How is it that when finding the perfect words to capture your meaning, passion, and intent is paramount, it seems impossible? Yes I am hugely guilty of using “I’m fine” thousands of times, but I am not referring to those times. I am thinking of those defining moments when you need to really thank a friend for being there, to redirect a relationship so it’s better for the long term, or sincerely apologize for hurting someone. And while not as critical as getting it right in these situations, I have also struggled since buying the winery in 2007 to capture in a few words why this endeavor matters so much to me and why I am passionate about sharing this special place with friends and guests. The marketing world would say I am searching for a tagline, Cellardoor’s Just Do It, but surprise, surprise, I don’t like the word tagline.

The search for the right words has finally ended. Thankfully my friends, Kevin and Chris, captured it all with “Live your life. Be who you are. Drink good wine along the way.” Behind that phrasing there is the post-cancer belief that living life, having a highlight every day is important. Fine just isn’t good enough. Everyday is precious. There’s the hope that walking in your own skin will bring pride and contentment. And the reminder to smell the roses, value friendships, and to share times, over a glass of wine possibly, with the people who matter.

 And in the understatement of the day, week, month, and year, I am “happy” that the call finally came on Friday that my cancer isn’t back. So I can keep honestly saying, cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me. Cancer inspired me to change my life completely, get comfortable with who I really am, and slow down enough to enjoy a glass of wine with friends. I also got to buy the winery.

Live,

 Bettina

I have a pretty good memory, not as good as it used to be but still good enough. What I have lost in sheer capability I think I have offset with a little maturity, better use of the capabilities still available. For others it would be called wisdom but no one is ever going to describe me as wise and keep a straight face. All said, I was asked a simple question recently and it stopped me in my tracks. Not only did I reflect to come up with the answer but I spent a moment to commit the interaction to memory.

As I told a group stories of changing my life, buying the winery, and learning sometimes very awkwardly to run a small business in Maine, a woman asked “Would you do it all again?” Brilliant in its simplicitiy. With six simple words, she cut through the noise of my self-deprecating stories and forced me to take a step out of the trees to remember to look at the forest. And the forest looks great. I love working with Lani and my team, welcoming guests into our tasting rooms, and managing the self-created chaos. “Yes, I would do it all again!”. Thank you to Deb for the reminder how rich in living this chapter in my journey has been.

Don’t be surprised if I ask you the same question at some point, now that I have decided it is important and have committed it to memory. It will get reused much as an old friend Bob’s “You have to have hope” and Jack’s “You (the capital markets) get to use the cheap money until we (industrial America) have a good use for it”.

Much as I aspire to provide our guests a highlight for their days, I encourage you to have hope and wish that you can answer the question as I did, “Yes, I would do it all again”.  We can discuss Jack’s insight another time.

Best,

Bettina

With the enthusiastic good intentions and attention to detail we bring to everything we try, we hosted our first Winterfest last Saturday. Ok, in hindsight, we should have Googled “winterfest” to learn that it wasn’t the most unique name for an event as it yields some12 million results, and we should have much sooner understood that El Nino means the typical blanket of snow which covers Maine in February could be elsewhere. In the grand scheme, minor details which none of our guests or friends seemed to mind. In fact, the energy around the winery was great. While everyone adored Lawrence’s fabulous brunch buffet and the Chris Humphrey Band’s tunes, guests seemed to find favorites, be it sledding, skating, horse-drawn wagon rides, snow-shoeing, food & wine pairings, barrel samples, or Lani’s treats and hot cocoa. One family went on the horse-drawn wagon ride three times because their son loved it. One gentleman so enjoyed the food and wine pairings’ foods, he gobbled through the food before we could pour his wine pairings. (We gave him more.) One family snow-shoed up to the trail to the blueberry barren and were thrilled with the reward of the fabulous view. Jeff was entertained by RayRay’s greeter style. Jasie’s grandparents enjoyed the music for hours. Kids loved the sledding and crashing into the hay bales.  

My highlights: the generosity of our guests who brought clothes and food for us to donate to people in need; being behind the tasting bar with Lani and Jasie; the fabulous barber shop quartet; and having the happy woman tell Lani and me that she had a wonderful time. She had gone skating for the first time in 40 years because this seemed like a friendly place to try it again.

