Do you know how at the end of certain days you just seem to feel really good. It may not be anyone thing that makes you feel that way, but rather a series of events during the day that contributed. Yesterday was one of those for me.
It was Saturday and it was my turn to open up the doors at the winery. I got there at the normal time to open up for our 11am opening. Did a quick walk through of the processing building to make sure all the wines were playing nicely with each other. Checked all the systems to verify we were a go. Walked into the hi-tunnel to check the temperatures. ( As a quick aside, we are growing a variety of cold climate grapes in a hi-tunnel as part of a USDA study). It was shortly before opening and my two sons arrived.
Kevin is the marketing guy and he had planned a special day for members of the Chamber of Commerce. The members had been notified about the day only a couple of days before, so we really had no concept of what to expect. But, we were ready!
Almost before the doors were open our first guest arrived. They were not from the Chamber, but were a couple from Oneonta, NY, visiting their daughters friend at Paul Smiths College. What a nice couple and what a great way to start the day wine tasting.
The afternoon seemed to fly by. I met quite a few members of the Plattsburgh Chamber of Commerce. I was genuinely impressed at how nice, friendly and interested the people were. The overall consensus seemed that of surprise and glee that there really was an operating winery in Plattsburgh, NY(yes Virginia, you can grow grapes in the Northcountry). Everyone, I believed had a great time at the winery that day.
It was not, as you might think, just from their slightly altered perception from wine tasting. The tours of the processing building and wine making area added. Seans dipping into various tanks and barrels to dole out still fermenting samples added. Kevins fun insights on tasting wines added. The sun shining on a beautiful sunny spring day added. And, I believe that the good energy from the new friends I met that day summed up all the additions into a ball of feel good.
Drink wine daily, laugh often, love much and live long.
The Headelf