Cricket, Cricket..

Has it been quiet around here? Blog activity might be misleading… because in the tasting room, on the vineyard, and quietly (but furiously) in the wine lab, we’ve been humming. As mountain-like as these brothers can be (towering over, say, a petite tasting room manager), Two Machines might be the more operative phrase here.

So what’s happening?

Wet gray day on the vineyard today

Patrick is finishing up the planting project that has taken the majority of the last few months. What was once just a flat brown lot of tilled dirt and trellis is now lush and green, with vines sprouting over grow tube (the white plant protector that serves to fend off rodents, and encourage healthy growth). And, fighting the unusual intermittent rain we’ve had over the last month, putting in the irrigation that will sustain it through the rest of its life.

Braden graduated last week and is finally done with his dual degrees (Vineyard and Winery Technology, with honors!). He's off to Alaska for a 48 hour celebratory break before getting back on the grind. He and Matt have been racking and topping, and preparing to bottle later this week. After that, Matt goes to Montana—a new market for us—to lead a wine tasting leisure adventure of some sort. Oh, the things we must do to spread the good Two Mountain word…

Who knows... projects!

The tasting room continues to pick up, with people coming from just up the road or as far as foreign countries. (No, Seattle is not technically a foreign country…) We’ve had people passing through and others who made Yakima their destination—the latter being the adventurous, exploratory, wine enthusiast type, and the former usually the leisure lovers. (Zillah being a meeting ground for both.)

Zillah—and Yakima more broadly—continue to grow and change. In the last few months, more wineries have opened, restaurants are catering to the people who travel here, and activities either in town or at wineries are keeping visitors here for longer. (Multiple farmers markets, horses, outdoor concerts, galleries, theater, the symphony, a new brewery…)

While we prepare to release our Wine Club Sauvignon Blanc on Saturday at our Low Country Boil party, we’re enjoying the sunshine and the people who stop by to share it with us… and as usual, having a darn good time.

Now, back to the fun stuff… like this.