All said, it may not have been unique according to Google, but it was special for us.

Our friend Joe Corrado captured a few of the highlights of the day in photographs. Enjoy them at http://lincolnvillemaine.com/images/stories/Cellardoor_Winterfest_2010/index.html

Bettina

The perfect combination of the changing of the calendar and a two day long snow storm have given me the incentive and time to reflect on the past year and day dream about the coming year. Simply, it was a terrific year. Sure there were challenges and dramas that TNT and Lifetime could make shows about, but there were a lot more happy, joyful, silly “nothing” moments that Seinfeld would cherish. I am thankful for a year full of highlights:

-          Shopping with the ladies for Pop the Cork outfits. Janice quickly settling on chic and elegant; Abby thoughtfully choosing a long sleeved royal purple gown which complemented her sparkling eyes perfectly; CC girlishly wearing a dress and accessories and fussing with her hair; Jasie getting the lady at Four Twelve to surrender a striped sensation that had been set aside for a fashion show; Megan accessorizing everyone…

- Matt sharing his stories with our guests of his travels cross-country with Blue Lobster Blue

            - Sinter Klaas and Piet coming to visit the Christmas cooking class; Dorothea singing Dutch songs; and Lawrence, the Texas born, French trained chef preparing Dutch treats in the shapes of lobsters, lighthouses, and moose (put it on your calendar for next year – most fun ever)

            - The Mid Coast Community Chorus filling the Villa with joyful Christmas notes

- Our “squirrels”, Tim & Daryl, promoting themselves to “The Cleaners”

- Janice being Janice every day

- Raymond becoming RayRay and still hiring the talented chef who started the whole thing

- Abby increasingly wanting to be with our guests in the tasting rooms and at events and involved in the craziness of event planning

- Aaron being A-Ron, and a few other characters, including talented workaholic winemaker

- Brian saying “so that’s my job here”

- The caricature artist capturing my friend Jeff’s personality just right

- CC literally bouncing around the Villa during Jingle Bell Rockport, hugging guests, and absolutely gushing on about our upcoming cooking classes and 2010 wines. 

- The thank you notes from our guests piling up on my desk. I treasure each one.

- Hosting the Juice investor reception – there was a special energy in the barn that night

- Frequently hearing guests say “the wines are better”

- Enjoying an evening by the ocean in Kennebunkport

- Tim and our friend Brian discussing satin underwear, seriously

- Denise and I together hosting the tasting bar during VinFest

- Daryl saying how much he just loves working with us

- Enjoying a few stolen minutes in the Adirondack chairs with CC and Janice

- Lani driving by just at the right moment to capture me driving the forklift in a cute summery dress

- Our Blueberry Hike Rake and Bake Cooking class students proudly hiking to the blueberry barren

- Mom fluffing and folding table cloths with me in the tent for Pop the Cork (and having no proof of how horrid we looked in the rain storm the next day)

- Winning huge brownie points from my nephew for rescuing Flat Stanley from the freezing cold waters around the Rockland Breakwater

- Not burning my hair off, not burning down the farmhouse (funny in hind sight)

- Linden Frederick, the acclaimed painter, offering us his painting “Halloween” for our first Artist Series wine. And actually having a wine that deserved such an honor.

- Lani’s gleeful screams echoing through the vineyard as she zipped down the snowy hill behind the barn on her sled

- Maine Pro Musica playing Summerwind at VinFest. (That one was for Dad)

- Rejoicing with my Cellardoor family and friends on my birthday when the call finally came that my cancer wasn’t back

- Enjoying a deliciously messy burger at a picnic table in the sunshine

- Welcoming guests to the barn and Villa every day. We so enjoy hearing your stories

- Mending a friendship

- Having Kevin, Susan, Bob, Steve, Dan, Eric, and Jim take time out of their days to come to the MaineBiz event. You have no idea how much it meant to me.

