Imagine-

A Winter's day playing with Spring's notes like our two dogs wrestling below in the yard. A still-crisp warmth flows through opened windows and rooms weary of their chill. The doors of the barrel room are opened and beckon. The big doors are open in the tank room gulping in the sun's rays; illuminating the furthest shaded corners. It's a drying trend also; the dampness has left the air. Its touch is cool yet warm, dry and crisp, and smells refreshingly of Spring.

At the winery's front entrance the crocus rise to the challenge. Are they too early? Or is it really warm enough to nurture their tender and verdant needs? I say it is the latter and they are right on time. I trust the rising green crocus more than the burrowing prickly groundhog.

My office window is open. It is almost 6pm on Thursday. Yesterday. The beautiful day. Warm as today, but not with rain so we could be out in it. Today we unloaded fourteen hundred cases of empty bottles -"the glass" which will be used next week to make capsuled, labeled, and finished bottles of wine. The first of the 2008 season! In about two weeks we'll be ready to release an extraordinary wine made from the Traminette grape. Clear, white, tender, and redolent with tea rose and jasmine. We love it. You're going to love it. Sharon & Rick's style of wine begins to truly emerge! Last week Rick had me try a beautifully constructed 2008 Cab Franc. Light and Burgundian; perfectly balanced and incredible to drink. Ironically, the 2007 Cab Franc, with its intensely lush berries and pepper had been my favorite wine until that sip. Two wines from the same grapes yet so completely different and extraordinarily crafted. Ah...terroir! We have fallen in love with terroir! And after all of the wonderful help we have received from this amazing winemaking community, Sharon and Rick are finding their own voice.

My window is still open and the sun has set behind Little Cobbler Mountain; first teasing footprint of the rolling Piedmont behind. How the seasons roll from the sweeping vistas of our patio. In the depths of winter -only two months ago(?) - the sun sets much further southward on the ridge: down behind Big Cobbler and much closer to Marshall from our perspective. In the height of summer the sun is due West and behind the highest point of the Piedmont, up where the Appalachia Trail crosses, where the radio and television towers rise. On this lovely evening the sun is almost half-way returned from the South and well on its journey Northward. The suitcase is well past packed and the travels are long underway. Our sun warms and makes its majestic journey northward, carrying the Spring on its back and joy in its path. My office Window is still open and it's 7pm on February 26th.