Happy New Year!
Holidays are over…. onto 2024
Christmas Evening at the ranch. Rebecca always get nervous when we light the real candles - an old Danish tradition. Looks so pretty!
Now we all just entered into the new year – 2024 has started and we just finished up what many of us consider the best time of the year. December gives us such an amazing time to celebrate life with friends and family – isn’t it just a wonderful highlight of the year? How this month brings people together whether it is in a room or on zoom.
Late December blending the 2023 Amber Star wines for Wildflower Women
Time to think about that something new has just started and something just ended! For Rebecca and I 2023 offered great experiences here at Ampelos – like our joint venture wine making project on Mallorca, Spain, several custom crush projects for customers in Denmark, our ongoing winemaking partnership with Kurt Russell and then this late, short and very promising harvest.
Looking forward, 2024 is already teed up to be a year with exciting new ventures. January starts with an amazing winemaker dinner in LA with a good friend and co-founder of the top rated restaurant Noma. Later in the year several teams will be flying in from Europe to join us for making more special blends. And stay tuned for a new concept we are working on for an eco-tourism venue in the heart of Santa Ynez Valley. We will off course also be continuously focusing on improving our SOBR (Sustainable / Organic / Biodynamic / Regenerative) farming and winemaking principles to make sure we retain our wine profile and quality.
Always great making wines with Kurt - coming up soon
People often ask Rebecca and I: When will you slow down and retire? And as we answer this question our voices overlap: “Never”. We believe we have been lucky enough to end up with the best job in the world being farmers and winemakers. Working with soil, plants, climate, microbes, cosmos, amazing farm workers, wine passionate harvest crew and most importantly each other, this is simply a dream job, lifestyle and passion!
What a wonderfull picture: Rain! We are already at 50% of annual precipitation. Love it!
To wrap up this first Ampelos newsletter of the year we want to thank you for your ongoing support of our vineyard and our winery. So please raise a glass with us and lets toast to an awesome 2024.
“Let’s hope it’s a good one – without any fear”
And this just in: Our Queen just abdicated! Here is the there the new King Frederik X of Denmark!
