Wednesday July 26, 2006

Hello!

This is my first blog entry ever, so forgive me if it is a bit odd.

I came up to Lompoc about noon on Tuesday; the trip was totally uneventful. After I had lunch with the winemaker, assistant winemaker, vineyard owner, and a couple of other vineyard owner/managers I came back to the estate and unpacked my things. I'm living in a "single-wide" mobile home which is outfitted quite nicely. I have internet, satellite TV, hot water, a full kitchen... basically everything I need. And lots of beer and wine. There are many dogs, lots of lizards (wild ones), and three young sheep to keep me company. I walked the entire vineyard row by row and I think I know my way around now. There is a beautiful pond full of largemouth bass - I'm told that the bass are up to 3 pounds, and are very active feeders.

I worked for 4 hours this morning (Wednesday) in the vineyard doing "hedging" - trimming the vines to stunt their growth. It was quite a bit of fun hanging out with the vineyard crew. I'll probably be able to speak Spanish in a few weeks if I keep this up!

After that we went to the winery and took the full tour, and then barrel tasted the '05s. There are a lot of other winemakers in this space, and they all were eager to share many many many other wines. After what seemed like 75 tastings we came back to the estate (I did not drive...).

The weather has been great: nice and warm in the afternoon (80?) and cool at night (60?), with awesome morning fog. I really like it here. The place is beautiful and the people are wonderful. So far, so good...

Cheers