These last weeks have passed in a blur – funny how that always seems to happen this time of year! As we get ready to go into shut-down mode for the holidays, and enjoy a couple of nice, relaxed weeks with family and friends, I’d like to take a minute to look back over the year and give thanks for all of our good fortune.

First of all to my wife and children – who support me unswervingly with love and patience, put up with my travel schedule and all the working weekends – thank-you, I am truly blessed to have you in my life. On this day of the winter solstice I must also thank our great friends and partners Cameron Healy and Suzy Snow – none of this would be happening without you, and we love you dearly.

It all moves so fast that I often forget that it was just 9 years ago I was crazy enough to think that we could make wine somebody would like enough to actually buy. And only 7 years ago that I convinced my wife Martha, with 4 month-old Pirrie on her hip, to move to Oregon to follow my dream of making true cool-climate Pinot Noir. Somehow or other we managed to build a new winery, start a major Burgundy import company, manage Domaine Drouhin for a few years, and build alittle brand that has come to have unbelieveable support from you – our customers. Huge gratefulness goes to you who buy our wines, year-in, year-out, and help spread the word about our elegant little Pinots.

We’ve been so fortunate in bringing in an amazing team of professionals to join us on our journey, and I am proud to thank Kelley Fox, Kelly Karr, and Emily Freiler for their immense contributions to our success. And I’m happy to announce that Emily will be taking on the full-time position of Tasting Room Manager beginning in April.

Oh yeah – and we’ll be planting our first estate vineyard in the spring – a spectacular 10-acre piece on a Jory soil high on a south slope of Chehalem Mountain. Details soon!

Again, many thanks for all of your support. At the end of the day, it’s all about putting good wine in the glass that will be enjoyed with good food and good friends – and if we can continue to do that, life is good.

My best wishes for a joyous holiday season – see you here (and at the winery) in the new year!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 9:44 pm and is filed under Scott's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.