Our Grand Opening

Thank You!!!!

fcd8c2fc-ec94-400f-b05f-70b3172f1b75We cannot extend enough gratitude to everyone who attended our grand opening week, or helped us get ready!

On Thursday we had a soft opening for family and we were super surprised by Lisa’s sister and brother-in-law from New York who popped in and her younger brother flew in from PA. We were just blown away that they came and it brought tears to Lisa’s eyes. Everyone stayed late and had a good time. The food was good, the company was wonderful and this event helped us steel our nerves for the next day’s opening.

Friday was our Grand Opening and the winery was packed. A lot of friends chipped in and bused tables, restocked shelves, took orders and helped spread the cheers. We were blessed to meet a lot of very nice people and I am sorry if we didn’t have a chance to talk to you. It was busy and we are new at this but please stop by again so we can get to know you better.

e9fe8e36-1d47-4f33-953e-3b2f8bfde6a2Saturday and Sunday were rainy, which was strange for San Diego in late April and business was slow but steady. It will take time to spread the word so please help us out and tell your friends, come visit, post a review or do whatever you want to do to spread the word (we appreciate everything).

Wednesday was Paws & Pinot and we had a small bunch of well-behaved dogs hang out with their parents. The parents had wine and the pups had human grade doggy treats from 20 dogs in a Bowl.

Thursday is chair massage day and OMG do I need one but patrons first. Alex from Certified Hands was great and everyone who had a massage felt his soothing hands in a slight daze and very relaxed.

On Friday, things picked up to a nice busy pace. Our caterer, Chief Judy, produced some very nice cheese and meat trays which we will probably have for sale every weekend. If you have any ideas regarding food selection and choices, please let us know.

The Transformation

 We got most of the major construction projects done prior to opening and there is a whole list of open projects, but the overall transformation is phenomenal. For everyone who visited Lisa at Photography by Lisa K, you won’t recognize the place. Click HERE to see more pictures of the entire winery.d2289793-b26a-4bfc-a2e4-c1d11a8fed9d c17f9458-4287-44b0-b77f-dbd7411e1267

 

 

A Pleasant Mistake

02c04626-2bcb-4cda-a4aa-ac8765be5eafSo the winemaker makes an OOPS and let our Symphony go through a secondary fermentation in the bottle; so now we have a sparkling version for sampling in the tasting room. It pours like a sparkling wine and its very light and refreshing. We are ONLY serving it by the glass in the tasting room. I don’t want bottles pushing corks out in peoples wine racks, in their trunks, under their beds, or all of the other crazy places people store wine. If you want to try it, please come by. Our inventory is very limited and we will never have it again.

 

We took most of our inventory, uncorked it and poured it back to tank, then passed it through a 5 micron, a 2 micron and then a 0.45 micron filter to remove all of the yeast cells and sediment. The wine is now still (no bubbles as it should have originally been), clear and smooth. It expresses a completely different mouth feel and bouquet.

 

We have been conducting an informal survey and it is fairly well split 50-50 on preference between the sparking and the still version. I personally like them both for different reasons and could easily pair them with different foods and settings. I guess it is up to you to decide on which one you like better; please let us know what you think.

 

Mother’s Day Special

On Sunday May 10th we are offering ½ price glasses of our Symphony wine and a complementary chocolate pairing. Moms work hard so take a moment and celebrate her for all the great things she does every day!

 

San Diego Urban Wineries Week June 1st-7th

Did you know there are 14 Urban Wineries in San Diego? Each winery is unique in character and personality, so we encourage you to visit them all. You can go HERE for a link to all of the upcoming events. We will be pouring at “Sip the City” at The Headquarters in Seaport Village on June 4th.

 

Naked Bottles of Wine…oooh!

43398e07-bec1-407f-91bd-c01fe382acc6Some of you have been curious about why our Merlot doesn’t have a label. All wine labels must be approved by the Federal government and we need to obtain what is called a COLA (Certificate Of Label Approval). This insures that the label is accurate and contains the required information. The Feds process over 100,000 wine labels each year and ours are currently in the queue for review.

 

Once we get approval the label is sent to the printer. We then use this fancy machine to apply the label to the bottle and we re-case them cork down and place them in stacks in the barrel room for storage and bottle aging.

 

P.S: We just got our label approval from the government and so off to the printer with the artwork.

 

Founders Wine Club

Our Founders Wine Club is limited to the first 50 members and we are already into the twenties. Being a founder gives you access to deeper discounts and more special offers (our Zen club is also fantastic)

 

We will be having our first Wine Club pickup party on Thursday June 18 from 4:00pm-8:00pm. Members get to pick up their wine, enjoy complementary tastings and we will have some food for everyone to enjoy. If you can’t join us, then please stop by the winery at your convenience to pick up your bottles.

 

If you want to participate in the Founders Wine Club, then I encourage you to act quickly.

 

Bud Break and Fruit Set

The grape vines in the vineyard have had bud break and some have begun fruit set. Fruit set typically starts immediately after flowering when the fertilized flowers will begin to develop seeds and a surrounding berry forms to protect the seed. As the fruit begins to grow we are in search of sourcing our 2015 grape crop.

 

We are planning on obtaining 20-25 tons worth of fruit this year which should yield about 1000 cases of wine. Now 1 ton of fruit occupies two macro bins. Each macro bin is roughly 4x4x2.5 feet high, or 16 square feet. So we will be getting enough grapes to fill a two car garage about 6 foot deep.

 

We will be offering a lot of hands-on educational classes that will allow you to participate and understand how fruit is turned into wine. Please check the web site in a few weeks for class listing and how you can participate.

Private Events

We are opening up the barrel room for private events during regular business hours and the whole winery during regularly closed hours for private events. We don’t have all of the details worked out, but please contact us with your ideas and we can figure out how to make it work for you.

We can also work out some kind of a private tasting tour, private classes and as a private event, we are able to offer a wide selection of food and beverages. We have a bunch of caterers, or bring your own.

Cheers,

Lisa and Darius Miller