month. His will be a great perspective on the goings on here, I'm sure.
The other exciting thing about this time of year is our upcoming anniversary celebration. We've been open for 3 years this
Labor Day weekend -
3 YEARS, can you believe it?? Like so many things in life, it feels like just last week that we were running around setting up cash registers and having the final training session with our staff before nervously swinging those doors open for the first time. Then again, it feels like we've been here forever and ever, snug in this house serving the wine we're so proud of to so many wonderful people that feel like great old friends. Both are such terrific feelings and our greatest hope is to sustain those feelings for many, many years to come.
As usual, we'll celebrate all 4 days of the Labor Day weekend - Friday right through Monday. Clara Thompson, our very favorite local artist, will be here all weekend with an inspiring exhibit of her beautiful paintings. Our Sangria bar will be in full swing with not only our amazing Red Sangria but also a one-weekend-only encore of our unbelievable Peachy White Sangria. How will you choose?? We've also decided to feature two different 3-packs of our most popular wines at unheard of low prices. We'll offer 1 bottle each of Tannat, Merlot and Meritage for only $60 and 1 bottle each of Chardonnay, Viognier and Cuvee Blanc for only $50. And, as if that weren't enough of a deal, if you want all 6 you can walk out with one of each for only $100. Yes, once again, we don't fool around when we're ready to celebrate! Hope you'll make us part of your Labor Day weekend!
We're looking forward to lots of great activities this fall including the startup of our picnics on the lawn. This year we'll be featuring some classic old movies in the background -
The Thin Man and
The Philadelphia Story - for the first two dates. Should be loads of fun and the best way around to enjoy a crisp fall evening with your favorite friends.
As soon as we have a handle on the harvest schedule, we'll announce the dates for this year's fall Crush Monkey classes. That's when you get to come and be winemaker for a day participating in every part of the process from de-stemming newly harvested grapes to moving the just squeezed juice into fermentation bins. There's nothing like the appreciation you feel as wine flows over your palate and into your belly than appreciation that comes from totally understanding the thought and the work that goes into getting your favorite libation in that bottle.
We love to have you here, we love showing and teaching you about what we do, we appreciate that you keep coming back and sharing our beautiful place with your friends and family and we look forward to counting you as a friend of the winery for a long time to come.
See you at the winery!
