TENACITY

AUDACITY. TENACITY. VICTORY.

2022 Estate Syrah | Windmill Ranch | Ballard Canyon AVA
Let’s get something straight before we start.

Wine is not just wine. It is time in a bottle. A message from the past, waiting for the right moment to be opened.A reminder of who you were, where you were, and what you felt when you made it. It’s a memory you can pour into a glass.

And these three wines? They are as much my Father’s story as they are mine. They come from the same land. The same dirt. Planted, pruned, picked, and crushed by the same hands. By every scientific standard, they should be identical. But they’re not. Because wine, like people, is shaped by where it grows. And these wines? These are my Father. Myself. My Brother. They are as different as the men who raised each other. That’s what terroir means in wine. In our family, we just call it personalities. Three wines. Three men. Three words.

• Audacity – My Father, Larry Saarloos.

• Tenacity – Myself, Keith Saarloos.

• Victory – My Brother, Kirk Saarloos.
  

This is not just about wine. This is about who we are. And what it takes to build something that lasts.
So sit back. Pour a glass. And let me tell you a story.

AUDACITY – 2022 Estate Syrah
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Fat Man Terrace | Windmill Ranch | Ballard Canyon AVA

There’s a photo on this bottle.

I took it myself.

My Father, riding high in the saddle, looking over the land like a king surveying his kingdom.

And in a way, he was.

When I think of my Father, I think of one word.

Audacity.

Because audacity is the fire in your gut that makes you stand up and say,

"I am going to do something impossible."

And then actually do it.

Twenty-five years ago, at the exact age I am right now, my Father woke up one day and said, I want to be a farmer.

That was it.

No plan. No experience. No roadmap.

Just an idea and the audacity to chase it.

So what did he do?

He went out and bought a hunk of shit piece of land covered in 14,000 Fuji apple trees.

And he farmed it.

He fought for it.

He bet everything on it.

And then?

It all fell apart.

He harvested his apples. Packed them up. Hauled them to market. Thought he had it made.

And they rejected him.

Just like that, his entire dream collapsed.

Now, most men? They quit right there.

They pack it in. They go back to what’s safe.

But here’s the crazy part.

He didn’t.

And here’s what’s even crazier.

Neither did my Mother.

She didn’t tell him to quit. Didn’t let him drown in his own failure. Didn’t say I told you so.

She looked at him, looked at this land, and said,

"Rip them out. Plant grapes."

The audacity of that.

To fail spectacularly and instead of retreating, double down.

And that’s exactly what they did.

That is where this all began.

That’s why we are here.

That’s why this wine exists.

And that’s why his face is on this bottle.

Because the world belongs to the ones crazy enough to try.

The ones who put their foot to the floor when others hit the brakes.

The ones who, when the world tells them this is impossible, say:

"Watch me."

Without men like that, we never would have walked on the moon.

TENACITY – 2022 Estate Syrah
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High Hill | Windmill Ranch | Ballard Canyon AVA

Now, if my Father had Audacity, what I have is Tenacity.

If I have one thing, just one, that sets me apart—

It’s that I do not quit.

Not because I’m the best.

Not because I’m the smartest.

Because I am too dumb to quit.

I will work something into the ground.

Not out of genius.

Not out of strategy.

Out of sheer brute force.

That is what I do.

That is how I solve problems.

Brute-force the problem.

Try and try and try until I win… or I die.

And I am not a smart man.

Or, as we in the Saarloos family say:

"We’re too dumb to quit."

Nobody is coming to save us.

We are alone in this vast ocean.

And I am the captain of this pirate ship.

And the entire crew?

They are looking at me to get them home.

So I don’t quit.

Because I can’t.

That’s why my face is on the bottle of Tenacity.

Because you do not win by being the fastest.

Or the strongest.

Or the smartest.

You win by being the last one standing.

VICTORY – 2022 Estate Syrah

High Hill | Windmill Ranch | Ballard Canyon AVA

And then there’s my Brother.

My Brother is Victory.
IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT KIRK- HERE IS AN ARTICLE I WROTE THAT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED PUBLISHED

Not because he never loses.

But because he doesn’t understand how to.

He is the guy you want on your team.

Not because he’s great at things (which he is).

But because he will figure out how to win.

And then he takes you with him.

I have watched him do it.

I have watched him will a team to victory.

Not with speeches.

Not with ego.

But because he believes.

And when the team wins?

He gives all the credit to everyone else.

And if they lose?

He puts every ounce of that weight on himself.

That is who he is.

That is Victory.

THE FORMULA

If you learn nothing else from this story, learn this.

This is how you win at life.

• Be audacious in your dreams.

• Be tenacious in your actions.

• Be victorious in your mindset.

That is what built my Father.

That is what built me.

That is what built my Brother.

That is what built this vineyard.

And now, it’s yours.

AUDACITY. TENACITY. VICTORY.

Drink accordingly.