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)

Gearing up for Harvest 2014

...we've secured our vineyards (well still could use some budget friendly Pinot Meunier), fallen in love even more with our winemakers Katy & Ross, locked down our crush needs with Vinify, now comes the hardest part -  waiting for the grapes to ripen.

It's cooled off over the past few weeks after a warm Spring, so some say the grapes will be early, some say they'll be picked right about the same time as the past two years...which is OK for those not juggling full-time jobs elsewhere - we are anxious! Both of us hope to be in California (and can take the early morning off) to help with the pick and crush at the winery.  After all this wait, Dear God we hope we don't miss a thing! 

Here's a peek at our Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon Vines on top of the Sonoma Mountain AVA - about 24 hours ago. We are very pleased with the vineyard and are so excited to make our first Smith Story Wine Cellars wine from this beautiful spot in Sonoma County!  
 
Our love for Sauvignon Blanc started with France, particularly the region of Sancerre, France in the Loire Valley.  I'm sure we've bugged our winemakers to death about crush and cellar details that come with our rather large expectations of producing world-class Sauvignon Blanc.

We can hardly sleep through the night thinking about it all! 


This is Our Story,

Ali (and Eric)