Drew Voit: Revolutionizing Willamette Valley Winemaking Through Innovative Vineyard Sourcing and Custom Wines

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[upbeat music] Cheers to another episode of the Wine Notes podcast.
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I'm your guide, AJ Winesuttle, on this journey of stories showcasing the people behind the wonderful world of wine, where we dive into conversations ranging from terroir, viticulture, to favorite music, superpowers, and more.
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Please enjoy this episode of the Wine Notes podcast. Drew, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you so much, AJ. It's nice to see you. Yeah.
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Uh, small fun fact for you. [laughs] Okay. This tasting room is the most... I've done the most interviews- [laughs]... at this tasting room right here. Really? I've done... This is my third one. Jasen Payton. Yeah.
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And the third one, I can't even guess. It was Philippe Andre before, uh, IPNC a couple years ago. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, totally forgot about that. Yeah. It's a convenient space.
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It's a very- It's in downtown McMinnville. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, it works out very well. You... Feel free to use it again a third, a fourth, and fifth time, so. Yeah. You know? No, I, I appreciate that. Thank you.
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Of course. Yeah. Uh, before we get started, can I pour us a little bit of a blind wine? Hmm. By all means, yeah. Okay. I have a corkscrew over here. Oh, no, I, I got it. Oh, you've already got it. Yeah. Oh.
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Oh, I s- well, it's- [laughs]... quite blinded. Yes, indeed. It is quite blinded. I don't wanna give away any details. The lab bottle there. Yeah. Yeah. Um, as you're aware, you know, you can say anything that you want.
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So you can say it's yummy, you can say it's yucky. Yeah. Uh, you can choose not to comment. [laughs] It's totally up to you. I think anyone who knows me would be surprised to hear me say I wouldn't wanna comment.
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[laughs] I would not... That's not characteristic of me. Oh.
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But also, you know, I try to find a good connection, and as we were s- you know, saying before, uh, we hit record, you know, s- not hard to find a connection for you. [laughs] But, you know,
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uh, as soon as I heard about this wine, I was like, "Whenever I interview Drew, this is the wine I'm gonna, uh, blind him on." Interesting. I was like, boom, that's it.
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Oh, I'm looking for- I'm looking forward to figuring out what the connection here is then. Yes. Do we talk, we talk about it now or we talk about it in, later on in the thing? What's the...
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Um, we can talk about it a little now, and we can let it open up, and talk about it a little. Yeah, I just wanna let it open up a little bit. I... It- it's quite tight right now.
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It seems very closed down, so I'm looking to see- Yeah... how it evolves in the glass. But yeah, so far I like it. Yeah. [laughs] Okay. Well, good. Good, good, good, good, good. Um, you know, IPNC, you know,
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there's all the talk about... Well, first let me back up. Uh, this year at IPNC, you know, I, you know, came over to your table. You were pouring wine. Mm-hmm.
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And you're like, "Hey, AJ, y- you know, I think it's about time that, you know- [laughs] "... I bring you onto the podcast." I did say that. [laughs] And I'm like, "Oops, uh, yes, you're absolutely right." Yeah. And, uh,
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thank you for doing that. It's... There are times where I'm just, like, brainstorming. I'm like, "Who do I bring onto the podcast? I don't know."
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And so it, you know, it's always nice when somebody is like, "Hey, I should be on the podcast." Yeah. So it's like, yeah, one thing I've done, I mean, I've sat down with you, uh, when you came down to Vin Dusa.
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That wasn't the podcast. I think you were just doing s- we were just kind of welcoming you and showing you around. But we sat down around that project that I'm associated with, and I think maybe- Even here...
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at other industry events and things here. Yeah. And then I thought, "Well, I should just probably just do one." Yeah. I mean, it's- Yeah. [laughs] It's, it is amazing. Yeah.
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And before I sat down with you here, uh, I think it was, uh, right before harvest of '21- Mm-hmm... I was just so completely nervous. I'm like, "Oh, my God, it's Drew Voy.
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[laughs] And- I think I wrote, I think I read that somewhere, you wrote that. It was like, "I'm just gonna, like, I'm gonna glove bomb him a little bit to just make sure he knows that, like- [laughs]...
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I'm just, I'm just some dude." Yeah. I, I know. [laughs] But, I mean, it's... Y- you're involved in so much. You have so much impact in the valley, and, uh, you know, it is, it is an honor to sit across- Oh...
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the table from you. I'm, I'm dil- I'm delighted to be here. Yeah. I was, I've been, I've been looking forward to it, so. Yeah. Well, thank you. Yes. Thank you. Uh, but IPNC in general. Mm-hmm.
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I hope, I haven't really talked to anybody else about this, I hope they find a way to bring it back. Mm-hmm. And, you know, do you have any thoughts or anything on IPNC? I haven't, I've...
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Uh, there's just a few people I've spoken to or just, you know, uh, m- heard from people who are close with, with folks in the, kind of within the organization or the, you know, people who are influencing in that. Yeah.
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'Cause I'm, I mean, I've been a participant many times- Right. Right... both for employers and for my own brand. But, um, but I, you know, not... But, but I...
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Th- they seem quite certain that i- it's going, it's, uh, going away. Right. It's that, uh, the, the, the, the, you know, the venue was part of the issue.
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I think maybe the, the expense and, and size of the place they were doing it. I think it may just... The IPNC hadn't really evolved a tremendous amount, which I hadn't really considered,
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but then upon reflection, it really hadn't evolved. It really was the same- Right... it had been the same thing for the, I, I don't know when the first time I went, probably 20-plus years ago- Right...
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or 20-ish years ago, whenever. I've been here about 26, 27 years in the valley. So, but yeah, I think I've... It's been a s- everything I hear is that it's going to come back and be a, a better thing. Yeah.
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I mean, that's what I hear too. And, uh, yeah, you, can, can you keep any event going for 30-plus years and not evolve the event in some way? I, I think you can't. No. No, I mean- It's gotta change- Yeah...
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or you just, you just don't appeal to, to a new... And, and I'm not qualified to speak to what it should look like, but I think that that's what people are looking at- Right...
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is it to evolve it, lest it actually go away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I- So I'm, I'm hopeful. And, and whatever they come up with afterwards, I'm, I'm, I'm all in. I'll, we'll, we'll- Oh...
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we'll send in the samples and write, write the, write the checks to pr- be, be a participant. Oh, of course. I- Yeah... you know, I'm, I'm all in too. Yeah.
