What a week! Bottling week! Panic week! A week of Expo! A week of wins!

Let's reverse order the review. BOW won gold for the '07 Cab Franc in the Governor's Cup. Here's how one of the judges described our efforts: "This great vintage really was the best ever for this classic Virginia red grape, and so it was a tough competition to name the best in the field (there were three gold medal cabernet francs, one of which was from ’06). This winery is another industry newcomer, making an impressive start with a juicy, rich, fruit-driven wine where the oak is in the background and the finish is fresh and clean."

http://www.richardleahy.com/blog/2009/02/16/va-governors-cup-medal-winners-tasting-notes-and-commentary/

Richard's happy, we're happy, and we know you'll be happy when you get a taste of this wine. Sharon and I want to personally thank Rob, Chris, and DJ at the Winery at LaGrange and Pearmund Cellars for their help and support making this and all of the lovely '07 vintages. The Governor's Cup also gave us two Silvers and a Bronze. You can taste these wines before their release on Sunday, March 29th from 4-6pm. Drop me a line and I'll send you the details! brian@barreloak.com.

So the Wine Expo was fun. Kristin, Rick, Sharon and I all travelled to Richmond Friday to meet and greet our peers during the industry event at the convention center. We saw many friends promoting their wines and wineries and we made several new acquaintances. The Expo is an interesting event by several measures. The logistics and expenses to be there are steep. We think it is at best a break even proposition for many and may be a money loser for most. So why were there 40-odd wineries there? In the dead of winter it affords many wineries a place to boost sales and raise their public profile. What strikes us is that we are already so busy at BOW. Sending a team down would undermine our service to our existing customers and probably not generate much in the way of substantial sales or traffic. For us the verdict on expos and festivals is still out. We are leaning towards smaller local venues in the spring and fall in order to share our wines with the members of local communities. Any of your thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. The highlight of the trip for me was sitting and catching up with our good friend Stephen Bernard of Keswick Vineyards as I sipped on a bottle of his Governor's Cup (best in show) winning '07 Cabernet Sauvignon. Good job buddy! What a lovely and balanced wine!

Sharon and Rick made some wine of their own this week. On Wednesday, after panic about our labels and capsules showing up at the very last minute, the bottling truck backed into the crush pad and the work began. I was so proud of Sharon. She had marshaled a team of friends, staff and volunteers to bottle nearly a thousand cases of wine on a 25 degree cold morning. There were refreshments throughout the day and enough help to share in the heavy lifting. Each case of wine was properly labeled and stacked upside down with dates and proper identification on each pallet. This was our first complete start-to-finish production run at BOW. It was a significant and memorable day! Working closely with Rick, Sharon took a huge step on Wednesday and we are all so grateful for their hard work and dedication to BOW and making great wines.

This is living the dream my friends. And it is a lot of work! It is also a huge amount of volunteer help from a very large group of wonderful people like Tammy and Rosemary, Terri and Jim and Steven and Roxanne and Tom. Our wonderful staff are also up to their hearts in this effort. It is...so...much...fun! It brings smiles and tears sometimes. This dream is everything that we hoped for and days like Wednesday remind us of how lucky and grateful we are!