Transitions

It is really hard for me to let go of the fall and Halloween gift items in the tasting room to make room for Christmas.  The fall and Halloween looked so good with out decor’.  Our friends from California just left this morning.  They were great; worked their tales off.  Susie and I moved out the stuff in the backroom and brought in bins (at least 6; lost count) of Christmas.  It is looking like the season, that is for sure.  Pat and RJ pressed off our Pinot (6 barrels) and then labeled and waxed 35 cases.  Not bad for 2 days work.  We’ll miss our friends, but they are visiting the first Grandson from their youngest son.  Enjoy!  Pictures are of the transition to Christmas.  It is not complete yet. 

I’m Back

Now that business has slowed down alittle bit (darn!), I feel like I am getting caught up.  I am getting a little help, too.  Darolyn, who works on Mondays, does whatever list of projects I leave for her.  Joyce also helps out on Tuesdays.  And starting next week, I will be getting a Marketing Intern, Paul from Pacific University.  He is very excited about helping us get the word out.   He may even do a video of us for UTube.  What a hoot!!!  We are still having good business on Saturdays, several groups yesterday.  We have one scheduled for today and did an event, so there is plenty of activity to keep us busy.  Our gift shop is overloaded with fall and Halloween that has to get put away starting next week to make room for the Christmas stuff.  So if you need some last minute decorations or gift items, stop by.  Oh and don’t forget the wine.  The Pinot Gris has been a big hit.  By the way, even though I’ve been lax at blogging, you can follow me on Facebook.  It is currently under my name but soon we will have a Facebook page for Plum Hill Vineyards.  The views are gorgeous right now.  Am I blabbering or what.  There is so much to catch up on.

The above picture is a rainbow that appeared to the North of our Vineyard.  Unfortunately, it has started to fade as soon as we got the camera and glass ready.  Cool anyway!

The above is one of our many bins from this years harvest.  The fruit is so clean and abundant.

Enough for now.  Will get back to blogging soon!  Promise!!!

New? Truck

Things have been busy at the vineyard this month and at the winery. The “boys” have been whacking the weeds and putting out rock along the back sidewalk. However, the biggest event is the purchase of a vineyard truck. RJ found it parked along Highway 47. It’s a 1974 ford F350 stake side, flat bed truck. The front tires were bald, the driver side window will not roll down, the heater will not shut off, the windshield is cracked, the right side mirror is half of what it was in a former life, the wood floor of the flat bed is rotten, the lift gate kind of works with some manual help, moss is growing on the hood, there is a huge hole in the seat and the antenna is bent but it starts and runs. RJ , the silly kid, thinks he got a great deal and is starting the restoration project.

Okay, okay, I Get It

It is so hard to keep up with all the social networking, the tasting room, marketing, gift shop…blah, blah, blah.  I will tell you, this summer has been a killer for us.  We have run out of number of wines and have even been “slammed” when there isn’t an event.  And to top it all off, it has been fun.  I want to let you know about our new event:  Friday Date Night.  Our first is this Friday, August 28 from 5-8p.m.  We will have live music featuring LG Burger, light snacks and free tastings.  Wine by-the-glass or bottle and picnic items are available for purchase.  We will have this event every 2^nd and 4^th Friday of the month.  We have been told that people want to visit the winery after work, so we are staying open late 2 nights a week.

What else has been going on?  We have been acquiring wine processing equipment including tanks, a pump, a filter.  We also have been cleaning out the processing barn. 

I have lots of pictures to share, but RJ’s organization of them escapes me.  Have I told you that married couples should not share a desk, tasting room bar or a computer LOL.

Hopefully, more updates soon.

This is What It is All About

We have been having so much fun the last week or so.  More and more people are coming.  People are enjoying our picnic areas, etc.  Today one of our neighbors dropped by on his tractor (yes, I said his tractor) to have a glass of wine (picture attached).  While not exactly in our business plan, more and more guests seem to come to just have a glass or two of wine.  Last weekend was Father’s Day and we had music, so we had some small crowds hanging around.  Sunday got off to a late start but then took off at 2p.m.  This week, we had a late group on Tuesday, who were great fun.  Coming up this weekend, we have several groups including a group of 30-40 on Saturday, 3 other groups of 6-8 on Saturday, a private party Saturday evening and then a group of 24 on Sunday.  I’m sure we will be tired on Monday, but it is what we have been waiting for.