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I'm just, I'm eager to see what, what happens, is what I'm- A sh- I, a shorter event, I suspect. I think maybe, and I would not s- be surprised if it's no longer the two and a half day-Three day thing.
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That's a lot of commitment, but also maybe that, who knows? I, but I mean- Yeah, yeah. No, it- I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with it. Yeah. I, I'm interested too. I'm curious.
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And yeah, there's, can be a whole lot of speculation on- Yeah... the possibilities. Yeah. Absolutely. Going back to the beginning, you grew up on a farm. I was born on a family farm, and we... It's still in the family.
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Uh, we moved away, uh, when I was a clearly little kid, and, um, and it's, was 26 acres in the Central Valley. It's not, it's not, um, raise a family on it kind of income levels. It was like, it's v- Oh...
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but, but yeah, no, I was born on one on my, my grandfather- Right... had purchased, and my dad had grew up on that f- um, grew up, grew up on that farm working the apricots or s- they were, they were at the time. Okay.
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But yeah. Well- But we still have it. Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that's also- It's just walnuts now. That's the only difference.
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[laughs] Well, you know, that just took away my, my whole question of like, oh, so when, when you got in trouble, what chores did your dad give you?
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[laughs] So that, that- We, yeah, I was, the, we, my dad was in, he's retired. Um, he's, he was, he's a, he was a retired chemical engineer, but his, his career was largely in the, in the sugar industry. Mm-hmm.
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So he was, uh, chief engineer and eventually, I think VP of operations or something at a couple of sugar points in the Central Valley for a little while in my youth, also in Texas, and then, um, and then a good chunk in Santa Barbara County as well.
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So we moved around a little bit, but yeah. Yeah. No, that, that is cool. And then, you know, in like '93, you're at UC Davis. Uh- Mm-hmm...
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you're also, you know, going to follow in your dad's footsteps in, you know, being an engineer. Yep. But that Fortran programming language, you just didn't- [laughs] I did not... I really...
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Even you did, you did, you found me telling that story on some podcast or another. Huh? Exactly, yeah. It was Fortran 77, which you're a tech guy, I'm not. Right. This was 1993.
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There was already a version of Fortran that was newer than 77, as I, I remember them telling us, and I thought it, that's already an archaic version. [laughs] Right.
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That there was like a com- new compiler or whatever that, yeah. Dead, yeah. Right. Yeah. And I said, so I'm learning this like l- like this literally, like I felt like I was learning a dead language- [laughs]...
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that I didn't like either.
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[laughs] Well, a- and to me, uh, you know, so for me, I don't have a degree in computer science or anything, because when I was looking at college options, it was like, you're studying all this old stuff. Yeah.
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And it's already outdated, and like I had a, even had a hard time with like, I don't see the, the point. Yeah. I, it, I just, I was sort of, right, so age, I realized that, it was, I mean, in my freshman year that
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I kinda realized the difference between engineers and, and not engineers, and I feel like engineers were not, they're not o- they're not born or not, and not made, both born and made- Right...
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but there is a born component in that about the way people solve problems in their heads, and I'm envious of it actually on some levels, 'cause engineers, you know, have a, a process to things. It's impressive.
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I just figured out in the few of those classes I was taking that I don't have. [laughs] And I'm just scratching the surface of the ways in which I wasn't gonna make a good engineer- Right...
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or, or a happy young man doing it. So yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but it was in '95, you know, um, you were part of a tasting group, and a person brought down some Oregon pinot noirs- Yep...
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and you're like, "Boom, I'm done." Like, that was it. The notes are standing up in that basket right down there, in fact. See the yellow paper? Yeah. That's it. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah. That's the...
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I thought I'd lost that, that tasting notebook, but that one is open to the page of that, that tasting. I was year and a half into the viticulture and enology- Right... actually general major there. Yep. Oh.
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And so you decided to take some road trips up to Oregon. Mm-hmm. Do you remember what some of the wineries that you did s- Uh, yeah... visited at that time? So, um,
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I had, my brother was in, in '95, he was a freshman at Oregon State, even though we grew up in California.
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But a lot of, well, my grandfather and dad and uncle, basically almost everyone in the family went to Oregon State, except for me. And, uh, so I was coming, coming up here to see him. He- we were very close.
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So it was a lot of them were like went to places like Bell Fountain, which is gone, and I remember Airly, uh, going into Airly.
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So I guess, so I ended up not really going very often north of, say, like Monmouth or more like Amity- Okay. Okay, okay... 'cause it's just down in the Corvallis area. And I- Right...
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first, I mean, I knew the na- the names of the pinots I'd tasted, which were all the very- All solid here... yeah, it was like, yeah, it was Art Barry Veritas.
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I think it was still New- or Newton Erath before they dropped the Newton part, et cetera. But I never- Right... I don't think I ever made it up here. So it's just been kinda anyone that was open down there. Okay.
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That's cool. A few of them- I was just curious... Serendipity. Uh, I think I went to the one that was Schwartzenberger, which later became Van Duzer. I just- Right.
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I also wasn't even, like I said, I think I'd just turned 21, and I didn't know anything about wine. I just knew I wanted to make it. Right. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. No, that, that's, that is cool.
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You know, you're talking about your, your brother and your dad, uh, both- Mm-hmm... you know, kinda into the food science realm. I remember sitting down talking with you, you know, in '21
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that, you know, um, [clears throat]
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that, you know, when, when you're making, when you yourself, you're making food, you're just kinda, uh, smelling it, and it's like, "Ooh, it needs a little bit of this, and it needs a little bit of that," and you don't really use a recipe.
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And so Thanksgiving is getting ready to come up. Number one, do you get together with all your family?
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And then number two, like, what is, what is the cooking scenario like with all those food scientists trying to do br- uh, Thanksgiving? So we, we're not, we're not getting together with everyone this year.
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We certainly have on many occasions, and this particular Thanksgiving, my, uh, my pa- my partner and I are flying to Cabo San Lucas for a week. Oh, okay. I will be making very few decisions on things like that.
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[laughs] Um, uh, she always, uh, makes sure that, uh, a nice vacation, i- ideally a warm weather one, is on the docket post-harvest, 'cause if left to me, I'd put it off forever. Yeah.
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Um, and just never get around to planning it. Um- Neither would I. Uh, yeah, I guess it's, uh, but my brother is a food- he's a, so he has a master's degree, a bachelor's and master's in food science.
