Anger Management

I think on of the great joys of owning a small winery, as compared to a big one, is you can make small batches of wine and see what people think of them without making your life too complicated.

One of the problems of making small batches of wine is people who like them often come back wanting more after you’ve run out. You suggest they might try something else, they insist they want more of the now long-gone wine. You mention you might make some next year and they seem appalled they might have to wait a year to get more of this small batch of wine. In toto, we appreciate the support but find the whining aggravating; All out of proportion with what we should. I need to have a glass of wine and mellow out.

A case in point is a wine we have been making for a number of year, BORDERMEN, a cranberry-grape blend we have each fall. We typically make a 100 cases and it sells quite well in November and December and is gone by January. I have been asked about 100 times, “When are you going to have Bordermen again?”.

I am happy to say we have bottled the first of the 2008 vintage of this fine wine and it is in the winery ready to be tasted and bought. I popped in the winery one afternoon and asked our staffer, “See we got Bordermen, now they will quit complaining!” She replied, “Well yes, but this batch does not taste like last year’s.”

Now, this wonderful employee is great at her job and I often over-react, but to avoid a stroke or possibly a murder rap, I left the building. Of course the new wine does not taste exactly like last year’s, it’s a new batch, a new vintage, its all new and bound to be a bit different and she knows that. Most wines taste a bit different year to year, its one the the things I like best about wine, the variety and the hunt for a great wine every year. Its was just a harmless comment and I got over-wrought by it. Mellow, mellow, mellow, and have a glass of wine.

So help me stay out of trouble and anger management classes: when we run out of Bordermen this year (or next), don’t ask me when we’ll have more. Ask my wife…