2014 is not over yet!

Tonight we give toast to 2014 and ring in the New Year. But, we still have plenty planned for what 2014 brought us. Our 2014 bottling schedule is set, 2014 vintage release dates are set, sales forecasts and marketing plans are all in motion and being posted to the new calendar as we steadily move forward into 2015.  

We cannot thank you enough for your encouragement, support and inspiring enthusiasm for Smith Story Wine Cellars in 2014 - we did it!

Humbled, proud, exhausted, happy, thrilled, scared, content...so many emotions can describe our first year and the "Birth of a Winery".  Reading back through all the blog posts makes us both a bit teary-eyed with joy.

All that's left is for you to taste our wines and start all over again in 2015...Harvest is already on the horizon (plenty of vineyard walks and spreadsheets in the not so distant future!). 

With love and kindness, we wish you all a very Happy New Year!

This is Our Story.

Eric & Ali

Remaining Faithful

We did it. We started a winery. We made wine. We made really good wine. We think, we hope, no -  we believe! We're emotional as hell! We want to tell everyone!

And we are so very thankful to our Smith Story Wine Cellars Inner Circle...

Our winemakers Katy and Ross - so grateful for their support, expertise, their endless hours of insight and advice and most of all for their devotion to making fine wine for us.

Our "garagiste" custom crush partner, Vinify Wine Services. Wow, we never encountered anything during crush but "hustle" at Vinify and loads of cooperation. It was like an anthill of super focused wine artisans waltzing around 24/7 for weeks straight.

Our vineyard managers, grape growers and families that kept watch over our precious grapes, from the Southern Sonoma Coast, the highest peaks of Sonoma Mountain, the far West of the West Sonoma Coast, the heart of the Russian River, the depths of Knights Valley and all the way up to our beloved Anderson Valley.  We are so thankful for each person, each vine, each row, each picking crew who helped bring in the highest quality grapes we could afford this year.

Our biggest thanks goes to all of our family, friends, Kickstarter Backers and folks working "behind the scenes" to keep us going. Your encouragement, connections, support and enthusiasm on a daily basis was (and is) so awesome...which also brought us to meeting our new investor, who's been our most wonderful unexpected happening this year.  We are honored, grateful and thrilled to have our first year of business come together so effortlessly.

Hard work and remaining faithful to the process and keeping the faith that a higher power is watching over us feels unbelievable. Now we wait patiently for our Harvest 2014 babies to do their thing in the cellar.  The 2014 Sauvignon Blanc will be our first release next spring.

With Much Love and Tears of Joy - Happy Holidays Everyone!

This is Our Story.

 - Ali & Eric

We Bet the Farm

Oh yes we did, well, we bet our life-savings & on our ability to create world-class wine.  We'd like to have a farm of sorts in a few years though!  Since announcing Smith Story Wine Cellars to the world on May 14, 2014 we've already moved mountains it seems. Just under 1500 cases of wine was crushed this harvest season while managing full responsibilities of our day jobs.

Letter sent to Ali from the Buyer of the Austin House!

It's been a whirlwind this past year with Ali's travel schedule to visit markets for her TexaCali Wine Co. clients,  Eric's responsibility at K&L - including his European travel all while launching a new winery simultaneously.  We also managed to sell our home in Austin, Texas, raise $26,001 in 30 days on a  Kickstarter Campaign and finalize a partnership with a dynamic and supportive Angel Investor for Smith Story Wine Cellars. It's all coming together!

But back to "we bet the farm"... many of our friends in the business have used this phrase when talking to us about our first harvest and the winery.  Betting our lives away seriously drives our desire to achieve success as a couple producing wine.  We get this, we got this, are heads are down crossing every T and dotting every i along the way, if there is such a thing in this business of wine.

So what's next?  

As the wines are aging and resting in tank and barrels in Santa Rosa now, we are busy behind the scenes.  Accounting systems, banker meetings, compliance needs...a ton of items that sound like a bore but are super important to the foundation of the winery. Many folks are awaiting our wines to release already, so we are first and foremost working on our eCommerce engine and Wholesale permits in a handful of states.  Another priority is bottle selection and label approvals...our bottling date is set already for the 3rd week of January for our Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Oh these wines are tasting delicious.  WE CAN NOT HARDLY WAIT!

Also, exciting news to share with you soon about our wine club offering and allocations.  A few fun surprise bottlings we hope you are going to LOVE.

So thank you for signing up on our mailing list, our go-to supporters from the very beginning, we hear and feel your support and enthusiasm each and every day. A fun place to follow us online besides our website, twitter and Facebook is http://instagram.com/smithstorywines where we enjoy getting to know our fans on a daily basis.  Please don't hesitate to reach out if traveling through the RRV wine country, we would love to meet you and taste some of our wines with you too.

This is Our Story.

 - Eric & Ali

A little piece of peace.

Today we awake to sounds down the hill of kids playing soccer and church bell chimes from The Mission in San Rafael.  It's crazy to think that our first Smith Story Wine Cellars harvest is coming to a close already.  Tonight we pick our last 2 tons of Pinot Noir and we're still waiting on 4 tons of Sémillon to ripen way up on top of the Sonoma Mountain AVA.