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But it's, um, he and I often do the cooking when we're in the same place together, and, um, it's kind of, it's, it is a little bit like we're bo- he's, we're both fairly-... w- a- avid home cooks.
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We really like to cook, and so it ends up... But it is ver- it's ki- it's kind of improvisation- Right... based, a little bit.
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But it rooted in, in the fact that, you know, you live to wi- we have to learn the real formulas of how things are done- Right... and understand it, and then you tweak. It's not...
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Like if I, if I go pick up a guitar and play it, it's not jazz. [laughs] It's noise. Um, but- Right... with experience in it, yeah, and it's being like, "What do you think this needs?" And,
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yeah, and he usually has a little, like, jar of MSG too, in just case he needs some of that. [laughs] I'm not joking. We both do. [laughs] That's awesome. Sometimes that's just what it needs. Yeah. Yeah.
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No, that, that is cool. I, I do... Oh. [laughs] I, myself, I don't have that background or that foundation in that- [laughs]... at, at all, so I was just trying to imagine what that was, what that would be like.
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It tends to get a little, uh... Usually fairly ambitious if it's he, when it's he and I, my brother and I both there for something with family, because we both k- enjoy kinda taking on something that's- Right...
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ambitious. So what is something ambitious? Oh, I don't know. And I think at one point we were... I think we broke down a turkey, and we were, like, sous viding one leg, thigh quarter, and, like, braising another.
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And we're s- making this kind of, like, where there are different textures and cooking methods for different parts after you broke it down. Um, we've done, um, certainly a lot of...
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Uh, yeah, just, I think it's sort of anything that just sounds like it'll really keep our minds busy. Right. I think, um, yeah. [laughs] That would be, that would be interesting.
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I, I recently came across s- something I'd never heard of, and I can't think of the name of it right now. Uh-huh. But, um, it's turkey, chicken, and duck, and you, you know, turn- It's turducken... thank you. Yeah.
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I've never made that or ate it. [laughs] I've never... It looks wild. I mean- It looks absolutely wild. Yeah. And I'm like, "You know, I might need to just try that for the sake of just trying it."
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It seems like you'd dry the turkey out. Like, it just... Like, turkey on the outside, like- Right... turkey wants to get dry immediately. Like- Yeah... I'm not sure how that would work. I- But I'm, I'm...
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I'd love to try it. I would love to try it too. It sounds like a lot of work. I think you can buy them pre- I, I've heard that you can buy them... preassembled. Yeah... but still, I, you know...
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That, to me, that takes the fun out of it, you see. Ah, I agree. I agree. It's just I, I would have, I would, I would have a low confidence that I would pull that off well the first time. [laughs] E- exactly.
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[laughs] That's what it is. Exactly. Um, so I have sat down with, uh, Eric Berg, Michael Lundin, Tony Reinders, and now you, and I call you all the Domaine Serene crew.
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There was a time where that was, that was, at the same time we all worked. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Oh. My, my very first question, how in the heck did you know that Eric Berg was a mo- you know, had, uh, um,
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had worked as a model? Oh. [laughs] That's... So he, uh...
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The I, the y- I was hired as the assistant wine maker at Domaine Serene in 2004, and in the, hmm, late, late winter, early spring, something like that, which, um... So I'd been up here.
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I'd been up in Oregon for about six years already, had another job before that, um, at another winery. And which then this, this job was... It was, it was a big job. Yeah.
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I mean, I was assistant wine maker at another winery. Well, that's not the same thing. [laughs] No. I'm really one point... Yeah. So the, so I knew I had... I, you know, Tony was very clear about what my,
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the responsibilities were and what role I was to, to play, and one of them was to build the harvest team.
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And so going through intern resumes and talked about how we like to have this certain kind of balance of, like, we usually have some international interns. We also like to have some people at varying skill levels.
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You, you know, a diverse team has better results. Right.
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Um, and Eric was applying, his, you know, just for the harvest, his harvest intern gig from Chicago, where he was waiting tables in, I think, the beverage program of a small restaurant, if memory serves. It wasn't...
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I don't think it was on his resume. Uh, it wasn't. It was one of his references. Was, I think, a f- friend from college or maybe a, a, someone he knew from the college days. Right.
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More of a personal reference than a professional one, 'cause Eric hadn't worked in wine, so you know, it didn't really have any in. Right. And I think he gave up the ghost right away.
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[laughs] Can't remember the man's name at all. I'd never met him. It was only that he just kinda said, "Oh, just, did you know this?" And I went, "This is hilarious."
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[laughs] If this guy is, if this guy is, um, you know, amusing and seems like a good dude- Right... I want him on the team just for the, just for the jokes. Right. Like, we can, you know...
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And, uh, yeah, it was kind of a, it's... It was, it was funny. That, that is funny. I- [laughs]... I think I hear, you know, heard the story.
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You know, y- he's, uh, you know, coming in for the interview or coming in for the first day, and you're like, "So tell me about your modeling career." [laughs] It's probably something like that.
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I would, it wouldn't be, I'm, I imagine I didn't say anything about it until, 'cause I know that he drove out here with, um, to here, and he drove here, and I met him at, at the winery to let him into the intern housing that we had for him- Right...
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sometime in, in the evening. Um, prob- some, probably in August sometime, I'm gonna guess. So it's 6:00 or 7:00 or 8:00 PM or maybe later, however long it took him to get here. Yeah.
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And I'm, I imagine, just thinking about how I would take that, is I would wait until- [laughs]... that moment where he thinks that no one's aware. Right.
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And he's, that he's gonna get away without saying anything about it. Right. And I was like, "It's too funny." Gotta bring it up. So then it was just quotes from Zoolander and all sorts of... [laughs] It was just...
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[laughs] It was, it was amusing. Still makes me laugh. Yeah. No. [laughs] And he still does a little bit of modeling work. He, he does. He does, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
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He hadn't for a while, but he, he got back into that, so. Yeah. Yeah. No, and that's, that is great. Yeah. Uh, but I, what I really enjoy about that group is everybody is solid, kinda out on their own now- Mm-hmm...
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and just really kicking butt.
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It, it was a, it was a great, uh, li- I mean, it was the, it was a transformative, the most transform- formative mo- moment of my career, was getting that job and, and being able to, you know, be a key part of the team that, that pulled off what that was, which was the, the tripling-Uh, uh, three or three and a half times,
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uh, tri- the capa- like the, uh, production of a winery with new vineyards coming online in the course of three years. And it was like the, the scale up of that. Right. And that's really what...