Another First

Granted there have been many firsts in this new venture of ours, not the least of which is us owning a winery.  But I had one this week that was almost (not really) as impressive.  As you know, I try to take Mondays off to get things done at the house, etc.  As usual, I made a list of things to do this Monday and for the first time in my life, I am sure, I crossed everything off the list.  Of course, RJ said my list was way too conservative then, but I was happy and satisfied with my accomplishments.  RJ finally took a day off.  Of course, his day off is like mine.  He had to spray the vineyard at home, trim the bushes, weedwack, etc.  I wonder if he got everything done off his list.  I do know at the end of the day, he decided he needed a newer, bigger and more powerful hedge trimmer.  Can you say, “Tim the Toolman, uuh, uuh, uuh.”

As to life at the winery, we had a good week last week, but an abysmal weekend.  We’ve attributed it to Rose Festival, crappy weather and a number of local graduations.  We have decided we will log these types of activities in our weekly sales tracking so we no what to expect.  So, “does anal retentive have a hyphen?”  This week so far has been good.  Still not seeing people take advantage of our picnic areas.  But wait until the weather gets better; we will have to take reservations for the picnic tables.

June Events

Starting tomorrow, Saturday, we will have live music from 2-5. We plan on doing this all through summer including some Sundays as long as the crowds warrant it. Also, Father’s Day is around the corner. We will have live music on both Saturday and Sunday, buffalo tasting and sales including some barbecued samples and if you bring your Father, he gets a free gift. And with 4th of July around the corner, I’ll give you a heads up. We are having watermelon and wine. All the watermelon you can eat along with other substantial snacks and live music. Lastly, we now have a commercial cooler stocked with picnic supplies and beverages. So, if you forget to bring your picnic, we have food and supplies available for purchase in the gift shop.  I’ve included pictures of our new cooler and all the goodies inside along with a picture of our ever-growing supply of picnic items.

Day Off

RJ gave me the day off today and I am so glad because I am getting so far behind on things at home.  I had breakfast with the church women, visited Betty, stopped by Goodwill and then when I couldn’t prograstinate any longer, I went home to work in the garden.  I’ve included before and after pictures.  I didn’t get it all done, but I got 2-1/2 beds done; enough room to plant my 4 tomato and 2 strawberry plants.  I have never seen that really tall weed before but I think it came from the maneur we got from our winery property last year.

We had a really fun weekend at the winery.  On Saturday, we had a steady stream of people including one couple who was told “four times” on Friday by 4 different people to come to Plum Hill.  He said “enough already; we’re going.”   Then on Sunday, we had a guest before we were even open and 10 people within 15 minutes.  Had one break all day, but basically a steady stream.  Half the people were repeats and half were new.  The best part was Ron Sabin came mid-afternoon equipped with his guitar.  He said if I had customers, he would play.  As if on queue, 3 groups of 2 each showed up, so he played and they listened.  Then we had some repeats whom all came just to sit and relax.  This lasted until after closing.  A good time was had by all!  We  hope to start regular music for the weekends this Saturday.

Day 3

I can’t believe it has been 2 weeks since I’ve updated the blog and alot has happened.  Most recently, we finished Memorial Day weekend event at the winery.  For those who don’t know, Memorial Day Weekend is the 2nd busiest wine tasting weekend in Oregon.  We ended up with over 400 people here over the 3 days.  It was our biggest event yet.  I have attached some pictures.  Also, some more work has been done on the back patio.  The bar top is in and the area to the picnic table has been cleaned up and small rocks added (thanks Tom).  You can see this in the pictures of the picnic areas.  The county sent us a note that we need a permit for our “cabana”.  RJ has worked it out with them but we need to do some more paperwork and we can’t have picnic tables or people under it because it is an agricultural structure.  Take a look at the patio areas with all the plants, etc.  They are from our neighbor nursery and are for sale.  They should look good, too.  I may have to buy some.  The other picture is RJ with Ghost Monday morning taking alittle rest before our last big event day.

Pond Rocks

We ended up with a very good week last week which made up for the previous week.  This week is shaping up to be good as well (except today, you would have to be a muscrat to go out in this weather).  Anyway, it has given me some time to catch up on projects in the tasting room.  I finished the Snowman trios for the church bazaar, tagged a bunch of stuff and started to clean the back room.  I’ve bagging and pricing found objects to use in jewelry, scrapbooking and collages.  A new found friend uses old metal to make jewelry and we have lots of old metal.  Last week before RJ left for California, he moved the gravel to around the back pond and then added large rocks that came out of the vineyard.  I call them Russell’s rocks, because Russell from Australia, got them all out of the vineyard and made a nice pile.  Pictures below.  I also promised  you pictures of Waterbrook’s new facility that I visited when I was in Walla Walla a week ago.  I was going to pass it off as our new facility, but not even I can lie that much.  Impressive isn’t.  They will produce 250,000 cases of wine out of that facility.  At our peak, we will produce 3-4,000 cases.  A different world for sure!