- Having wonderful times with Gilbert, Lani, Ray Ray, Marcy, Mom, Katherine, Shelly, Henry, Max, Netty, Pat and the Cellardoor family

And now for 2010! Lots more opportunities for highlights. More cooking classes, samplings, events and most importantly, more new wines from our cellar. While there is planning and hopes for how the coming year goes, I am sure of only one thing. That we really don’t know what the coming year holds for all of us. But one thing is for sure, I definitely resolve to write more of the highlights down as we go along. I don’t want to forget a thing.

Happy New Year. I wish you a year full of highlights.

Bettina

First Day of Harvest: September, 31^st 2009

3:30 PM

Excitement was in the air.  Our first grape shipment of the season had finally arrived.  You always wish you can time the truck deliveries, but truckers seem to work on their own schedules.

3:45 PM

The grapes looked great, but there was a slight hitch with the delivery.  The pallets were facing the wrong way so we were unable to move them with our pallet jack.  We dragged them out with a chain connected to the forklift instead.  After they were unloaded, we felt like we had achieved something.

4:15 PM

All systems go. Unloading grapes into the crusher de-stemmer hopper–additions were made.  The winemaking season had begun!

4:30 PM

5 Tons Grenache Received (.25 tons crushed)

Three men were standing around a crusher de-stemmer.

“Yup, that’s definitely burning.”  You cannot mistake the smell of burnt electrics.

“What’s that?”  A finger was pointed.

“I don’t know?”  A shoulder was shrugged.

“Do you know?”  More shrugging.

“No.”  Someone frowned a real life frown.

“Well, it’s definitely part of the motor.”  Sighs.

“Yes, definitely.”  It is good to be confident.

We pulled out the manual, but it was written in a hybrid language created by an underpaid Italian to English translator.  It was clear we would need to call the supplier, but was there time?

4:45 PM  (Supplier closes at 5PM)

“So, we have a slight problem with our crusher.”

“What seems to be the issue?”

“The motor is burning.”

“Oh.  That’s not good.”

The conversation continued for another ten minutes.  We were informed that our capacitor had indeed blown and we would need another one to replace it.

“Just call one of the major parts suppliers.  They should have it.”

We heard the clicking of heels on concrete.  It must be Bettina.  She had heard about our distress and appeared ready to address and remedy the situation.  We relayed the information as quickly as possible. 

“I’m getting in my car let me know when you find a place that has the part.”  We handed her the half burnt, slightly mangled tube.  It still smelled.

5:15 PM

A Mercedes Benz peeled out of the parking lot.  We frantically flipped through the yellow pages and called every parts dealer we could find.  There were a couple options, but nobody seemed to have European capacitors.  Most wine industry equipment is imported from either France or Italy.  The same is true for our crusher de-stemmer.  I am convinced that world peace will only be achieved when all nations convert to the same system of measurement.

“This one might work though,” said a supplier rep.  But there was little confidence in his voice.  I have learned a lot by making wine in Maine.  Maine is pretty much the furthest you can be from anyone who knows anything about fixing or maintaining winery equipment.  In many Western wine regions there are round-the-clock technicians and suppliers who can save you at the last minute.  Not here.  In Maine, we are truly on the frontier.

5:30 P.M.

We gave Bettina her coordinates, but there was little hope of finding a European capacitor before nightfall.

5:45 P.M.

Five tons of grapes were sitting awkwardly in the parking lot, saying “crush me.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder.”  The grapes demanded.

5:50 P.M.

“How about the old crusher de-stemmer?”

“We could, but it would take us all night.”

“But the grapes need to be crushed.  Listen, they’re talking.”  I pointed my finger towards the 5 tons.

“It will be an hour before we can get it here, but it is possible.”  It was in storage, 20 minutes away in one direction. 

There was no more discussion.  Brian and I hopped in a truck and hit the road.

6:15 PM (at storage)

We loaded the old crusher de-stemmer into the back of the pickup truck.  It seemed so small next to the newer one sitting on the crush pad.

“You do know this is going to take all night, right?”

“Yeah, but can’t you feel the excitement?”

“Oh yeah.  Yeehaw.”

We were back in the road.

6:25 PM (Bettina calling)

I answered my phone.