The past 2 weeks have been INCREDIBLE.  Thank you and to each and everyone of our Backers who supported us on Kickstarter.com, we reached our goal of $25,000 on Labor Day.  This is going to pay a nice chunk towards our grape-grower contracts!  We were able to update the last few weeks with numerous photos here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/837539083/smith-story-wine-cellars/posts 

We gained so much more than the Kickstarter amount, tons of new mailing list sign-ups and record breaking web traffic hits will help us to continue telling Our Story to the world. THANK YOU.  Next...we are looking forward to finalizing smart financial partnerships to help with the enormous costs of our first year.

To be very honest, as fascinating and thrilling as the past few weeks have been for us, it's also been an uber stressful time for us.  Why?  We want the success of Smith Story Wine Cellers to happen more than ever before.  It's all consuming. Thoughts of how the wines are going to taste, how we are going to sell them, who's going to write about them, how much do we want to produce next year...our thoughts are near manic. Thankfully, we have our day jobs to keep it all in check and mindfully put the brakes on the anxiety of building a business.

We have so much more to say, to update you about, to involve you with, but we are taking a few hours off this morning to enjoy a little piece of peace. Thanks for following...

This is Our Story,

Eric & Ali

*Our wine releases will be allocated, please be sure you are on our mailing list http://smithstorywinecellars.com/allocations

Let's Play Ball!!!!!!!!

"Never let the odds keep you from pursuing what you know in your heart you were meant to do" from the baseball great Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige.  This quote's been hanging on the top of Ali's TexaCali Wine Trail blog for over 900 posts and I'm taking it today for our blog subject.

In the spirit of Satchel and the great game of baseball, this sport holds a lot of meaning and memories between the two of us.  We both played the game, I grew up going to the San Francisco Giants games with my Dad and my buddies and Ali did the same, even working for the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics broadcasting departments pre-wine career.  And it was that electric 2010 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the SF Giants that sealed the friendship and love between us for life.  And now we route for both teams!

Ali and I are consumed by nervous energy as we are days away from picking our first vineyard for our first harvest.  Much like it feels before a game starts, just after the National Anthem is over and as you start taking a few swings in the batters box. Starting a winery is weirdly similar to being a part of a great baseball game.  You've earned your spot on the team and now everyone is out there watching you do your thing!

Picture this - an imaginary game where both teams win: We've got our outfield (the vineyard farmers) all set,  Mother Nature's on the pitching mound, just waiting to throw our entire lineup Home Runs! Katy, Ross, Ali, the Cellar Crew, our grape pickers and I are all in the batter's box...nervously waiting for Mother Nature's signal to PLAY BALL!

Here we are, days before Smith Story Wine Cellars becomes very very real.  So as we patiently wait for the biggest game of our life to begin...

Thank you for being our fan, your Kickstarter (see blog post below) support is awesome. We've seen a major increase in our mailing list sign-ups via our website and have raised a few thousand dollars so far to use towards our vineyard contracts with our family farmers.  But we are far from our goal of $25,000 by September 1, 2014.

This is crucial and important: Please continue to spread the link and donate if you can - we have less than 18 days left and every donation counts.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/837539083/smith-story-wine-cellars

This is Our Story.

Eric (& Ali)

Kick Me Please

One of the silliest things Eric and I have in common, is our love of pranking.  We love to prank, love watching pranks and laughing hysterically once a prank is executed successfully.

One of the earliest memories of pranking as a child was when I stuck the old "Kick Me" paper on the back of an arrogant little boy.  After carefully sticking this sign on the backside of his shirt I became the hero of Mrs. Hillhouse's 3rd Grade class. We all rolled in our desks with laughter when a few swift kicks to his overly confident tookus happened a when he bolted up first to get in line for recess.  I loved making everyone laugh (wouldn't have pranked a nice guy!) and I'm sure it set the pace for a lifetime of pranks and practical jokes (oh how I love to go biscuiting!).

So what's this got to do with Smith Story Wine Cellars?  During the month of August, we are asking for a swift kick too - on Kickstarter that is! We want to pay our dear farmers (Grape Growers) first this harvest and feel it's important to highlight them, as they are the most important partner to keep happy.  Please help us spread the word and donate if you can (little amounts do add up!).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/837539083/smith-story-wine-cellars

Kickstarter.com is a Crowdfunding site that has helped thousands of creative ideas take off with nice financial start!  We've put together some interesting and fun rewards for those who donate too.  For a minimum of $5 bucks, we'll send you a personal photo postcard with a pic we shot of one of the Smith Story vineyards... then donation levels all the way up to $3400. A $3400+ "Backer" has a chance to help us name a barrel of wine and have their name and or company listed on the back label of the bottle along with a handful of other really cool rewards for this generous donations. If we don't reach our overall goal of $25,000 - we get NADA, NOTHING, ZILCH.

29 days to go - time's a ticking, please send the link above to a few dozen wine-loving folks you know this week.  This is a SERIOUS Kick for us! Thank you always for your support, we are just getting started...harvest is only a few days away.


This is Our Story,

Ali (and Eric)