Vino Meza - Whole Foods

VINO MEZA
48 N. State Street
Westerville, OH
614-259-3101

For those of you East of Columbus and perhaps a little tired of travelling in to Whole Foods on Sawmill to get your fave bottle of Via Vecchia wine, or even travelling out to us in Powell, note that from Tuesday 10 March, Vino Meza (Westerville) will be carrying our Adamo (cabernet franc and sangiovese blend) and Trouve (bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot blend).

Whole Foods
Sawmill,
Columbus

And for those of you trying to get your Trovato (sangiovese and pinot noir blend) from Whole Foods, we delivered more Trovato to them this morning. They also have the Trouve.

We Stomped - Again

GET WINE

Friends

Thanks to all those of you who turned up on 10/11 and to those that helped out. We hope you stayed for food later on in the day and enjoyed the now traditional bonfire.

(above - the start - all clean - rollers prepped to take bins of grape to wooden tippers that feed the crusher's hopper with grapes)

The day did not go as smoothly as we had hoped as we had machinery issues with many a tear down. This was particularly annoying since we had replaced the main bearing on the destemmer's axel only a couple of night's earlier and hoped for clear running.

Also, some grape varietals just turned to a jam in the collector and refused to go through the pump to the fermentation vats, so there was a lot of reverting to Plan B which meant crushing into open top tubs that were then carried to the fermentation vats.

As if this wasn't frustrating enough, on Wednesday 15th we decided the Merlot was just like concrete so we reverted to Plan C which is foot stomping. We stomped by feet 2,160lbs of Merlot that night to free up the juice and produce a must capable of fermentation.

We're not called Via Vecchia (the old way) for nothing!

Needless to say, none of us found time and energy to take photos, although we hope to get some from Kay and Dan who were filming us again for The Documentary. Actually, I think Carrie posted some, but I lost the link... can you please provide again, thanks?
All in all 13,500lbs of grapes were crushed that day.
We did Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

Again, thanks to those that persevered with us on the day... Special mentions to;

Holly, you are an excellent stand in for Joe S;
Carrie, your enthusiasm amazes;
Nick & Joan, your apron appreciated your return visit;
Mr & Mrs H, what can we say, STARS!

But Mike H, you mean to say Colorado's got something better to offer?

And for those requesting it, here's Cynthia's Pasta Recipe. The veg and basil was picked from the garden that day.

Cynthia writes,
"I didn't get to all the guests on Saturday, and many people like the
sauce. So if you'd like to email them a thank-you with the recipe or
post it on the blog that might be fun.

Crush 2008 Fabulous Pasta Sauces

Fry 2 diced onions and 6 cloves crushed garlic in a good quantity of
olive oil. Then add 5-6 quarts of quartered fresh tomatoes, a bunch of
flat-leaf parsley, and an eighth cup of finely chopped basil, and a
teaspoon of finely ground rosemary. Simmer with 1/2 bottle of wine for
3 hours, and salt to taste.

Heat your serving plate in the oven. Then layer pasta, sauce, and
grated Parmesan cheese in about 3 or 4 layers for your average
platter. Makes about 4 platters.

For sausage sauce:
Cook 3 packages of nitrite-free hot sausages (Kroger is best), cool
and cut into rounds. Fry chopped mushrooms in olive oil, add diced
sausages and simmer until mushrooms are floppy. Add basic sauce and
simmer. Serve over penne layered as above onto a hot platter.

Yum!"

Thanks again. Next piece of work is transfer to secondary fermentation,

Last of the 2005

Today was, in retrospect, a watershed. It passed almost without significance and yet, it marked an end to making wine outside the "bubble" of the bonded winery status of Via Vecchia Winery. Why? Well, today saw the breaking of the last remaining barrel of our Bordeaux blend (Truove) from 2005 which was not produced under bond. From here on in, any bottling of personal use wine will come from the bonded 2006 barrels.

We leave you with images of that last barrel, a stack of wine cases duly receiving their bottles, and Michael standing proud beside his quarter share.

Well done all.

Labels (again) with more Crush Prep, MamaPalooza #2

Label Update.

We have settled on a front label for the SanGiovese, SanGiovese/Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. The last corrections went off to Kim today to take care of.

