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LIKE FATHER - LIKE SON
Two little mitts.
Two legendary grapes.
One family name.
LITTLE MITTS
(the Story)
Most people think this wine is named after little hands.
It isn't.
It's named after a moment.
On the label is my son, Cash Saarloos.
The same Cash you'll find on our Mayhem Grenache Noir.
Back then he was just a little boy.
Every harvest I'd carry a Sharpie in my pocket. On my work gloves I'd write SAARLOOS across the knuckles so everyone knew whose gloves were whose.
One afternoon I came home after a long day in the vineyard.
The front door flew open.
"DADDY!"
Cash came charging at me and wrapped himself around my legs.
As I bent down to hug him, my gloves slipped out of my back pocket.
So did my Sharpie.
We sat right there on the floor.
I picked up the marker, took his tiny fists, and wrote the same name that was on my gloves...
S A A R L O O S
...one letter across each little knuckle.
Our name.
His grandfather's name.
His father's name.
And now...
His.
SOME NAMES ART INHERITED
OTHERS HAVE TO BE LIVED UP TO.
e was so little he couldn't even see over the kitchen counter.
He stretched those little ape arms up as high as they would go.
I grabbed my camera.
Click.
That's the photograph on this label.
The funny thing is...
At the time I thought I was taking a picture of my little boy.
Now I realize I was taking a picture of the next generation.
Those same hands would eventually drive tractors.
WORK HARD
Shake hands.
Carry on a family name.
Today he's seventeen.
One day he'll be thirty.
Forty.
Maybe older than I am now.
But every time my phone rings...
I'll still see those little hands.
Those little mitts.
Funny how life works.
The gloves I wore to farm the Grenache and Syrah we ever planted...
fit the little boy whose hands are on this bottle.
Maybe that's what every parent hopes for.
Not that our children become us...
But that they take what we've built...
Put their own hands to it...
And make it better.
Every time I pull a cork on Little Mitts...
I'm reminded that vineyards aren't the only things that grow.
Children do too.
We hope one day someone opens this bottle with the people they love.
Maybe your kids are still little.
Maybe they're grown.
Maybe they're bringing your grandkids through the front door now.
However life has unfolded...
Here's to the little mitts that changed yours.
Leave them a name worth carrying...
And a pair of mitts they know how to use.
The rest... they earn for themselves.
LITTLE MITTS
(the Wine)
The two grapes that started it all.
The two fists that built our family.
A wine named after the little hands that remind us why we did it in the first place.
Long before there was Saarloos & Sons Wine...
We were farming these two grapes.
Grenache.
Syrah.
If the label tells the story of Little Mitts...
The wine tells the story of ours.
When we planted our very first vineyard, we didn't know exactly where the journey would lead.
But we knew these two grapes belonged here.
Grenache.
Syrah.
The first two varieties we ever planted as a family.
The first two varieties we ever believed in.
The first two varieties that believed in us.
They're the one-two punch of Saarloos & Sons.
Grenache throws the first jab.
It Smiles at You.
Bright.
Energetic.
Beautiful.
Full of life.
It sets you up...
Puts you on your heels...
Makes you think you know where this is going.
Then Syrah, Comes over the top.
and Gives 'em the business.
No dancing.
No talking.
Just business.
Power.
Structure.
Depth.
The haymaker.
The FINISH you remember.
One brings elegance.
The other brings authority.
One makes you smile.
The other makes you stop and pay attention.
Together...
They've carried our family for decades.
Around here we have a saying...
Fight with both hands.
Don't go halfway.
Don't hold something back.
If you're going to love...
Love with both hands.
If you're going to farm...
Farm with both hands.
If you're going to raise a family...
Raise them with both hands.
If you're going to build something worth leaving behind...
Give 'em the business.
Both barrels.
Every day.
That's why Little Mitts could only ever be one wine.
60% Grenache Noir.
40% Syrah.
But it's one hundred percent everything this family believes about showing up.
Because one day...
The little hands become big hands.
That's all any family can hope for.
Leave them a name worth carrying...
And a pair of mitts they know how to use.
The rest... they earn for themselves.