When we had our first pick up day in the Fall of 2007 I remember talking to Judy at Windy Oaks about their pick up days. Now for their Spring and Summer open house’s Jim and Judy require reservations, a strict limit on guests, and the sheriff comes out to do traffic control. They’ve had to cap the events at 500 people. She told me for their first open house they had three people. She said for the next few years they had 4 more people each time they had an open house and it took them about 4 years to get over 30 people.
Well our first Pick Up day had 3 people, and we’ve added 4 more each time. Yesterday was our 4th Pick Up Day and we were at 16 visitors.
Below Stefania pours wine at the little table we set up in the cellar. She made a few small snacks for people. We decided to pour in the cellar this time since it was cold outside.
My IPhone was a little blurry with the cellar light, but the shots are ‘ok’. It’s nice to be in the cellar and really feels like visiting a winery I think vs being in a tasting room. I did a short walk in the vineyard to talk about our pruning and winter vineyard practices. The weather was cold but it stayed dry.
We poured five wines for everyone and had barrel samples of our 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s sure not a fancy tasting but everyone has a good time, and there is lots of catching up and chatting. I really like this way of tasting wine. It gives Stef and I a chance to talk to every one and answer questions. It’s also un-rushed and people can linger and enjoy the wine.
I took this picture as we were cleaning up. The barrels are back in place from the sampling. I did two different barrels. A regular Sequin Moreau Bordeaux barrel with medium toast and a special S.V.T. Sequin Moreau barrel especially designed for extended aging of Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a great way for people to see the effect even a small change in barrels can have on the wine.
The last shot of the day. Just my car left in the parking area besides the vineyard. I know I’ve had this shot before but the car really gives a good scale of the redwoods and the slope of the upper vineyard. Everything is green now from the recent rains and the vineyard is ready for spring. We’ll have our next open house just after tax day in April.