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That's really a l- large part of what I was there to facilitate, was to make that happen on a moment-to-moment basis with, you know, my b- with my boss having the overall vision of all of it, and very clear-eyed and all of it about it.
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So it was pretty amazing. But yeah, just decent luck. I mean, Rob Follin was also part of that team. I don't know if you know Rob Follin, but he had- No... Follin Vineyards. He's b- he's in the Rogue Valley now. Okay.
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His family had... He ha- he had his own brand for a while. Um, I think the family wound that down, and now he's the winemaker. Is it called Bella Fiori? Bella Fiori, I think, and he has his own new project.
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So that's another guy that went off on his own, who's pretty... Anyway, just good luck, I guess. Just really good people- Yeah... and it's a testament to... I don't know what it is. It's was, it was, it was remarkable.
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I, I did recall kinda realizing that there were some really dedicated people. Yeah. No, and- Um, and it speaks to, like, how c- company culture matters, you know?
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That, you know, you bring in the right kinda people and instill the right attitudes, and then you see they, A, benefit from that experience a lot, and B, you know, like, see it th- the way you hope.
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W- the way that you, the way that they do as a- Right... as a, a nice moment in time. Yeah. Yeah, it is a nice moment in time. Oh. You know, and so I ended up interviewing Eric at, at your winery. Mm-hmm.
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You know, so I guess you could say four interviews all- Hmm. Oh, yeah... with the connection At our facility itself, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
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And, you know, just to see him, you know, go out on his own, uh, you know, with his own winery and, you know, uh, facility. That was, it was just great to see this year. Yeah.
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That was, that was basically just a little over 20 years ago. Yeah. So was, was when, that was when he came on board there. Michael and Dean was already there- Yeah... because I, I had just started six months before.
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So he'd already been there. Rob Follin had already been there, so. Yeah, no, it, it's very, very cool. Mm-hmm.
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Even, like, uh, a, a soon-to-be former but still current mayor of McMinnville, Remy Drabkin, was on the harvest team there I think the fall, the year after that or whatever. Nice. I didn't know that. Kind of fun. Yeah.
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Yeah, it was... If I, I roll back through the people that worked there even on a seasonal basis- Right... sort of like a lot of like, wow. [laughs] This is pretty cool. It must...
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We were, we were lucky to have had these great people wanting to be a part of what we were doing, so. Yeah, it is absolutely amazing.
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Uh, another thing that I really adore about, you know, what you do for, you know, your label, uh, Harper Voigt, is you find these unique vineyards, you know, all throughout.
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And, you know, I, I won't forget, you know, tasting your Antiquum, you know, Vineyard Pinot Noir. And I don't think I ever asked you, but how... Or I don't remember. How did you find that vineyard? Oh, uh, yeah. So, um,
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in, uh, 2008, um, I l- I left Amayna Serene on a full-time basis, stayed on as a consultant in a transitional, um, phase, and went to Che Wine Cellars in '08, where I was the head wine maker there.
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So I'm 30, f- 33 or th- almost 34, whatever it was, and, and just the deal with... At Serene, it was you can't have your own label. That's just not how it works, and it's like respect. It's totally cool. Yeah. I get it.
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Like, those are... The Chays said, "No, keep it small and we're fine if you have one." And this is al- it's what I'd wanted, I wanted to do, have at least something small on my own. Right.
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Um, so they said, "Just please don't start the first year. Can you wait till '09 to start?" And I was like, "Actually, that's a really... Thanks. It's good, it's a good suggestion.
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I probably shouldn't add to my, uh- [laughs]... add more to my plate in my first year running the, running the show for them." Um, so I just spent some time trying to figure, okay, what, what's the concept?
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What am I trying to do?
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And I tried, and I said, "I wonder if I really wanna focus on vineyards that are, you know, maybe hidden, hidden gems, um, you know, or, you know, as yet un- you know, unrecognized kind of top-class sites."
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And a friend of mine named John Albin, uh, who was... He was director of wine-making at King Estate at the time. Mm-hmm. His winery, some of his wine was called Six Peaks. They're up on Parrot Mountain. Mm-hmm.
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Um, and a longtime friend. And I was in his tasting room, which is also attached to his house, and I just said, "Hey, John. I think I might... Do, would you sell me fruit next year from your site?" It's a neat site.
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It's like 1,100 feet in elevation, a real cold site, way up high in the Chehalem Mountains, planted back- Right... in the '80s. And he said, I mean, he's like, he's like, "I, I w- I will if you want."
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Um, and he said, "But I, you know, from a wine style perspective, you know, I, I... The wines I've had from you that I really liked, that I don't, I don't think you're gonna see that style here.
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This site doesn't, doesn't really do that thing." Yeah. And I said, "Oh, okay. Well, I still might be interested." But he goes, "I'll tell you what, though. You gotta, you gotta meet somebody.
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I got somebody you gotta meet, you gotta talk to." Right. And he started explaining about Steven Hagen, um, and then team. And it was called Old School Vineyard at the time. It, uh, it had... There was a
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legal dispute a number of years later with, uh, with, between a brewery and Steven, and he had to change the name. But, um, but he said, 'cause John was running King Estate at the time.
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He said we, we would buy all this fruit if he would let us. He's like, "Hell, we'd buy the vineyard if he'd let us, but he won't sell us everything. He wants to pivot to having some small, um,
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some s- some relationships with some smaller brands up north to try to help elevate the visibility of his vineyard because it is, it's, uh, 'cause it is that great." And not in- Right...
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I mean, Steven thought it was that great, but John was going, "It's at least as good as he thinks it is." [laughs] Um, and his work's remarkable and out there. So he just handed me his number and called him up. Wow.
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And was probably February of '09, something like that. Yeah, I just drove down there on a cold morning and checked out the site and just hit it off with Steven like that. Like- Right... like, felt like
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somebody I could really be friends with. And now he feels like family to me after all these years. Um, and yeah, I just saw the, the whole thing. I mean, all the, you know, the rotational grazing and, and,
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uh, every, just every bit of the sustainability and, um, permaculture kinda concept there that-I didn't know there were regenerative agriculture.
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I don't even know that that was a word that was getting used at the time- It was, no... but he was doing it, and he was doing it on a remote site. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.
