The Accidental Winemaker
I never dreamed that I'd be a winemaker! Several years ago, we came to California with our small herd of horses to escape the Florida summers. While my wife was fully involved with the horses, I became interested in the vineyards around our ranch. Met some good people, got interested. And now, in 2020, we've bottled the first of grapes that I helped source and blend, wines that have my input with the assistance of master winemaker, Steve Clifton.
Hopefully, you will enjoy drinking these wines as much as I've enjoyed making them.
Kent Mitchell
Hurricane Ida Donations
With the devastation coming to our Gulf Coast, we will be making the September WILD2525 discount in honor of National Wildlife Day focused on those areas. Use the code WILD2525 and get 25% off your order, 25% off shipping and we will donate 25% of all sales to Wildlife Rescue efforts in the area affected by Hurricane Ida. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the path of this horrendous storm.
Discount Days Ahead
While I've been spending a good portion of time in Florida, Rona's been back and forth for the horses, ducks, and wine stuff. This week I've been informed, by Rona, that we're doing discounts for National Red Wine Day (40%) Aug 24-31 with code RED40; National Wildlife Day (25% + 25% to charity) September 1-31 WILD2525; National Grandparents Day September 12 GRAND50 (50% off orders and 50% off wine); and GINGER50 on September 23 in appreciation of National Redheads Day for Rona and her Mom and our son Alex.
Time Flies
Wow, cannot believe it is mid-August already. We're in the midst of changing farms in Florida - from Wellington up to Ocala, bottling new wines in CA, visiting family in NC, NY, and PA and relocating our "business" office to Ocala, FL as well. It's bittersweet that we've just sold the first "Long Creek" entity - our farm in NC where we had wholesale trees, hay, and hosted events. It'll be in good hands; the new owners have the Pine Valley Market in Wilmington, NC and they'll be hosting even more events at the farm, growing stuff to sell and serve at the Market, so we're super happy to see this "farm to table" use of the land.
National Lighthouse Weekend
While many places may be celebrating National Lighthouse Weekend in early August, we're kind of partial to the celebrations at "Old Baldy". Not just because they will be serving up our wines but because I spent over two decades working on and developing Bald Head Island, NC so I'm a little partial to that particular slice of paradise. Again, Rona talked me into discounts - 40% on product and 20% on shipping using the code LIGHT40 through August 15.
We spent most of July traveling around, visited the amazing Blue Mingo Inn on Otsego Lake, New York for a family get-away which provided some welcome down time for us both. While not a lighthouse, the "Kingfisher Tower" folly was our view every morning and made for a lovely kayak trip across the lake.
Good to be back home for a spell.