Going... going... gone.
An amazing "first" year comes to an end, and our 2021 Vintage is almost sold out. What happens next? Just wait untill you see!
Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together. ~ J. C. Penney
Where we’ve been
It was a complicated and expensive process, that of evolving from the limited 17/20 license I held in 2021 which allowed me to make and sell commercial wine under restrictive conditions, to being fully-licensed and bonded by the fall of 2022 as an Alternative Proprietor at Magnolia Wine Services with full rights and privileges afforded to holders of a Basic Winegrower Permit and 02 Winery License by the US Department of the Treasury - Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the California ABC.
As technical and boring as that sounds, it was. But in the meantime, and under those auspices, I formed the Tiny Vineyard Wine Company LLC and harvested our first commercial vintage. What began as five tons of expensive grapes cut from as many tiny vineyards and nervously processed by me, a newbie winemaker so green behind the ears I sometimes got lost amongst the vines, became three barrels of Malbec and six barrels of a Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon red blend. These were the two wines that made up my charter 2021 Vintage.
Although that first commercial vintage was indeed picked, crushed, fermented, pressed, and barreled in September of 2021, it would be 18 more months aging in barrels, and another year aging in bottles, before it was officially released. And even though I would process our 2022 Vintage AND our 2023 Vintage in the meantime, I think of our first real year as a wine company—the first year we would officially sell wine—as 2024. And so, that’s the reason for this strangely belated celebration.
It really wasn’t until late March of 2024 that we could hang out our shingle and hawk our products. Of course, we jumped the gun a little—as we are wont to do—and offered an “early release sale” to you, our loyal readers. Many of you responded generously, and I truly thank you for that!
We added our amazing Chardonnay to the 2021 mix—actually harvested with the 2022 Vintage but bottled and ready to drink just six months later. And, we hit pay dirt when we released our 2021 Eclipse Malbec a few months early to coincide with the April 8th total solar eclipse that swept across America. That magical Malbec became the darling of the celestial crowd, caught the attention of NBC News and National Public Radio, and then, well… poof! All 77 cases (almost a thousand bottles) we had made were gone.
We staged a few private tasting events just to get a firsthand and unfettered feel for public reaction to our wines. Those went really well, so we added another quickie white wine offering, only it was pink—a yummyRosé of Zinfandel—which we harvested with our 2023 Vintage and started selling just a few months later.
We even began prematurely peddling our 2022 Vintage late this past summer because it was drinking really well really early. And then the entire vintage had an alchemy moment on the commercial wine competition circuit receiving several 90+ ratings and winning a Gold Medal at the 2024 North Coast Wine Challenge and another Gold Medal, two Double-Gold Medals, and a Best of Class at the 2024 Sonoma County Harvest Festival. Then Bottle Barn called and ordered a dozen cases (and has kept calling and ordering ever since!) and WineSearcher listed us even though we don’t yet sell retail out of bricks-and-mortar establishments, except for Bottle Barn.
So, well, yeah, 2024 has been quite a year!
Where we are right now
Okay, so enough of the shameless. self-inflicted back patting. Let’s move to shameless promotion for just a moment. I realize I’m guilty of some hard selling at times, but that's simply what it takes in a down market with more than 5,000 independent wineries (in California alone!) out there trying to tell you that their wine is better than all the rest.
But even I wouldn’t be so brash and bold as to make that claim. I haven’t tasted the wines of all 5,000 yet. I’d rather make my pitch, which is likely going to take that proverbial journey from one ear opening to the other, then step aside and let the wines speak for themselves. And not just with Gold Medals and high point ratings—although, as they say, a gold medal is worth a thousand sips. Or something like that?!
The only way a wine speaks for itself, outside of directly in your mouth, is by how well it sells. So, with the exception of a few cases held back for tastings and for our library, here’s the absolute up-to-date, totally accurate numbers on the seven wines we offered for sale in 2024:
2021 Requisite Red Blend - 53 cases sold out of 147 made. 94 cases left
2021 Eclipse Malbec - 77 cases sold out of 78 made. SOLD OUT!
2022 Daniel’s Pride Chardonnay - 42 cases sold out of 47 made. 5 cases left
2023 Rosé of Zinfandel - 26 cases sold out of 47 made. 21 cases left
2022 Aerie Cabernet Sauvignon - 21 cases sold out of 91 made. 70 cases left
2022 Requisite Red Blend - 15 cases sold out of 190 made. 175 cases left
2022 Vino Tinto Rustico - 27 cases sold out of 274 made. 247 cases left
PLEASE TAKE NOTE! One of these wines sold out in 2024 in a matter of weeks. The folks that bought it continue to buy. Four more of these wines will definitely sell out by the end of next year (2025). And one, possibly two, of these wines might sell out before the end of THIS year!
So go to tinyvineyards.com right now and grab whatever is left of the Chardonnay and the Rosé. And while you’re there stock up on your favorite big red for two critical reasons: First, because our prices on these are going up on New Years Day. And second, because of this major bit of inventory-altering news…
I made larger amounts of the ‘21 and ‘22 Requisite Red Blend, and the ‘22 Cabernet Sauvignon and ‘22 Rustico, in case we were eventually successful in attracting a national distributor. AND THAT’S JUST IT! We finally signed with a incredible distributor just last week and we will be rolling out in California, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, New York, and District of Columbia right after New Year’s, with more states to follow shortly. If our experience with Bottle Barn is any indication, we probably didn’t make enough wine!
Where we’re going
The downside of boutique winemaking is that it is a painfully slow process, especially getting started. You have to wait upwards of three years before you actually have something in hand that you can sell. Hopefully we’ve planned our rollout properly. Or maybe more accurately stated; we’ve rode a wave of good karma and completely lucked-out without having to sacrifice the quality and ethos of making an ultra-premium, small lot, handcrafted product. It’s at least starting to feel like we might survive the birthing process (knock on French oak). Here’s what’s coming down the pike:
In late March of 2025—that’s only three months away!—we’ll finally bottle our 2023 Vintage which includes new iterations of two old favorites, Requisite Red Blend and Aerie Cabernet Sauvignon, and two new single varietals, a Zinfandel from a Sonoma heritage vineyard, and a Sonoma mountaintop “Celestial” Syrah (see label above). We’re also bottling a California expression of the perennial white wine of Italy, a Vermentino made from grapes grown in the decomposing granite terroir of the Shenandoah Valley in Amador County. We’ll partner the Vermentino with our big red offerings of 2022.
Then a year later, March of 2026, we’ll be adding a classic Italian Sangiovese and an Iberian Albariño to the bottling run, and our freewheeling tour of tiny vineyards
Come along with us!