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You've been down there, you mentioned. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the middle of nowhere. It is. Um, and I just went, "I don't know what this vineyard's gonna do, but I want in. I want in." [laughs] Right.
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And I just took this section on the far eastern side of the property, and it's the same section I'm still in. They was third, they were third leaf in '09, so I've taken the crop from those vines every year. Wow.
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And I'm the only one that's, I'm the only, uh, winery other than Antiquum Farm that works with the vineyard anymore, but Steven, he lets me continue to buy it.
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Well, you know, Steven is, is an amazing guy, and he does, um, he does an amazing job out there, and it's completely unique.
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And yeah, our, and our relationship just goes, it has so many different layers to it too because not only did I buy it for a few years, but then I helped him s- launch his, get his la- label, his, uh, label going in '11.
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And then in '12, when I was off on my own doing the c- custom wine-making stuff after leaving Shay, he came along with that. So he, we did seven...
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I think we did seven vintages or eight vintages of that together in my facility. Mm-hmm. Um, and then he took it in-house, but then we've helped,
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Jessica and I, my co-wi- co-winemaker and I have helped in transitional phases and in project-based things for him. So we're just, it's just like a go-to- Right... thing. It's a relationship I...
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I love that vineyard, and I love the wine from it, and I like how, uh, the r- the r- the, how the relationship is, is gone. 'Cause to see how well he's done with that brand, m- I had the small part that I had in it.
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I, uh, you know, I made, helped him/made those wines, um, for a number of years, and he really ran with it. Yeah. He's killing it out there. Yeah. No, he is. He- And it could not happen to a, to a nicer guy. Yeah, yeah.
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And you know, the, the house that's out there, you know, built from the, the wood from the property- Mm-hmm... and built fr- you know, from scratch by his hands and just absolutely amazing.
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He's a r- like a Paul Bunyan type there. He's just... Yeah. It's- And, and so down to earth and- He's- Yeah... yeah. So cool. He's hilarious and sweet and, and yeah. Yeah.
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And I, I just, um, knowing him on so many levels in so many ways, he's... It's, yeah. Yeah. It's great. So that's, that's the first contract I signed when I t- when I launched Harper Voy. That, that is cool. So.
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Oh, I know when the w- uh, Andrew Smith, the winemaker at Antiquum, you know, left, and they were trying to find another winemaker, you know, you helped out- Yeah... you know, in that interim. Yeah.
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I, you know, I've done, done that s- uh, uh, that's a, I've done it in a number of capacities. Was, was glad to do it for Steven. Right.
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'Cause it, it can help that owners, even owners that know a lot about the winemaking process- Right... which Steven likes to say he doesn't really know a lot about it, but he does. He knows a lot about it. [laughs] Yeah.
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But, but he does recognize that he doesn't know how to make every decision in it 'cause he's focused on the vineyard. Right.
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But it's really helpful, I think, for, for owners sometimes to have kind of an advocate there to, when they're interviewing winemakers, to figure out, like, who's, who's full of it and who's... You know.
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It can be hard to tell. There are s- there are some, there are some answers that pull, that pull back. Oh, yeah. It's like with, with any field. With any field.
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If you, if you don't know, like, you almost need someone that, like, could be a contender for the job on, in theory, if they were interested, but they're not because- Right...
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they have their own thing going on or whatever, and they can be like, "Yeah," like, "that was a non-answer" or, "That, that's the wrong answer" or whatever. Yeah, yeah. I, I understand that.
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But the, yeah, the, the luck they found of getting Sam was amazing. Yeah. Have you met, have you met with Sam? I have not. No. No, I have not met him yet.
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He's the associate winemaker at Littorai, is with a job he had when he, uh- Okay... in California, which is the most import- I mean, that's a California Pinot producer that every Oregon winery and winemaker loves. Okay.
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And it's best in the... Yeah. Oh, wow. It was what, it was, it was, it was a huge opportunity.
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I mean, resumes were coming in, and I just went, I said, "Steven, send me all the o- all the other ones, not just these two or three."
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And he sent them over, and I was like, this one, I went, "Have you talked to this guy?" And he's like, "Uh, not yet." And I was like, "He's associate winemaker at Littorai. Like, he's the, um..."
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Dan Estren from, uh, Cristom was previously his boss, and that's the same job that- Oh, wow... he came up here from. Anyway, so he was like, he's like, "I've never heard of that winery." I was like, "Oh, I have."
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[laughs] "Just schedule a call if this guy's, if he's as, as cool as this m- his resume is-" Right "... you got yourself a winner." So, um- Okay... so should be exciting stuff. That would be very exciting. Wow. Uh,
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so are there any wineries that's, are currently on your, like, radar that are, that you're trying to source fruit from or, like... Oh- I guess I was using Antiquum as, like, uh, an example of a unique vineyard. Right.
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And what, do you have any- Um, yeah, we, it's the, most of them we've been working with for a while, um, for Harper Voy.
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But I, Harper Voy has not, hasn't grown in years, and we, we, we, s- we had our volume we're at now in 2012 maybe, maybe '13, and that, that, we just capped it. Right.
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So it's been a core of, of five vineyards that we try to bottle on their own. Um, one of them we no longer have access to. It changed hands- Mm-hmm... ownership-wise.
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Um, but yeah, I mean, we, we were, we got involved at Beezy Vineyard from, from the beginning.
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That was another one that my good friend Sterling Fox, who's, you know, a very prominent vineyard manager here, said, "Hey, you gotta come check this site out if you're gonna be looking at sourcing fruit."
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We try to, you know, all that because right above Seven Springs. And so I don't know, Bramble Hill and Ribbon Ridge, a few s- ones. And you just sort of know when you see it. Like- Right...
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because it's a, you know, a, a high-quality site with a clearly, it's clearly gonna have a different terroir than anything else you're working with, and it's farmed and managed, you know, impressively. Right.
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And you go, "I'm in." That's cool. That's cool. Did you have any thoughts when you, uh, went up to, uh, Walnut Ridge and working with Andrew Smith at, you know, in their, their vineyard?
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Uh, yeah, so we, we got involved with them in 2022.Where we were asked to take on their white, uh, and sparkling and rosé production. Mm-hmm. Um, and not the Pinots, with one exception. They wanted us to make one small
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volume of Pinot for them, and then focus on the whites and things, and Andrew was making the rest of those. Now, we make them all. Um, we make the Pinots as well at our facility. So- Okay...
