FAMILY | 2023 GRENACHE - SYRAH - MOURVEDRE

“Let our branches reach in all directions.
Let our root remain as one.”
— The Saarloos Family

I understand the assignment.

The branches must grow.

I just didn’t understand how much it would hurt to watch them reach.

You spend years raising your children to become people who can go out into the world. You teach them to work. To introduce themselves. To shake a hand, keep their word, and walk into a room without needing you to walk in first. You want them to find something worth doing and have the courage to go do it.

Then they do.

And you find yourself leaving Texas, going home with a piece of your heart staying behind.

Proud of the life they’re building. Grateful they’re capable of building it. Already wishing you had another day together.

I understand the assignment.

I’m allowed to miss them while I do it.

For years, our family was held together by the ordinary things happening under one roof. Who needed a ride. Who was hungry. What time practice ended. Boots by the door. Homework on the counter. Everyone talking at once while Heather and I tried to figure out tomorrow.

You’re tired. You’re busy. You think you’ll appreciate it more when things slow down.

Then the calendar changes.

Now you plan flights. You work around their schedules. You hear about parts of their lives you weren’t there to witness. They introduce you to people who know them as themselves, before they know them as your child.

And you realize you’re watching something you worked your whole life to make possible.

Their own life.

The quote on this bottle has been ours for years. This year, I understand it differently.

“Let our branches reach in all directions.”

That means I have to mean it when the direction takes them farther from me. I have to be proud when they choose something I wouldn’t have thought of. I have to give them room to discover who they are without making them responsible for how much I miss who they were at five.

But our root must remain as one.

They need to know where they come from. The names of the people who made their lives possible. Why we show up for each other. Why a promise matters. Why there will always be someone at home who wants to hear the whole story.

They can build a life somewhere else and still have a place here.

That is why we make FAMILY.

We grow Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre in our vineyards, then bring them together in one bottle. Each contributes something the others cannot. Making the blend takes attention, patience, and the willingness to let each part have its place.

Every year, the wine changes.

So does the family making it.

This year, I’m learning to stand a little farther back. To watch my children carry what we taught them into places I cannot go for them. To trust the roots we spent all those years tending.

And to appreciate every chance we get to sit around the same table.

Open this with your people. Ask what’s happening in their lives. Listen long enough to get past “everything’s good.” Tell them you’re proud of them while they’re there to hear it.

The branches must grow.

I understand the assignment.

And wherever they reach, we will keep tending the root.

FAMILY.
The root and the reason.

— Keith Saarloos