Wine Glass Info

I have learned over the course of the year, how much all the vintners talk among themselves about the weather and how it is affecting the grapevines, the grapes, and each vineyard. I also have learned how I take these same vintners for granted. These people always appeared to me as the elite, with their grand vineyards and picturesque estates, however I am very wrong. As it is said, “things are not always the way they appear”. The vintner is a very hard working, dedicated, farmer of grapes. I never ever thought about them being farmers, but they are. Yet these very dedicated people are the ones that help to bring you your favorite memories, with your favorite people, in your favorite place.

This year in California, after staying up night after night, listening to the howling wind and pounding rains, wondering if the roof would blow off, they have watched their best vines wash away in the January and February flooding rains. They fought to save their grapes against an uncommon frost until the very end of April, only to loose the first formed buds. They hoped for warm weather to start a new crop and their prayers were heard, the heat came and came and came.  It became incredibly hot. Record breaking hot. Do not forget that brush fires go with the heat. Thick smoke settled over the wine valleys draping them like a thick cloud of fog which made breathing most difficult. Nevertheless, the weather began to cooperate and with their hard work, the grapes grew in spite of it all.There is a small crop of grapes to meet the need for the 2008 year. I hope God has blessed this year’s grapes. The blood, sweat, and tears of the growers, in the California valleys, are in that wine. I hear it should be an excellent year for California wine. When the time comes to open a 2008 vintage, I will think about you the vintners. I will never take you for granted again, be it in California or anywhere else in the world that grapes are grown and wine is made. I lift my wine glass to all of you, thank you, for what you do. Thank you, for some of the best memories in my life. Here is to a good year ahead.
 
The Wine Cohort