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yeah, that was a connection with An- Andrew's a former employee of mine and, and, and so we- Okay... uh, c- connected over that in, in that way. Um, so yeah.
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It's a, we- it's, it's right around the corner from Antiquum, which was kinda cool- Right... and I'd driven by it many times. And the pr- the wines from earlier, before the new owners had purchased it were- Right...
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let's just say not, not my cup of tea. Um- [laughs] Yes, that's what I've heard. And, um, and, uh, um... But the new owners wanted to meet, and, and that was a connection through Andrew.
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But then when we- I saw their names like on the calendar or whatever, Jessica and again, my co-winemaker said, "They're in your wine club." And I was like, "They are?" And he's like, she's like, "Yeah, those..."
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And I was like, "I don't remember the name." And- Right... kinda dug back, and it was before they'd bought that, uh, property. They'd tasted with me several years before. So they were, it was like,
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"I got a pretty good shot of getting this project- [laughs]... if they're already in my wine club. They- Yeah... I don't really have to kind of explain everything about myself. There, there's something. Right.
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So yeah, that, that one's been fun. It's, it's fun that I, I like the S- we do a number of projects in the South Valley consulting-wise, and custom wine making and for sourcing.
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The South Willamette Valley has, uh, um, has completely different, um, terroir profiles and w- far more than one of them. I think it's an interesting area, and- Yeah... we continue to enjoy working down there. Yeah.
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No, that, that's cool. Uh, you know, when I interviewed Jessica and Peyton here- Mm-hmm... you know, on the Blind Wine, I was like, "Ooh, I have to, uh, I have to bring sparkling." Right? Yeah.
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I mean, if I didn't bring sparkling for Jessica, I think- Oh, that's correct... I think- I think you'd get, that's what she- I, I s- Yeah... I would've been like hung- That's-... or something. Yeah.
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That's, see, it's very, it's a very important thing to her for, for sure. It is. Yes. It is. So I had to read this a little bit- Sure... just to get my, um, train of thought.
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But like your dad's job was a combination of working in the lab and, you know, one who put, uh, puts o- put on boots to do the dirty work.
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And you wanted to, um, be a bridge between desk work and getting your hands dirty at a very early age. Mm-hmm. And we talked a teeny bit about this before we were, we- [laughs]...
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were recording, but like your son, how, how do you see your, your son going? It's interesting. So yeah, he just, he just started college just this last fall, I mean, a couple, three months ago or so. And he's at Cornell.
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Um, and he's in the viticulture and enology program there, which not everyone necessarily realizes that there is a program there.
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It's not a huge program, but it's the most important one that isn't on the West Coast- Right... um, that, um, Eric from Van Duzer is a product of that department himself. Okay.
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And there I met a, a handful of other Cornell grads. Uh, who knows? He's 18, so who knows what he'll, he'll stay at. Um, I, I, I, I suspect he
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will s- probably end up in something that is, uh, is in the agricultural sciences in one way, shape, or form.
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It just seems to be a thing that resonates with him like it did with me, like it did with my brother and my dad and my grandfather, [laughs] all ending up in some kinda- Right... yeah, science related to agriculture.
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But it was- Yeah... it caught me off guard when he was gonna apply for school with that major. And I went, "Who are you, and what have you done with my son?"
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[laughs] Like, "I've never heard you express any interest in this field." And he's like, "I don't know, I've been thinking about it." And it's, uh, you know. That's cool. I was like, "That's amazing." Yeah.
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No, that, that is cool. But do you, do you think that he'll stay, that he'll, you know, get in, get dirty, or he'll stay more on- I suspect he'd be more on the, um, on the business end of it. Okay.
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Um, that if I, if I d- if I...
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He, I mean, grew up his whole life kind of, you know, helping me out, well, g- going out to vintage with me, running around while I pulled samples, um, helping out at the winery in- Right... all different ways.
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Um, and so he knows a lot of that stuff. But I, I have a hard time picturing him wanting to do kind of what I've done for my career so far. He seems like he would, um, probably go more into, um,
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more into the business or into the, into the more academic side of it or into the s- into the science end of it more. Oh, that's, that's cool. Yeah. I remember you telling me a story that, um,
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you, your son couldn't, uh, smell the difference between a violet and a rose. And you're like, "Oh, really?" And you know, just like, "Smell this, smell this, and smell that."
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And you know, that's just one of those stories that just like stick in my head. And just like sort of training, training your...
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Yeah, I guess I probably do that with a lot of people then because I guess it, I think it's, it's pretty, it's, as- it was an, it was, it's an eye-opening process just to, uh, to do some sensory science work like I did in college, or you can do, uh, so whatever- Right...
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where you start breaking down what the smells and tastes of things are, um, which you need to do to be good as a winemaker just to understand, not just to describe the wine, but to understand like
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how to correlate that with choices that you made and, and beyond- Yeah... those outcomes. Um, but then yeah, our capacity for that sense memory is like, it's not that hard.
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If we just take a little while to like really like, okay, that's what this smells like. You know, what does, what does cumin versus coriander versus black pepper smell like? And- Right... they're really distinct.
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And I just kinda always, when he, just like expose him to that stuff and- Yeah. No, I, I think- Yeah... I think it's cool. I, you know, there's gonna, gonna be a little small get-together for us for, uh, Thanksgiving.
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Mm-hmm. And I have like the 52 scents, you know, like in the little jars. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna bring that out and be like, "All right. What do you think this is?" Yeah. And just have fun with it.
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I, I think it is fun. Thanksgiving. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. There was, uh, there was a, a sensory workshop that was put on, I don't remember how long ago now. Probably, it's probably been, it's been more than a decade.
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Um, but there's a, an, an important, um-...
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consultant who's, I believe he came out of the perfume industry at one point, but he's a French guy, um, and worked in and has been a consultant in a lot of, like, blending and sensory work.
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And he did, like, a two-day seminar that was, like, Michael Davies and Anna Matzinger and Anthony King, and I- and I was there.
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And, but it was a pretty cool bunch of people that I've basically come up with in the same- Right... 20-plus years here and are friends.
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And this was just a very bossy French guy passing out little white strips of paper after he dipped them in- [laughs]... unmarked tubes and then- Right...
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and then basically shouting at us if we, if we didn't, if we didn't guess. You weren't in trouble for having the wrong guess. You were in trouble for being vague and wishy-washy. He wouldn't have it. Oh, wow.
