Monday, December 20, 2010

Wine labels, Christmas, and Rentals

The wine labels are in! Looking great, too! Thanks, Tony!  Just because we aren't making money at it doesn't mean we can't be looking professional!  It is so much nicer to open a top foil and pull a cork seeing what we are drinking.  Nothing beats that.  So far, I have just a bit of odd-lot cabernet and the Walla Walla Bing Bang in bottle.  95% of the cabernet and all of the blends will wait until next spring before bottling for drinking starting in May. We will show off these during the annual Balloon Stampede fete at Grape Hill.  I am debating about doing some fining in at least one of the cabernets...we shall see...

Christmas is upon us!  Festivities with the kids and friends for the forthcoming week and then off to Grape Hill for several days to see more friends and enjoy the scenery.  Overall, 2010 has been a better year than 2009, but looking forward to a really good year in 2011. No whining, but it doesn't take a whole bunch of positives to beat these past two.  2011 is our 25th Anniversary Year and Sue and I will be making at least one great trip plus opening our "forbidden bottles" from the cellar to celebrate the occasion.  I doubt that I ever want again to have wines that are so far out from my comfort zone...how did I ever get myself into buying those in the first place???

Rentals at Grape Hill have been happy and frequent.  What has been a surprise is how frequently we keep hearing from people wanting to take Grape Hill for a month at a time, or three months, or six months, or a year.  We are sticking to short-term rentals; it is hard enough fitting ourselves in to the schedule as it is.  No harm in anyone asking, but renting Grape Hill for months at a time would be torture to me.

It is so nice to hear such lovely comments about Walla Walla and about Grape Hill.  The kids are wanting me to build a little solar farm to take us "off the grid", while some friends want me to put in a stocked pond to add to their fun.  It is hilarious to see how imaginative others can get with my time! God bless 'em all.