The Long Game
Even though Skye grew up in the wine business, coming back to it is still an adjustment. In winery and vineyard enterprises, things happen slowly. There’s no such thing as a short timeline. Coming from our day jobs in the breakneck technology and entertainment world, it’s occasionally challenging to get used to the slow pace.
When it comes to wine, you can’t move fast and break stuff. People will know.
This all takes time. Here are a few examples.
From the moment you decide you want to plant a vineyard:
- Soil test, water test, soil prep, trellis installation = 1 year
- Vine orders from the nursery = 1 year for nursery to graft your order and grow the vine before planting
- Plant the vines. About 15% don’t take, and have to be replanted = 1–2 years
- Vines need to mature before their “third leaf” and harvest = 2 years
- First viable harvest gets vinified and rests in barrel = 18 months
- Wine is bottled and rested = 6 months
- The first wine release is a product that is a total of around 8 years in the making!
Keep in mind there are no sales in the meantime, just cash outlays. It’s not a profitable business even when wine is ready; it’s an inherently low-margin proposition. But God, it is a passion. A true joy. A purpose. Support your local small winemakers – they are only in it for the love!
Looking Ahead
It’s our sincere hope that we are setting a multi-generational winery in motion. Hopefully our son Wylder will catch the bug too, just as Skye did in those crisp early mornings in Sonoma. But ultimately it is up to him. He should follow his passion, and we’ll see where it takes him.
This land speaks to us. We feel at peace in the vineyard. Even when we were first looking for a small vineyard…when we came to see it, Wylder was only 4 years old at the time. We got out of the car to look at the property and we immediately fell in love with it. We knew this was it; we knew we were home. Wylder was running around the grounds. And then we were done checking it out and went to go get in the car to leave, and Wylder said “What?! We’re leaving? But I love it here! I want to stay!” The land even spoke to him, a 4 year old! To this day he is thrilled to spend weekends and holidays—when he’s not in elementary school in Los Angeles—up there at the vineyard. He is always sad to leave.
We are taking our time renovating parts of the property. We’ll put in a new gate this spring. We just installed solar panels to power the entire property with clean energy. New grape plantings? Yeah, there’ll be time for that. All in good time.