We also got our rear label through. My own initial impressions were good. The four different takes of the rear label that Kim worked up for us will be discussed at tomorrow's winery meeting. Personally speaking, I hope we can have a definitive vote for one of them, in the same way we did for the photo for the rear label. If we do we can then proceed to get the labels reviewed and approved by the FEDs, and then Ohio Liquor Control Board.

Crush Prep.

Last week saw a re-think of the crush equipment set up. We had initially designed and built a chute system, but on further consideration this was actually the right solution to the wrong problem and so one redesign later, we're doing something different ... keep watching for a post and pictures on how this new development shakes out.

MamaPalooza #2

Remember we went to MamaPalooza a while back? Well, we're invited again. Those on the mailing list will get an invite too as we can invite others. There will be a pie competition too - those of you getting invites please look out for invite for website containing the details.

I guess we'll have to take more wine?

Alcohol Levels

Here's the latest on the wine's alcohol content. Now, remember, we don't chaptalise; we don't add sugar to the crushed grape and juice to give us the alcohol we want; we let the wine get on with it.

Of course, it's not THAT easy. There's a fine balance between the timing of the transfer from primary to secondary fermentation so that you a), don't kill fermentation and b), don't let the wine oversteep in its skins. A fine balance that doesn't prejudice the naturally occurring yeast's abilty to eat the sugar that's naturally present and convert it to alcohol.

So, given no sulfiting and no sugar, relying on experience and intuition, this is what our grape gave us:

a) Bordeaux Blend - 11.5% to 12%.

b) SanGiovese - 11%

c) SanGiovese/Pinot Noir - 11%

d) Shiraz - 12.5%

e) Cab franc - 13%

This is the high end, if not the pinnacle, of what you could hope for without artificially adjusting the fermenting wine.

This is wine alcohol levels (let's ignore the Cab Franc) that you can comfortably drink with a meal at lunchtime and return to work sober on. On a hot day, what better than a wine with a cool lunch that won't knock you for six.

The Cab franc. Remember we reported it had kicked up again? Well this is what it was doing; creating an (I would say) impossible 13% for a wine with no artificially added sugar. Go figure. We don't run a laboratory so we'll live with it.

Foil Spinner Update & Another Back Label Candidate

The Foil Spinner

So, it turns out that UPS Customer Support didn't mean "cash" when it said "cash" as it really meant "money order". This meant the 2nd attempted delivery of the foil spinner aborted on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, UPS Customer Support said the foil spinner was in its distribution depot at Trabue Road, so we went down to get it, accompanied by a money order.

After about half an hour at UPS on Trabue, we were told it was buried somewhere and wouldn't be scanned 'til Monday, when it would be re-delivered.

Monday. Monday we'll finally get it. We hope they accept money orders issued by United Dairy farmers, otherwise it's third strike and the spinner's being returned to the sender, Frances. Stay tuned.

Another Rear Label Photo Candidate.

This photo of us at Via Vecchia is another potential candidate that may end up on the rear label (see other candidate Here).

Again (left to right), Marty, Paolo, Anton and Michael.

PhotoShoot

This post was meant to be called something really great. Michael came up with it, but I forgot it. So, it's not great.

Anyway, Monday we had a photo shoot. We got together as a group for the photo for the back label of our bottles. It was all ironed white shirts in the heat and unfeasibly delicate glassware.

Michael was on time, and I think I can add, "for once".

From the photos below you'll see our props;

1 - mocked up bottles of Sangiovese/Pinot Noir and Bordeaux (former in Burgundy style bottle with the sloping shoulders, the latter in the other one);

2 - barrels - the barrels here are what contained our private stash of Sangiovese/Pinot Noir and Bordeaux;

3 - dangerous and nerve wrackingly delicate stemware, courtesy of a brave, or foolish (I cannot decide which), Anton. I mean, the life expectancy of glasses in the winery is shorter than that of WW1 pilots and he brings these along. By the way, what's the similarity between the stemware and the flextanks? They're both big! Look at the size of these glasses - they have bowls the size of your head.

Our photos were taken by Peteris Osis. Peteris is Moose Bend Images (peterisosis@gmail.com & http://www.moosebend.com/), specialising in landscape photography and kind enough to help us out.

This is Peteris.

Anyway, this is a potential candidate photo from the shoot which may feature on the rear label. Thanks to Michelle and Brian (of Mamapalooza post) for location.