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He was just so, he was just, like, point you out. Anyway, and it was just amazing to really, like, okay, what does this really smell like, and, and create- Yeah... those associations, and we all do that.
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Our sense of smell is the, is the most connected to memory, you know? It is- It, it is absolutely amazing. And, you know, those little bottles, like, you smell it, and you're like, "I recognize it- Yeah...
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but I don't know what that is." Yeah, exactly. And it is such a weird feeling. Yep. But then once you make the connection- Right... it kinda locks in pretty well, and then you can...
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The, the ability to associate that, those, those, uh, s- those sensory experiences with memory in general is just, I think it's really cool. It makes that really important the way you can...
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You know, honeysuckle bush in front of my childhood piano teacher's house, like, that's my reference point. If I smell honeysuckle- Right...
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not only is it, it's that, but it's in Santa Maria, California, and, and it's in the par- you know, whatever, and it's in, right there in front of that house.
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And because that's how it just takes you back, and it's just- Right... I think it's cool. It is very cool. Yeah. It is very cool. Have you given any sort of thought to, like, what sort of legacy you wanna leave your son?
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Oh, boy. [laughs] God, I don't know. Uh, I don't know. I mean, I guess I only have one kid, so I guess I'll just, um, I just think- Yeah... just kinda do what I do, and if he has an interest in it, that'd be cool.
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Um- Right... and if he doesn't, then I don't know. Yeah. No, that's fair. That's fair. I think I just, I, I, I know that he, from a... I'm glad that I was able to, uh, to have him grow up with, uh, uh, with me
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very clearly knowing what, what I, enjoying what I do. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and working hard at it and all of that. I think that's a nice thing. I think that's wonderful to model that where, where a kid can kinda- Yeah...
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see someone, uh, more or less living their best life or, or at least s- setting a goal and then pushing towards it and seeing that it, you know, is working. Right.
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Or if it didn't work, you see the getting back up and trying to get back. Ex- exactly. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So yeah, I don't know. Yeah. No, that's cool. It's- I'm still in that empty nest phase, you know?
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Um- Oh my gosh. I- He moved in August. [coughs] It's been, uh... And I, and I, uh, I'm, I have a long-term partner, but she and I don't live together.
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She's, she has, she's a single mother herself and liv- lives in Portland. And so I live completely alone now, and it was sort of like, wow, it's like legacy- [laughs]... I'll, I'll deal with that later. [laughs] Right.
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From the empty nest things. [laughs] I got, I got a big thing that I'm dealing with right now. Ex- exactly. It is a weird feeling, I mean, to just have the house completely silent. Yeah. You know?
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And not, and not, like, just for the week that he's at his mom's, and he'll be back here. It's like he's 3,000 miles away. I'm gonna go see him in a week and a half. But yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
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So I have some rapid fire questions. Okay. And then I'll, uh, reveal what the wine is. Okay. All right. No, I'll, I'm happy to talk more about it, too, as we, uh- Okay. Yeah.
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I don't wanna just be silent and make you, I'm gonna be- Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's- But go ahead. Rapid fire. All right. Fire away. Fa- uh, favorite artist to listen to during harvest? Oh, it's fair...
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Um, uh, like, do I, am I putting it on for other people who are listening? Or is it something- For you... just where my, my earbuds are in? Yeah, your earbuds. Uh, this harvest it was, uh, it was the Deftones.
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I just, I really like Deftones, and I hadn't been binging on them. It had been a while, so I was kind of... They have got a lot of material, so that's what it was this year. Deftones. Very nice. Very nice.
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Your favorite indulgent food? That's tough. I don't know. Turducken? T- maybe it's turducken, right? [laughs] That's a good one. That's... Yeah, no. I don't know that I have... I don't, I don't know that I've, I have...
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I'd say probably something like french fries or something, but I, that said, I never actually really eat them. Okay. So yeah. [laughs] I don't know. Fair enough. Uh, if you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
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Oh, I've, um... Something that involves me getting more done in a given day, so something like teleportation or super speed or something. That would be nice. There isn't enough time in the, uh- No... in the day.
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I j- it would be a purely practical... I would just want a, a superpower that just integrates into the life that I have and just makes it a little more effective or, [laughs] or easier. Gets me more sleep. Yes.
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Something like that. [laughs] Yes, that would be nice. Uh, harvest notes, are they digital or handwritten? Uh, almost entirely handwritten. Okay. Yeah. I'm, uh, I'm, uh, not, uh- Okay...
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I just, just, my, my note-taking just piece sheets of paper and pads of paper and no- notebooks everywhere. Right. Right, right down there. So like that, it's just really c- that was, yeah, exactly.
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That's, that was only, uh, 30 years ago, so or whatever, so nothing's changed. That's awesome. [laughs] Uh, the last book you read. It could also be audiobook or, like, a podcast or something of that nature.
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Uh, the last book I, well, I r- I reread. It's an audiobook, but I reread it, was, um, I read almost entirely nonfiction and not in any- Yeah...
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not for any reason other than that just what engages me, was called The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Okay. I just re-listened to it. It's a geopolitical, you know, nonfiction thing. There you go.
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It's kinda gets me excited, but, um, yeah. Yeah. No, very cool. [laughs] All right. So you do wanna talk a little bit- Yeah... about the wine before I reveal it? Yeah. It's got a really nice kinda mixed berry tone.
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It's like a, there's a lot of, there's a lot of, um, kind of fruit complexity. I think it's very cane berry focused, you know, ra- raspberry and through kind of blackberry tones.
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YepWith that little hint of, like, blueberry, which is an elude- I- blueberry's one of the more elusive flavors in pinot noir, I think. It's not always, there's a lot of the red fruit or black fruit ones. Mm-hmm.
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When they can get that hint of that blue tone, I really always find that charming. [slurping] It's tight. It's a young wine. I like the structure a lot, but it's definitely not a shrinking violet.
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It's a, it's a m- it's a, it's got some brawn to it. I, I quite- Yeah... like it. Yeah. Um, so I had the '23 version of this earlier this week, and I was like, "Wow." Is this the '23? No, this is the '22.
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[laughs] Oh, God. All right. Okay. Well, so I, so yeah, I made that. Uh, the '22, yep. Yep. And, you know, and normally I have a rule that I don't bring a wine that, uh, you've made,
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but I just, I couldn't pass this one up. I, I think it's gr- I, I, I think that's cool. [laughs] And actually, I'm glad, I like that you brought that 'cause it, it was, it has been one of...