“So, the place you mentioned didn’t think they had anything that would work, but while I was in line there was another person who works on boats who said he might be able to pull one off one of his old boat motors.”

“Oh.  Where are you now?”

“I’m following him to his house, no garage, or something.  I’ll let you know what I find out.”

6:40 PM (back at winery)

We hauled the old crusher de-stemmer out of the back of the pickup trick and began the sanitizing process.  We worked fast and efficiently (it was the first day of harvest, we were still fresh).  There were four of us now.  After a quick bite to eat (potato chips), we started the old machine up and began loading grapes.  The night was just beginning.

7:30 PM

“I got it!”  Bettina was holding a small metal tube like it was the Holy Grail.

“Was that from the boat motor?”

“Yes.  He said it would work.  Try it.”

We had to apply a little electrical tape, but it appeared to connect O.K.  We plugged it in, crossed our fingers and flipped the switch…

It ran.  There were high-fives.  Bettina put her hands on her hips, “Just add winery electrician to my job title.”

Although it was a long evening, the grapes got their wish to be crushed and we all left feeling ready to tackle whatever this year’s harvest had to throw at us. 

And we did. The grapes looked and tasted excellent, and I am very excited about the wines coming up for next year.  For the whites, we are working on new vintages of Viognier and Serendipity, along with a dry Pinot Gris (Grigio), an off-dry Gewurztraminer and a semi-sweet Riesling.  We have many different options for reds as we made a big push this year in our red wine program, but I am anticipating a Spanish-style Tempranillo/Mataro blend, a new Trilogy (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre), a new Capo di Monte (Super-Tuscan inspired), a new Prince Valiant and varietal bottlings of Syrah, Malbec and Petite Sirah.  I am also very happy with how our 100% Wild Maine Blueberry wine is progressing.  I have heard many comments that it is indistinguishable from a grape red wine, but you will be able to taste for yourself next season (unless CC talks me into slipping it into a cooking class or two).

Happy Holidays,

Aaron

For all of you who are hopeless romantics like me, enjoy the following.   Best wishes to Will & Navanjali, Bettina  

Dear Cellardoor Family,

Navanjali and Will 

As I was dining with a couple of pals the other night, they commented that I had never written a blog about our Pop the Cork party. Truth be told, I had started to write a piece right after the event but the words and tone felt wrong. Too much like a press release detailing a schedule of events as I was trying to explain to those who hadn’t joined us why those who had enjoyed themselves. Exhausting isn’t it? At the end of the day, I tabled the blog on the thinking that it’s more important that the guests each had some wonderful memories.  But now it’s been a few weeks since the tent came down and it made me smile to think about it all again. As with anything, the memory of the whole is a collage of snippets, a series of snapshots really. My memory album includes… - Driving along Route 52 and having Lani decide to cater the event, thus becoming my partner in planning the whole thing. - Taking the Cellardoor ladies shopping for outfits to wear - Janice owning the whole process from the get go, CC being girly as she modeled the perfect dress, Abby twinkling as she donned the elegant purple gown, Megan being the master accessorizer, Mechelle taking it all in and finally announcing “my dress is back at Leonards”, and Jasie getting the boutique owner in Rockland to surrender the striped stunner that was intended for a fashion show but clearly was meant to be on Jasie.- Visiting with Linden and Heather at his studio and having them offer us “Halloween” for an Artist Series- My Mom and Seth folding, swagging, mixing and matching table cloths in the tent on the day of the party- The fabulous energy in CMCA as guests mingled amongst Linden’s beautiful art- Having so many supportive friends make the effort to attend- The image of my friend, Jeff, getting caught by the caricature artist- The puppets parading through Rockport (still amazed the guy on stilts could walk down the hill to the harbor park when I nearly killed myself doing it in heels) - Lani looking stunning in her new dress- My friend Chris justifying his eating a lot of oysters by saying “I am not going to have any cupcakes” - Kathryn’s Mom and Dad dancing the night away And to cap it all off, Gilbert, Rob, Lani and I sharing the best grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries at the after party at Natalie’s restaurant.  For each of you who joined us, I hope you have lots of wonderful memories too. Thanks for joining us and we’ll see you next year.  Bettina 

A recent conversation between two Maine winemakers:

“I had my first harvest anxiety dream of the season last night.”

