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
Sailing Away
Wow! Rona and I bought a boat in June to use as a waterfront "condo" in Santa Barbara. After working for three months and finally getting her ready, I decided "Pony Up" wasn't the right boat (it is possible that Rona disagrees) and now we are working on "Ramble", a Defever 44 trawler. So now boat number and horse number are equal in our family!
All that boat work, plus my neck surgery means that I've been woefully neglectful of things over here in "wine world". Luckily, Rona has been pursuing some leads and we are hoping to be opening up a new location in Solvang by the end of the year. We are planning to have an experienced manager in that location who has had a number of years working with a top winemaker in the area.
So, while we head back to Florida with the horses and ducks for the winter, wines will be bottled and ready to increase the inventory. We are looking forward to again having a physical location and one close to the ranch.
Oct 19, 2022 at 2:33 PM
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