Starting a new winery from scratch is a total trip - both in terms of miles on the road and anxiety filled sleepless nights. Thank the Lord above that we know how this business works and are so proud of our first year and confident in our ability to achieve future success. Almost every sip of our 2014 wines are nearing sold-out status, fantastic news to report since we released our first wines only 12 months ago (picture us jumping for joy here!). Oh and the new press from Galloni - yes, we did shed some tears when reading his fantastic reviews about our new wines. Yes, there are a few cases of our 2014 Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc still available in the Wineshop.
The ups, the downs, the sideways roll of the eyes...it's all a wonderful world of emotion as we go into our second year of wine releases. Over the last 30 days, we prepped and bottled around 800 cases of California wine, had our hearts ripped out by a vendor with new unreal "rates and policies" they are charging us - a significant financial blow for our small winery, visited North Carolina to kick-off our wines in 5 cities in 5 days, worked our guts out on many things we can not type here, spoke at a Fort Worth Texas Food and Wine Festival event at the Bass Hall (this was so very cool), released our Spring 2016 Wine allocations, hand packed and shipped over 100 online orders and led over half a dozen account driven consumer tastings along the way...where we had the great pleasure of meeting a few hundred of you!!
By far, the best part of the journey is hearing from our fans and followers, owners of wine shops and restaurants, our Storyteller Members, sommeliers, sales staffs, servers and mailing list members...you are everything that makes our world go round! Meeting you in person and seeing the joy and hearing about the memories that our wine has brought to your lives. This is huge for us!
Right now, on a scale of 1-10, we're feeling about a 7, maybe a 6. Why not a 10? Because it's scary as hell to bet the farm, sell everything you've ever owned of worth, borrowed money for the first time and counted on numerous others to do their jobs who are suppose to have your best interest in mind. A handful of "partners" have really let us down in our first year of business. Do we take it personally? Well yes - Smith Story Wine Cellars is everything to us, clearly communicated from the very beginning that the winery is our baby, our parent's "Grandchild", and our present life and future legacy for our nephews and Godchildren to carry on. Ali takes it the hardest when others disappoint, she's on the front lines. Eric, well he's the rock to Ali's dented heart and mind every time.
Blood, sweat, tears and loads of happy moments, it's been a grand first year of business and one epic journey lies before us. Thank you for believing in our dream, our wines and our vision. You've asked us many times how you can be of help...well keep it up, buy our wines, spread our story to your friends, follow us online, call us when you have questions, invite us into your homes...all these beautiful things you've done for us as we are getting off the ground. We are overwhelmed by your generosity, your kindness has truly filled our hearts and put gas in the hustle tank.
Now off to prep for a day of meetings and a radio show tomorrow afternoon to talk about Our Story...
The wine business never stops, and we love every single minute of it!
This is Our Story,
- Eric and Ali
The ups, the downs, the sideways roll of the eyes...it's all a wonderful world of emotion as we go into our second year of wine releases. Over the last 30 days, we prepped and bottled around 800 cases of California wine, had our hearts ripped out by a vendor with new unreal "rates and policies" they are charging us - a significant financial blow for our small winery, visited North Carolina to kick-off our wines in 5 cities in 5 days, worked our guts out on many things we can not type here, spoke at a Fort Worth Texas Food and Wine Festival event at the Bass Hall (this was so very cool), released our Spring 2016 Wine allocations, hand packed and shipped over 100 online orders and led over half a dozen account driven consumer tastings along the way...where we had the great pleasure of meeting a few hundred of you!!
By far, the best part of the journey is hearing from our fans and followers, owners of wine shops and restaurants, our Storyteller Members, sommeliers, sales staffs, servers and mailing list members...you are everything that makes our world go round! Meeting you in person and seeing the joy and hearing about the memories that our wine has brought to your lives. This is huge for us!
Right now, on a scale of 1-10, we're feeling about a 7, maybe a 6. Why not a 10? Because it's scary as hell to bet the farm, sell everything you've ever owned of worth, borrowed money for the first time and counted on numerous others to do their jobs who are suppose to have your best interest in mind. A handful of "partners" have really let us down in our first year of business. Do we take it personally? Well yes - Smith Story Wine Cellars is everything to us, clearly communicated from the very beginning that the winery is our baby, our parent's "Grandchild", and our present life and future legacy for our nephews and Godchildren to carry on. Ali takes it the hardest when others disappoint, she's on the front lines. Eric, well he's the rock to Ali's dented heart and mind every time.
Blood, sweat, tears and loads of happy moments, it's been a grand first year of business and one epic journey lies before us. Thank you for believing in our dream, our wines and our vision. You've asked us many times how you can be of help...well keep it up, buy our wines, spread our story to your friends, follow us online, call us when you have questions, invite us into your homes...all these beautiful things you've done for us as we are getting off the ground. We are overwhelmed by your generosity, your kindness has truly filled our hearts and put gas in the hustle tank.
Now off to prep for a day of meetings and a radio show tomorrow afternoon to talk about Our Story...
The wine business never stops, and we love every single minute of it!
This is Our Story,
- Eric and Ali