            “I hate it when that happens.”

            “I forgot to clean a tank, all of the bungs popped out and a valve opened itself in the middle of the night.”

            “Typical.”

            Of course, none of these things actually happened, nor will they since we are pros here at Cellardoor (people respect you more when you at least appear confident), but I have seen much worse. …  Should I mention that in a former winemaking endeavor a coworker started his pump for a pump-over, while walking away to grab a smoke.  This shouldn’t have been a problem, since the pump-over (an activity in which fermenting must is pumped from the bottom of a tank over the top to give the yeast oxygen, keep the cap wet and extract tannins and phenolics) usually runs around 10 minutes, except for the fact that his partner (who was supposed to be manning the hose) had went to use the restroom.  The bungee chord strapping the hose to the catwalk must have held long enough for the pump operator to walk away with confidence.  Let’s just say the cellar had a nice ruby tinge to it when they returned.  I could go on.

The truth of the matter is that harvest never goes according to plan—regardless of a winery’s price point or worldly status.  You just have to hope that sometime in late November or early December when your brain has finally filtered out most of the carbon dioxide and oxygen starts flowing again that the challenges were more easily conquered than expected.  Somehow the ship always seems to right itself.  And despite the ridiculous hours and near heart attacks, harvest is when winemakers feel the most alive.  It is honestly the best time of year.  There is a saying throughout the industry (not “it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine,” which is also true) that is often tiredly mumbled during such tasks as scrubbing tanks, punching down for the 20^th time that week, or crushing that last ton before sunset—“living the dream.”  We say it as a joke, but there is probably more truth to it than we would let on.

In Maine we start early.  In potentially less than one month’s time eight tons of wild Maine blueberries from Clary Hill Farm in Union Maine will be showing up at the Cellardoor. This is very exciting for us, as we plan on making a serious red wine style blueberry to complement our off-dry rose style.  We also have an unprecedented amount of red grapes arriving throughout September and October, prompting us to convert our current cellar into more of a red wine friendly environment. We will be receiving such interesting varieties as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Barbera and Sangiovese.  The barrel program calls for a mix of new French oak, French re-coopered, and French neutral barrels on our traditional Rhone varieties Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.  We will be using new Hungarian oak, French re-cooped and neutral French in our Italian varieties Sangiovese and Barabera.  And we will add some new French coopered American oak to the Zin and Petite Sirah.  For the Maine blueberries, however, we are going strictly American coopered Kentucky oak.  I would say you could drink it with apple pie, but this will be more of a steak wine.  On the white side, we will be making a dry Viognier and Roussanne, an off-dry Riesling and semi-sweet late-harvest Chenin Blanc. While we are very excited to bring these grapes in from select vineyards from across the country, we also can’t wait to start working with the varieties that we just planted this spring, including Marquette, LaCrescent, Frontenac Gris and Frontenac Blanc.  Expect to see some Maine grown estate wines within the next couple of years.  Hope the sun shines for the rest of the summer!

Cheers,

Aaron

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I have prepared to write this blog for a long time, and now the sight of this natural phenomenon has left me completely lost for words. Anything I could say would never even begin to do this place justice. Colossal, unending, timeless, these words are a pale and poor description for a land that must be seen to be believed. The words “beware the canyons spell”, which Janice and Joel spoke to me (Friends and beloved fellow Cellardoor family members) before I left, echo in my mind as I navigate the expanse, for time seems to stop here and deer walk beside you. It truly is like another world, like nothing else on earth. No one can be the same after seeing this place. It only makes sense that the blue lobster would travel here.  Surrounded by a massive forest of small pines the canyon appears suddenly and without warning. All around you can hear the gasps and awe of those who have made the pilgrimage from all over the world. The Grand Canyon speaks a language all its own that changes everyone who hears it. A very special thanks to Janice & Joel, and to all those who experienced the blue lobster at the Market place in Grand Canyon National park, where the lobster made itself boldly known.
We can only guess where the Blue lobster will travel next so keep your eyes open and your glasses ready.

-Matt Wellman