Hi,
I’m sorry that I have not written in a while. I’m not sure why I haven’t.
It seems like I am busier than ever although my sales volume is down slightly and busy is up and down….just like our economy.
I think it is demographic; that there is a major switch going on and like any major change there is friction. Here’s my lone opinion. For people my age, around sixty, there is lots of uncertainty about our financial situation from the home that we own, to the loans that we owe, and as we pay off, or down, some of our debt things are going to ease up a bit.
Meanwhile the under thirty-five crowd is old enough to start exploring wine and they seem to love touring wineries, thus sales at the winery are doing well and, of course, I want that because then I get the full selling price of the wine.
Things are getting better…….if only I could skip the months of February, March and April.
Okay, it is the winery’s 25th Anniversary, or at least as I interpret it. The original owners, Will Gerrior and Karen Peterson, aren’t clear on their start date; is it the year of “bonding” with the Federal government (then the ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) or is it the year the first wine is made, or is it the year that the first wine is sold commercially. Well, I weighed in on the commercial end of it because that is when the winery went public. So, I think Willie and Karen released their first wine in 1986, a Chardonnay for the Portteus Vineyard in Zillah. Paul and Marilynn Portteus were good friends of the Gerriors and for the first fifteen years of the winery’s life, they sold grapes to Vashon Winery; four grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Semillon.
Well, then I came along and started working for them in 1992, a glorious vintage year that I thought initially might have been too hot, but it was a perfect year. That was the year that I recommended that they use the Tramp Harbor label for a blended wine of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Chardonnay because I didn’t think the Cab Sauv had enough guts or color, and I based that on the fact that we had twice as much wine from the same amount of grapes……but I was wrong, wrong, wrong and the ’92 vintage still continues to amaze me. And, out of that, we launched the Tramp Harbor Red which is by far our best selling wine.
In 1998 I started trying to figure out if I could purchase the winery. Will and Karen had kind of hit a dull spot with the winery and I think they just couldn’t see the winery progressing, and also, they were building a retirement nest down in Belize. It took us three years to consummate a deal and the timing couldn’t have been worse, occurring in the fall of 2001. I was negociating a lease for the new building that I was going to move the winery to, and drawing up documents to transfer the winery, with the Gerriors and with the various government entities. I moved the winery on December 14th of that year, in the midst of a constant downpour but it worked out great as I had a forklift at both ends to help load and unload the racks of barrels, about fifty of them.
This year, 2011, then represents my tenth Anniversary as owner of Vashon Winery and I am happy that I made that move, but I appreciate and acknowledge all that Willie and Karen did for the winery, and for me. I learned alot from them about winemaking, and it was lucky that we each shared a vision of Vashon Winery’s wines that they should have slightly higher acidities, slightly lower alcohols, and our favorite grapes were the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot. I think the one thing that I took away from Willie, in particular, is not to be afraid to tackle a problem, or a situation, head on. If something needs fixing, you can do it. Now, that is me talking, one of life’s least mechanical person….but I can think things out really good. And luckily Willie continued to offer me support with equipment, and I befrieded my neighbor, Curtis, who has been wonderful at keeping equipment running.
