The Dreaded Family Meeting

Too funny! It's amazing how whether we like it or not, we revert to our animal insticts in stressful situations. Fight or flight, right! It's great how you always seem to describe things in such detail. You are so animated!

Your agitated female duck image is terrific. Maybe your meetings would go more smoothly if Mrs. Mallard walked in shaking a very long stick to whip those boys into shape?!

That is a great idea! I have an old pair of crutches that would do the trick...

What a courteous and friendly winery, with tangy sauvignon blancs, and warm zinfandels for the aficionados of tinto. I wonder what Dave the grand-dad thought of the weather in the surf off Santander, Spain several days ago; locals calculated the conditions were perfect for waves 25 meters height, estimated to occur only once in 500 years. Maybe it is the thrill of wind stretched sheets that can hope to match his skill and bravery. I, too, helped with a few cellar tasks and other projects a long time ago at your winery, and always appreciated his daring AND his executive vision. Got to give credit to the chair of the advisory board. I need to visit you all again soon. Last I recall, there were those fascinating Australian enology student interns returning like the planets on yearly transit, and we were welcoming them all with our best hospitality. But it is a choppy pond some days. I think the three of you have negotiated the quality waters admirably, still bringing us affordable products, with that special family Dry Creek zest which keeps our shared experiences valuable, and the work worthwhile.

John,
What nice comments. Dave doesn't do much sailing anymore but we were lucky enough to be in Valencia this past June during the America's Cup. What a thrill that was. It was windy but waves were nearly non-existant...25 meters a few days ago...wow!

We still have interns help us out every crush- a program we started over 30 years ago. Used to get a lot of frogs (french kids) but these days, we usually have South Africans. They're strong, speak english and are loads of fun. What year did you work here?

Very funny and so true! Great picture too.

Hi, Kim, It was probably crush 1982, there was a new Wilmes press, I helped move some RA Young AVV chardonnay, and even participated in an oak extraction tasting in the lab in those times before the French tonneliers had subsidiaries on the US' shores. I found a photo of one of the waves http://www.abc.es/20080312/nacional-sucesos/olas-hasta-dieciseis-metros_200803120245.html The text says 17 meters surf height. Valencia is inside the Mediterranean, but Santander faces the open part of the Atlantic Bay of Biscay.
Those ducks are amazing the way they gain takeoff velocity, quick as a flash; a few visit the ranch ponds near Cloverdale, where I have lived a while now.

You must have worked for Larry Levine.

Thanks for sharing the photo!

The second tier cellarmaster who hired me was zinfandel experimenter John Jaffray. I was a viticulture and enology student. Since crush was approaching some fume had to migrate from aging to bottle to make room for the harvest process to begin anew; after overseeing the gentle filling of fume, and, as you observed, doing just about everything else in the then small winery, I remained thru crush until fermenting dry many varieties in primary fermentation and then for some varieties inducing malolactic fermentation.

Gary found us months later in the barrel racks one morning when he and Dave were sampling the first fume cuvee. Gary presented the aliquot as a blind tasting.

About boating, there was a better photo, and taller waves more oceanward by 35 km along the coast, on the website of the Santander Mountain Daily, my translation of their moniker, where I used to swim in diversion from studying; however, the Santander paper took the photo out of the article, though I saved a copy of the photo; you may view the wilder article sans photo in the Santander press there: http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/20080316/sociedad/domingo/volvio-desatar-furia-contra-20080316.html

Wonderful post on

The Dreaded Family Meeting - Wilma's Wine World

- and good domain by the way!