I couldn't believe my eyes this morning. I woke up to a very impressive 22 inches. Kris and I couldn't help but stare at it. I didn't want to leave my house. I just wanted to admire my 22 inches. Kris was so excited about getting 22 inches that she went and got her camera. Below are pictures of the 22 inches.
Joe from El Mirador Winery in Walla Walla and his wife came to stay with us Thursday. Saturday around 11:00 they headed back to Hell. . . .I mean. . . Walla Walla. (By the way, if you see an '05 El Mirador Cabernet Sauvignon at your local wine retailer, buy it.) The snow was just beginning to fall. By 12:00 there was an inch. By 7:00 there was 15 inches. When it was about six inches deep I decided that I'd better get on the tractor and plow the driveway. I went from relaxing on the couch, enjoying a work free day, to wishing Wind River Cellars would burn to the ground. Going outside and climbing on the tractor to plow is usually a pretty simple task. Turn the key and go. On this particular day I went out to turn the key and nothing happened. Diesel tractors hate cold and I had to jump start it. No problem. I'll just jump it with the fork lift. Turn the key on the forklift. Nothing. So now I have to jump start the forklift so that I can jump start the tractor. Kris took the boys snowboarding so I can't use the big SUV for jump starting. I have to use the old vineyard pick-up. Guess what? It hasn't been started since before Mexico so naturally it was dead. The good news was that the pick-up was parked on an incline. I once went a whole semester of college with a dead battery. I parked everyday on a hill so that I could compression start my car. Getting the pick-up started should be a piece of cake, and it was. I just pointed it down the driveway and popped the clutch. Fired right up. Then I got stuck in the snow. Wish I had a tractor that ran so that I could clear the driveway so that I could get my pick-up up to jump start the forklift so that I could jump start the tractor so that I could clear the drive way. I did finally get the pick-up unstuck and went through the whole progression.
While clearing the driveway, the tractor ran out of diesel. I've heard that a jet engine is one of the loudest things there is. I've read that The Who is the loudest band to ever play. I'm amazed how loud the trains are when they roll thru Bingen. Nothing could compare to how loud the profanities coming from my mouth were when the tractor ran out of diesel. I could have made a logger blush. As you can see from the photo below, I eventually got the driveway plowed.
Our new '06 Cab Franc has become our top selling wine since we began pouring it in the tasting room. It's available now and we have a lot of it but I do expect it to sell fast. We also have 4 other new wines that you can taste when you come up to admire my 22 inches.
What's the most logical thing a person could do when there's nearly two feet of snow on the ground? That's right, drive to barrel member, Matt's house in Husum to hang out with a few buddies. Matt, thank you for a fun evening last night. I look forward to returning the hospitality at the Wind River Cellars Barrel dinner in April.
Don't forget about the chili cook-off next weekend and the official release of 5 new vintages on Presidents Day weekend.
Sorry if my profanity offended you, Husum!
Joel
