For the faithful of winedom, a great vineyard is holy land, and its sacred soil is your lifeblood. You walk, you breathe and live each day on the land. There is an emotional connection that takes hold of you, grabs you by the shoulders, and looks you in the eyes. As I write these words, I am gazing at our golden, round rolling hillsides, where majestic black oaks have stood strong for centuries. How is it that a tree can outlive a human being? We are not immortal. And then comes the deeper question: can a wine be timeless? Winedom is made of family farmers and winegrowers, people devoted to the sanctity of life, family, and the vine. This year we celebrate a quarter century of winemaking and fifty-seven years of winegrowing. It has me thinking deeply about our legacy, and how we might make it immortal, so that it lives on for centuries to come.
The first twenty five years... let's begin. A young couple in the twenties fell in love. What drew them to each other was their work ethic, their passion for the Vitis Vinifera and entrepreneurial spirit. Farming is not easy. There is a mind of farmer that is like no other. You must love working with your hands, until you have so hard they ache. Being an entrepreneur is crucial... you can't survive without thick skin ---willing to put in the work long arduous hours from sunup to sundown until its done, be innovative and flexible, knowing you must solve the problem, from viticulture, to mechanical and solvency. The impetus in life to seek greatness in the smallest of detail knowing it could be the key, the dimension and answer to it all. They had land with vineyards on the hillsides. It was time to make wine. Make wines to stand the test to time with long endless ageability. Without a doubt, the only way to understand a fine wine is to understand the soils. They both believed in pushing the limits. When you are young and in love, anything is possible. They had no doubts, only the dream to make wine and a family together. Wine of place and crafting it pursuit of simplicity where the purest pleasure takes you to a place where it will change your life forever.
Now back to my voice... Justin and I both acknowledge, our parents laid a strong foundation for us. Without question. We both understood the beauty of living off your land with bountiful gardens and pastures full of happy cows and sheep. A most powerful understanding and pride was walking the land knowing it was ours. A freedom worth working for every day and never to be taken for granted. Without a doubt, our parents are a part of us -- yet admittingly there is much we knew we would not do like them. We had our own ideals, own direction, belief that a fine wine would take a lifelong dedication and focus. We also knew it was only possible, together. We speak of family within our wines, with the emotive side of a wine is the love. To create an enduring legacy, we knew it began with a foundation based on what were taught and holding true to our ideals while embracing the future.
Our focus is on two wines from Garden Creek. Two wines only. The first vintage produced was in 2001 with the Garden Creek Tesserae, equal fifty percent Cabernet Sauvignon clone 7 and Merlot clone 314. This wine was released to a very small portion of our list at 20-years of age in 2021. Today our Tesserae is aged for eight years before release. We always hold back half of a vintage allocation each year to cellar and re-release later as a library wine, allowing one to experience the evolution of Garden Creek. A wine made to age is a promise kept, and tasting it is one of life's most profound pleasures.
In our lifetime, we have traveled the world tasting wines, seeking a deeper understanding of the traditions from the old world, innovative thought in farming and practical knowledge to excel at winegrowing. Our focus over the past three decades has been on crafting ultra-premium quality winegrapes by focusing intricately on the soils and vines one by one. We were not thinking today, more so the multigenerational heritage in handing the land down to the next generation better than what we started with. Land with the ability to produce timeless wines. Sacrifice, focus and spirit. Prioritize biodiversity in the vineyard in the soils to absorb vital nutrients and retain water naturally. Embrace the climate is changing and adapt. Lower yields in the vineyards with an earlier ripeness in mind preserving the natural acidity and freshness is essential and the backbone of a wine to evolve over decades. Gentle extraction from the skins during fermentation for slower softer skin contact with indigenous yeasts from our vineyards. A soft interaction with oak in understanding the supple, soft, silky, round, elegance comes with time. We believe a wine, each vintage is an expression of the year and allow for individuality.
For our future as we have done since inception, for us we believe in always seeking more truth in the vineyard. In many ways, a place of doubt to question and stay on your feet. Know too that education and innovation is crucial to future success. The understanding our ideals and mindful of tradition is the foundation and hold true to this. Our two children are young adults off on their path in learning and creating future for themselves. Their future lies at their home at Garden Creek and the Warnelius-Miller family vineyards in Alexander Valley. Knowing too a fine wine is living art and the living art is their immortal legacy.
With the future ahead of us, we believe in our craft, our land and each other. We will endure, we will continue striving for beauty within each bottle with the promise that the next generation of our family will lead the way one day and we will always stand beside them.
To the next twenty-five years.
