A Blooming Hill Vineyard

So I’m sitting here playing paper dolls with our labels as we work through the federal government’s process of label approval. We’ve been turned down once because some of our letters weren’t 2mm higher than other letters. How tall is a mm anyway? I’m not really grousing, however, as -– knock on wood –- getting our approvals and licenses, server’s permit, and whatever else we’ve needed has been relatively uneventful. And we’ll get through this next step, too, because we are very smart people and have cleverly engaged a label company that also helps through this process. Isn’t it interesting how entire industries grow up around consumable products?

Anyway, we need a couple of labels for bottles we are donating to two auctions coming up: one helps the Oregon restaurant industry advocate for good business practices; the other, Salud!, the Oregon Pinot Noir auction that raises money for healthcare for Oregon’s seasonal workers – a very good thing.

And there is news on the actual winemaking front: we have a new white called Mingle. It is a divinely bright tasting blend of the three grapes Jim grows: Riesling, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. We’ll debut it this spring and we are confidently hopeful that it will be a hit and a signature wine, along with the Pinot Noir.

Jim is now through the winter pruning. We thought, just in time for spring! But we were surprised with an overnight snowfall last night that left 3 inches. It’s warmed up enough to have melted by now; although, I can still see some on the nearby slopes of neighbors’ fields. What a time of year; the buds on the Magnolia tree are about as fat as they can get without actually popping open and there are daffodil, crocci and even parsley leaves braving the still-chilly air. They all look like little space beings trying to absorb and understand these strange surroundings. Hope they know they will be very welcome!