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This has been an extremely fun thing to work on with. So we didn't make a '23 of that. Um, I think they may have, but we didn't. Yeah. Right.
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And starting in '24 now, we make all of their wines, red and white and sparkling, everything else. But yeah, when I met them and we pulled up the map of the, you know, the vineyard map and the whatever, and I saw the,
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you know, the block, and I think you said, you said UCD10 was the clone. And I went- Right... "UCD10." What is that? I was like, "What is that?"
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And I mean, like, not, there aren't that many pinot clones that have, like, a UCD number. They, they often have, seem to have other, other numbers or names attached to them. So like, what is that?
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And then they go, "It's this Baba clone." And I went, "What?" I was like, I'd heard... And then I thought I've heard, like, a mention or two here or there, but it was basically just,
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it's like a, a thing somebody heard about or a vineyard that had something. Right. Like, uh, does it even still exist? I don't know. And- Yeah... they have, and yeah, so it's, it's,
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uh, it sound- sounds like they, they, there's a story that it's a Spanish pinot clone, but the odds are, are almost certain that it's not, that it was just part...
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I think it was Harold Olmo who was the one gathering the cuttings on that particular, uh, trip to Europe, that it's probably just a mixed up tag thing, 'cause Baba's a variety. Yeah. Um,
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and how many pinot sam- how many pinot cuttings are you really gonna find in Spain? I mean, there's not- [laughs] Not a ton, no. No, it, it was cool.
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And I, I, when I started asking around, trying to find out where this clone was planted- Right... and I didn't find much. No.
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Woodhall, the, the, you know, the, uh, Oregon State University's student pilot vineyard thing has some. Um, Ernie Pink at Emily Robert has some of this Baba or UCD10.
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So I ended up talking to Ernie about it, and then found a few places in California that's part of some field blends, but not a lot of info out there. Well, yeah. And so when, uh, Aaron at, uh, Walnut Ridge- Mm-hmm...
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told me about this, uh, what, what he said was, you know, you, you saw this and you were like, "I, I, I, I gotta, I gotta make this wine." I have to. Yeah. "I have to." Yeah.
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And i- immediately when he told me that, I'm like, oh, mental note. Yeah. Check. I just, I was like, I just have to. I just, I, I, I don't know what it's gonna do. Right.
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Um, but what I learned from the couple people I talked to most, the m- the most I learned was, was, was from, from Ernie at Emily Robert on that, was that it was very Dijon clone-like.
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That it was kind of on the earlier side of ripening, and it tended towards kind of, uh, darker fruit tones and, you know- Right... things like that. And I just thought, that, that sounds amazing. Yeah.
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Yeah, and- And he said, I think he said if, if I had to compare, Ernie said if I compare it to one clone in particular, it might be closer to 667 than anything else, I think is what he said.
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And I love 667, and I was like- [laughs] Yeah. Yeah... it's really cool. I, uh- Yeah... it's, it... Yeah, it was r- it's, it was a, a ne- a neat opportunity. Yeah. Yeah.
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And so, and the '24 is in barrel now, and it's stunning. '22 was, you know, they got frosted pretty, pretty decently down there, um, in '22. That part of the valley- Right... got nipped.
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Um, and so it was, you know, it was uneven growth, and it was, you know, they had some challenges.
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We're very happy how the wine turned out, but sky's the limit, 'cause that was, was a, if anything did well in '22, that's a good sign for the future. Yeah. So. Yeah. Most definitely. So. That's cool. Yeah.
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No, uh, you know, small apologies for bringing a wine that you made. No, it's cool. But, uh- I'm glad I didn't, uh, trash it or anything. [laughs] No. No, it's, I, it's interesting how structural it still is as a '22.
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I got- I, I haven't retasted it. I mean, maybe since... I don't know if we've tasted it since we bottled it. Maybe once or twice, tops. Right. And, uh, like, this thing's, it's, it's structural. Oh, yeah.
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Very, very much so. Very much. And, you know, I gotta say, I, I like what, what they're doing out there. They're doing- It's, it's a cool project. It is a very cool project. Yeah.
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The, the, yeah, with the several, we have a few of those South Valley relationships just that are really trying to help elevate some folks who have all the, they've got all the raw materials for it.
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They've got the property, they've got the zeal and the passion for projects.
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So I don't know if, uh, the, the folks from 514 Vineyards, um, Tel Mare, um, if you know that brand, but they're down in that same neck of the woods. Yeah. And they have a new vineyard coming online.
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And they're, we've been working with them for about a decade, and, uh, since they started their label. And it, it's really nice to, to kind of help raise the, raise the bar- Mm-hmm... um,
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uh, down there for folks that really wanna do it. So yeah. Yeah. This project's been, been fun. Yeah. No, that's cool. Yeah. And, you know, you do an amazing job out there.
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What, you're like 17, 18 different projects now? Yeah, I think it, we, uh, the ones we make wine for in-house, I think it's like 14 or something- Okay...
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in our facility about a mile away from here, plus Jess's label and my label. Mm-hmm.
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Um, and then on consulting relationships where we're working out of other facilities, we've got, um, three, three or four other- Yeah... other projects all around. Yeah.
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I put a lot of miles on the, on the Subaru out there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're gonna find some sun here very shortly. Oh, yeah. In about a week. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, that's awesome.
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Well, that's all the questions that I have. Awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time today. Oh, it's my pleasure. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks.
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[upbeat music] Thank you for joining me on this flavorful voyage through the world of wine on the Wine Notes podcast. I've been your host and guide, A.J.
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Weinzettel, and it's been an absolute pleasure sharing these captivating stories with you. But alas, like the last sip of a fine vintage, our time together must end.
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But don't fret, my wine-loving friend, the cellar doors of the Wine Notes podcast will always remain open, waiting for you to return and explore new conversations, stories, and musings from the captivating people behind the magical world of wine.
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Before you go, hit that subscribe button on YouTube, Apple Podcast, and Spotify, and don't forget to leave a sparkling five-star review to help spread the word.
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Until our glasses clink again, remember to savor life's moments, and let the spirit of wine and camaraderie linger on your palate.
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Cheers, and as always, may your wine glass be full, your heart be light, and your journey be delightful. Thank you again.