There is a story behind BOW's New Patio

If you've been to BOW in the past few weeks you've probably noticed a large ring of rock and boulders off the end of the outdoor patio. This area is our new patio. Once the ring of rock is in place we'll grade the inside and pour concrete. This will more than double the area we have for patio seating. Perhaps more importantly, we'll also put in a large outdoor tasting area where guests can taste and purchase our wine under cover of a large tent. Just off the edge of the patio will be the newest vineyard featuring Chardonnay and the noble Viognier grape. Around much of the perimeter of the patio will be an outward facing curved table where you can sit and drink in the beauty of our sweeping and historic vistas. We are really excited about this project because it will prevent crowding in the tasting room and provide our guests and friends with a lovely way to experience BOW wines in the outdoors.

But to us the new patio also represents many other things. Change, growth, opportunity, challenge, success, staffing, and logistics come to mind.

We have had an amazing first season. Where we had expected a significant winter drop off in business there really hasn't been one. In fact last Saturday was our second busiest day since opening. WOW! BOW WOW! That's great because it means our customers really appreciate what we are doing and it really helps to pay the bills. (You can see a video of all the fun at our BOW Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14661977550. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video of all the folks, kids and dogs enjoying our wine, their picnics, and having fun dancing!) All this fun also means that we are not getting the break we expected allowing us to regroup and organize for the business headed our way this Spring. That said we are in fact spending a great deal of time planning for a very busy season! Every Monday we spend several hours meeting and training with staff and Thursdays the managers all sit down for several hours to plan for current and upcoming needs. It's really exciting to plan for the future! Let me share with you a few of our thoughts.

We foresee a significant increase in business. This is due to several developments: continued growth in business brought in by our regular customers (thank you!), word of mouth (thank you, thank you!), and lastly the traffic we will be getting once the new vineyard is planted around the winery and becomes visible from the interstate. To handle this increase we are more than doubling our serving and sales capacity with three permanent tasting areas rather than just the one and with the addition of three more sales locations. We don't want our customers waiting in lines and this plan addresses that goal. The result: when you come in on a busy Saturday you'll be greeted at the door and guided to the best possible place to be served by one of our friendly and well trained service staff. Sharon and Rick have also made quite a bit more wonderful wine for your tasting and enjoyment. The quality is excellent and the heart that has gone into each bottle shines for all to see. We will add over 100 additional seats for guests. While we will still do regular tours, we will soon have signs downstairs that tell you about the production process when you take a self-guided tour of the winery. More importantly, we will more than double our staff with added emphasis on service in front of the tasting bar as well as behind. We'll have additional managers to keep an eye on the quality of our service to our customers and to address potential issues before they ever pop up.

Our ultimate goal is to maintain the quality, comfort, professionalism, and intimacy of our tasting experience for our customers so that you continue to want to visit and to be a part of this amazing journey that Sharon and I, our partners and staff and regulars, and of course the dogs, have been on.

Even though these improvements will take the next few months, we are working on them now. By anticipating what is coming, we want to maximize the continued quality of your experience before it is impacted by our success. I have shared with staff that it is possible to be too successful. It is possible to have unlimited visitors but lose most of them to never return. That would be a shame and it has no place in our vision for BOW.

Making great wine and the satisfaction of your visit is our ultimate goal. Everything else that we do serves this one aspiration. When next you are in, please share with us any suggestions that you have for BOW as we continue to grow and enhance the quality of your every visit.

Cheers!