Excerpt No. 0008

Let's Walk the Rows

If you've made it this far, thank you.

You now know why this Almanac exists.

You know why I believe the vineyard is always talking.

Why paying attention matters.

Why I write things down.

Why I believe we're caretakers instead of owners.

Why curiosity matters more than certainty.

Why the vineyard has a way of humbling every one of us.

And why the biggest moments are almost always built long before anyone notices them.

Those aren't lessons about grapes.

They're lessons the grapes taught me.

Everything after this is different.

The pages ahead aren't meant to be read from beginning to end.

They're meant to be wandered through.

Some days you'll come looking for an answer about pruning.

Other days it'll be frost.

Or fermentation.

Or Ballard Canyon.

Or why a grape cracks just before harvest.

You don't have to read the whole Almanac.

Just find the page you need today.

The vineyard has a funny way of making the right lesson appear at the right time.

Some entries will answer questions.

Some will simply ask better ones.

Some will be technical.

Some will tell stories.

Some will make you laugh.

I hope a few make you stop and think.

All of them will come from the same place.

A farmer trying to pay attention.

One promise before we begin.

If I know something because I lived it, I'll tell you.

If I learned it from someone wiser than me, I'll tell you that too.

If I'm guessing, I'll say so.

And if I change my mind twenty years from now because the vineyard teaches me something new...

I'll come back and write another entry.

That's the privilege of an Almanac.

It isn't frozen in time.

It grows.

Just like a vineyard.

Just like a family.

People often ask me where they should start learning about wine.

I usually tell them not to start in the cellar.

Start in the dirt.

Everything good in a bottle begins long before a cork is ever pulled.

The vineyard writes the first chapter.

The winemaker simply finishes the sentence.

So let's leave the porch.

Let's step into the rows.

Let's get a little dirt on our boots.

Let's start asking questions.

Because somewhere between these vines and these pages, I hope you'll begin seeing the world the way a farmer does.

Welcome to the first entry.

We've got work to do.

Filed Away

Every great bottle begins with a question.

Let's go find the answers together.

Keith Saarloos
Farmer
Saarloos & Sons