Dear Friends,
As I reflect on 2021, I am in awe of how our lives parallel each other and nature. The word capacity seems so finite, but it is pretty infinite. In 2020 so many of us had our capacity adjusted. For example, I no longer went to work. I was no longer driving my kids to school or practice or spending weekends at tournaments. I was no longer traveling for business or pleasure or hosting friends and family for the weekend. I barely went to the supermarket and certainly did not spend much time at the gas pump. Effectively, we were all hibernating. We were storing energy and fuel for the next season in our lives. Last year, in 2021, I did not think my plate had ever been fuller. I no longer even had a plate. I had a Thanksgiving serving platter that was overflowing. We made more than twice the amount of wine that we ever have. We went from 50 tons to 105 tons of grapes in 2021. I sent my firstborn off to college, my second born off to high school, and sports resumed for us with a vengeance. We started driving Sean to water polo practice in Santa Barbara four nights a week and spending our weekends in Orange County watching him play. I did all of this while finishing Graduate school in December.
Collectively our daily lives filled up and overflowed our capacity. I believe we collectively grew stronger. Not only did our plates fill back up, but our capacity for love, tolerance, and acceptance must have increased. Our coping skills and stress responses were challenged and matched. I have to think that we collectively evolved as a species. That is how evolution happens—something external stresses the species to the point where it must adapt, which we did. We adapted, evolved, and profoundly grew our capacity.
We put the grapes through this same stress process year after year. The vines dig deep into the soil to replenish their minerals and find water. They do this despite droughts or pandemics. Vines like humans grow stronger, deeper, and push their capacity to produce regardless of the conditions. These conditions are why Santa Barbara County makes such fantastic wine. The natural and cyclical conditions provide just enough rest and stress to create something dynamic, ambitious, and courageous.
Thank you for being wine club members and enjoying this wild ride of life with us. You, too, are dynamic, ambitious, and courageous. Relish in your advanced capacity, and let the past serve as a marvelous light to guide you forward.
Wine made and sold with love,
Sara, Joey, Tina, Shannon, Caitlin, and Chris