And this is via Vecchia

(left to right as you view this)

Marty, Paolo, Anton, Michael

(this was slightly enlarged as it pixellated badly on loading - I think that's because Peteris' file is so big blogger couldn't handle the number of pixels at the original loaded size - I hope we don't get pixellation when this is reduced for the rear label)

Labels, Labels, Labels

Well, it really does seem like it's all about the label. We haven't even go to the point of bottle on the shelf and yet the label dominates the activity at the moment.

Front Label
We think we're done. However experience shoes there's always "something".

Back Label
Broke out of a Catch-22 situation by taking bull by horns and drawing up the back label ourselves. All we need do now if point to each design element of it and specify size, font etc etc etc.

Photo
Peter's on for Monday. That's when we go have our group photo taken for the back label. We may as well post it on the blog, as a preview type of thing - or should we reserve that for those who're on the email list?

Foil Spinner.
We're doing metal/foil caps so we've closed on a foil spinner. Used - obtained via the classifieds in Winebiz.com. An over-engineered piece of kit if ever there was one for what it does. At least we're bringing it in for well under the usual price.

Bordeaux bottling
Bottled more of the private bordeaux stash from 2005.

No Headache Red Wine, Gaston Huet & Mary B

Just in case some of you still don't get what we at Via Vecchia Winery are accomplishing, let me put it in terms of potentially the No.1 complaint of Red Wine, the HeadAche.

Yet again, another red wine lover who dallied from her passion due to the headache, went through two bottles of our wine this weekend (one San Giovese and one Bordeaux blend) and declared that she did not get a headache. That's right, no chemical buzz. It's all terroir with us.

And to put it in terms of one of the superstars of Post-1945 French WineMaking, Gaston Huet of Veuvray, "A well-treated wine is an un-treated wine".

Yes, we make the un-treated and well-treated wine to which he refers.

Now, do yourself a favor, go back and read through this blog, then sign up to get on the list to buy a few cases (or barrels) of this unique wine.

"Nuff said. Lesson over.

Oh yeah, Mary B of Raleigh... it is unfortunate but perhaps unsurprising that you learn of Michael's engagement through the postings of this blog, and for that Michael begs forgiveness (what penenace do you require of him?). We urge you to check in here on a more regular basis so that you do not miss the wedding invite.

Bottling and Corking Wine

[At Left, Anton filling a bottle of wine with 2005 "Bordeaux"]

[At Right, Clone Rob and Apron Boy

then cork the filled bottle]

As requested in a prior post, more on the wine filler. We do have video of this, but it's currently on private view in youtube because, as usual, the production possibly suffers too much from bloopable innuendo and double-entendres. Oh well, if we vote to release it, it will be released - check back.

Racked the Top-Up Wine.

First task yesterday was to decant the wine in the demijons into empty demijons, leaving the lees behind and giving it an airing. We missed the full moon, I know, but hope the new moon did something

We've had a lot of queries from search engines on lees and sur lees, but we forgot to take a picture of the lees in the demijons so those searching for them could get an idea what they are. In our process the lees serve as a natural anti-oxidant - any ladies want some as a natural face-pack?

As we racked the wine we tasted. All was A.O.K.

Topped Up the Barrels.

We also took the racked wine and topped up our barrels of wine to eliminate headspace. Again, some tasting and stirring and smelling. The wine is progressing nicely.

Broke into another private stash.

We bottled another lot of 2005 "Bordeaux" with our incredibly efficient, not-a-drop-is-spilled wine filler. We still are not filtering, relying on natural sedimentation to do the job naturally.

Michael.

He's back from some place with "hole" in its name, somewhere out west. Apparently our resident feats-of-strength-I-may-have-a-thing-for-Carmen Miranda-fruit-headwear man got himself into a bit of bother with a kayak and a raging two foot deep torrent of water. Nature IS very deceptive. But a big "THANKYOU" to Shep who risked all to save him.

Labels and Bottle Filler

Bottle Filler.
The bottle filler arrived this week. It did not cost $1000, unlike almost every other piece of equipment. It is also, apart from our barrels, funnels, hoses, and demijons, our only piece of equipment not made of stainless steel or aircraft grade aluminium.
Since the winery board that met was at only half strength (Anton and I) we decided to try out the bottle filler. Michael was attending the funeral of someone who took part in a very significant piece of history and who didn't tell their story, and Marty was in a "busy", "may turn up later", "it will be late" kind of situation.
Anyway, this filler, which vacuum fills, treats the wine extremely gently as it fills bottles. It dispenses just enough wine for your size of bottle and the wine does not even foam as it goes in. We thought the fill level would differ with varying bottle sizes, but it didn't.
So we broke a 5gallon demijon of Bordeaux just as a trial run. We're always trying things for the first time otherwise so it made a change to practise first on a bucket of water, then on the Bordeaux.
It was a very civilised process. Very calming almost. And at the end the small amout of waste that was collected was just enough for a couple of glasses of wine.
I think the most impressive fact about this wine filler is that there was not a single drop of wine wasted during the bottling process!

Labels
We have agreed on the two label types we're going to be using consistently across our blends and varietals. We even have a different name for the Bordeaux. We could be at the printers by the end of June.

Molly.
Thanks for the photos. Very flattering - yeah right.
Actually there are some good ones and they're all fun.
Look out for them appearing now and again.

Of Friends and Fun

(This is Rob P (left) and Marty. When Rob P left for California in 2004, Marty was created to replace him. To avoid them being mistaken for each other Marty was given pinned-back-go-faster-ears and made to wear a cap)
Yet again we find ourselves just having too much fun!
Is such a thing possible!
How do we do it?
Remember a few posts back we asked where in the world was Rob P? Rob P who was meant to turn up for the BDX barrel break? Well turns out we were so happy to learn he was going to visit us from California that we all refused to read his email correctly when he told us that he could make it anytime except the day we planned. Anyway, Rob P showed up yesterday at the winery...and it turned out to be (naturally) one of those late night / early morning affairs.

There was also the added and delightful bonus of Molly. This is not to say Rob P isn't in himself a delight - I mean, we all love a wine critic, right. Molly wasn't quite sure about what we were about but as we toured the winery with her and explained what was happening and what we did, she settled in as it jived with what she had learned from a Discovery Channel programme about true/real winemaking.
Rob P and Molly showed up after we were just about done with winery business. Just as well. Which was:
1. Bottle Labeller.
The bottle labeller arrived. Ok, this probably needs a post of its own with pictures, but this piece of equipment has just got to be the world's most expensive inexpensive-looking product. I mean, it is very well made, with some very nice touches, but even so... If you want to check it out go visit Great Engineering and click on the BenchMATE product for demo and spec sheets. Thanks Greg for getting it to us all the way from Oz at a price cheaper than the US can provide and in a quicker timeframe too.
2. Bottle Filler.
This is on order and due in on 4th June.
3. Labels.
Real good progress here. We're just about to lock off on design format between designer and printer and have our label size worked out. We need to do the back label though.

Other business.
a) Wine tasting.
We tasted the BDX, now in its 13th month in the barrel. In the words of Borat, "You like."
b) Rob P and Molly.
Oh, that was just too much fun. We sampled the BDX, then went back and tried some 2004 and 2005 SanGiovese/PinotNoir.
We handled the Chambourcin with tact.
Needless to say we probably overdid the real wine propaganda, but hey, when you're passionate you can't stop yourself. And we hope Rob P and Molly enjoyed themselves too (guys, we'll send pictures and you can let us know which ones we can publish - Molly, we'd love the video of you naming your barrel and Rob P the one with your stylish headgear).
c) News from the frontLine of Wine Tasting.
After a tremendous campaign of endurance and self discipline in which no quarter was ever given, Mr. H of Westerville, possibly our biggest reader and, together with Mrs. H, the most gracious and generous of hosts, accidentally drank a 2004 Sangiovese/Pinot Noir. Any disappointment he may have felt upon the realisation of such a lapse in self-discipline that allowed the out-flanking of his long term strategy was then successfully countered with the satisfaction that he had drank something quite special and smooth. Well done, Sir!

MamaPalooza

As mentioned in an earlier post, we got invited to a local MamaPalooza event. It was later that same day we broke the penultimate barrel of Bordeaux wine we made back in 2005, so we were able to take some wine and what we didn't eat to MamaPalooza.

It was a great event. Michael discovered his poetry side and we all enjoyed a bit of the attention we got as a result of the wine. One kind lady took off with a jug of wine and toured the guests no less. Indeed, Via Vecchia Winery was, as the mc said, in the House.

There was a lot of appreciation for a "real wine" and we have some more volunteers for this years stomping of grape. Ray is one such volunteer, and our story and what we had to say about our method and integrity in the wine making process remionded him a lot about the winemakers he lived with back in the Rhone region of France.

We found there were people who knew restauranteurs and one lady worked for NPR and had some useful ideas about programming, who later sent through the media-pack for their radio and tv advertising.

Anyway, here's a glimpse of MamaPalooza. Thank you Michelle and Brian, for a perfect end to a perfect day.

Barrel Break

This will be brief. It's late.

So, Saturday. Where was Rob P? And how about the stress of a late arriving Joe without whose container Scott would be short a few gallons of our finest Bordeaux blend?
Despite all this and more, such as the multiple appearances of Mr Hankey (sp?, Michael?), the "Pink" branded sun hat, and ceremonies of dubious worth, the penultimate barrel of Bordeaux from 2005 was distributed.
Later that day we went to MamaPalooza, as we were invited and which will get its own post and video in due course. The best bit was the announcement from the stage that "Via Vecchia is in the House!" That was fun. But, as I say, more to come in a future post.
Quick Update on Winery business - we've committed on a labeller, label design is going great guns and we're enquiring about 2007 SanGiovese.
Are we having fun yet? Stupid question, course we are.
PS - anyone know who wont the Eurovision Song Contest?
And below, left to right on all three rows
Back row - Scott, James, John; Centre row - Paolo, Joe, Anton, Marty (yellow cap); Front Row - Linus (dog), Mike, Michael (with hat).

Wine Transfer Notes

[Two of the "Old Boys". These demijons came from Grondola in the Tuscan Appenines. They're at least 55 years old if we give it a break, 'cos if it travelled with Paolo's family in the first migration to England, in the 1920s, then they're older]

Some basic info on the wines we've been transferring over the past couple of weeks.

Please note that the Natural Sulfite Level ("NSL") is that which occurs in our wine naturally. We measured it last weekend. What we measure here are the Free Sulfites that are able to deal with oxygen in the wine and keep it locked up out of the liquid, preventing it turning the wine or feeding any residual yeasts/sugars. You'll remember that we have not added anything to this wine at all.

"ppm" is "parts per million.

The Organic Standard for Wine is 120ppm free sulfites ("Org")

The Federal Standard for Wines is 350ppm free sulfites ("Fed")

The Californian Standard for Red Wine is 175ppm / White Wine is 225ppm ("CA")

"Bordeaux Blend" comprises Cabernet Sauvignon, cabernet Franc and Merlot.

Varietal or Blend ------------- NSL --------pH------------Final ppm

-------------------------------------------------------------------- (Org = 120ppm)

San Giovese ----------------------- 31ppm -----3.8--------------80ppm
San Giovese/Pinot Noir Blend - 33ppm -------3.8--------------80ppm
Shiraz ------------------------------ 37ppm -----4.0 - 4.2-------60ppm
Bordeaux Blend ------------------ 40ppm -----3.8 - 4.0-------60ppm
Cab Franc ------------------------- 35ppm ------3.8 - 4.0------60ppm

For wine to be drunk between now and September, the NSL sulfite levels are fine. Since we'll be ageing these wines, and then they'll sit in bottles, these levels are too low and there are not enough free sulfites to deal with the controlled oxidation as they sit in barrels and any residual yeasts/sugars that may want to get something started.

Yeast can survive in up to 15% by volume alcohol. Maybe why we see a lot of those higher alcohol wines is that it's hoped they'll deal with residual yeasts so sulfiting can be reduced, but you need very high acid to deal with high alcohol so lord knows what's thrown in to knock the acidic taste back.

For us, this is a difficult time. We do not want to lose the wine. We do not want to use even, in our minds, the excessive Org standard for sulfiting. We are fortunate to have good Acid. So we make a judgement call. This year we decided to add minimum sulfite still way below the lowest Org Standard and below the recommended sulfite levels for the given ppm, pH and volume. If the San Giovese and Pinot had ended up in French Oak barrels then we would have stuck to 60ppm, as it is, we're using new (to us) technology and don't know how the wine will age in it so we erred on caution but still well below Org Standards.

As far as our chemical intervention goes, this is it the beginning and end of it.

[Two of our Bordeaux Blend French oak Barrels. They're handsome aren't they]

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More Wine Goes Into Ageing

Saturday - and we put the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc into ageing in their French Oak barrels.
The pump played up again. Nothing to do with the impeller - Paolo repaired the torn blade and it held all day - but the motor itself. Seems like the motor wants to turn over, but there isn't the "kick" to start it off. We checked the load on the drive wheel, the tension of the drive belts and they were fine. It's just that the drive wheel didn't turn even with no load upon it. Anyhow, since it was making noises like it wanted to go, we resorted to "kick-starting" it. This was achieved by running the pump with the drive exposed and Marty hand cranking it until it 'caught". This worked all day long and we got through it fine.
However, since the pump is meant to be both self-priming and self starting, this is not good. We believe the starting capacitor is "fried".

Paolo designed a dip-stick to measure off how much wine was being pumped. This was needed to roughly gauge when we had enough of a Varietal in a barrel, essential when wanting to achieve the different percentages of each Varietal in each barrel. It worked fine.

Topping off the Bordeaux blend barrels was done by siphoning out of the demijons we had racked in December for the Cab Franc. We left the Cab Franc until last because it is the smallest percentage in our Bordeaux blend and our pump cannot pump with the responsiveness needed to be shut off in time when the barrel is full. There is a device that can be bought that senses the change in pressure at the barrel full point and shuts the pump down there and then.

The Bordeaux blend dealt with our Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. We had enough Cabernet Franc to make up its own barrel. Anton reminded us all that Cabernet Franc is the father of Cabernet Sauvignon, and for my money, at this stage, it seemed better in many respects. The remainder of the Cabernet Franc went into storage in a bag from FlexTank that will keep the wine safe for up to two years -you place the bag in a 60gallon drum.

Only the SanGiovese and Pinot Noir to go.

[l to r - Paolo, Marty (holding drum), Michael in back of drum, John in front of drum holding red funnel]
Here we're carefully pouring off the last several gallons in the drum into a demijon. We don't pump out all the way to the end as we do not want to suck the sediment (lees) back into the wine - remember we rely on natural sedimentation as our filtration method as we do not mechanically nor chemically filter our wines. This wine will be again siphoned into the French oak barrel.



This is Anton siphoning out of the demijon the Cabernet Franc into the French oak barrel.


This is Micheal diligently tagging the Cabernet Franc barrel.

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Barrels Update & "Welcome Estonia"

A day of movement on the barrel front today. I (Paolo) spoke with John at Flextank and we're good to go with the [2] 200gallon maturation vessels, floating skin, 100litre ullage preventer and the storage bag. We'll photo these in action, but for those interested you can follow the Flextank link at left and see what these are.
Everything's coming in from California apart from the storage bag, which's coming from Oz.
The Sangiovese/Pinot Noir is destined for the vessels, some Cab Franc for the storage bag, and some Bordeaux blend will probably take the ullage preventer.
John's had trouble with shipping, as has everyone.
Anton finally got the French Oak barrel guy's wife or Admin today after a week's silence. They are being let down on shipping, but she assured him she'd get our order priority. We're excited about these French Oak barrels.
As shipping seems troublesome, I reached out to Amanda of American Bank Equipment and asked her if she could recommend a broker or carrier that could handle barrels for us. She called back and will get us the info of a guy out of Oregon (Oregon again) that she knows. He could be our Plan B to get our French Oak delivered if the supplier can't lock down frieght himself.

Welcome to new visitors -
Hail Estonian Visitor from the region of Harjumma, city of Lagedi!
Hail Floridian Visitor from Spring Hill!

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Pricing and the Ageing Room

We had a rather ambling and relaxed meeting last night. I think tasting the Bordeaux set the tone and we couldn't break that mellow and satisfied feeling we got out of the tasting.
But eventually we got around to a decent discussion on pricing our wine. We are obliged to have published a price list in Ohio, that is then maintained quarterly. We have had very good reviews of our wine and "it tastes expensive". So we did the old "what would we pay for it?" routine that then refined itself by age of the wine, which led to some agreement that we should "lay up" some barrels for release onto the market in future years, and a higher price. We'll see how this one pans out, but we do have to get to that price list before we sell, or offer for sale, the wine.
We also agreed on a date for a working party to clear out space to relocate the ageing area. This may mean we have to revise the winery plan sent to the FED, who needed the different areas of production, ageing and storage identified. This is scheduled for week Saturday. A morning of throwing out junk and driving it to the dump. However, we swing back through Delaware so we could grab a bite or drink or two.
PS - and how would you pronounce "meritage"? Phonetic suggestions may be posted to Comments.