Notes From the
Vintner |
Welcome
to our column. We hope that you will return to
learn interesting notes on wine, and related
subjects. Wine is a great gift from God to be used
for the enjoyment of man. It is a food, and should
be treated as such. It is meant to lift up the body
and lighten the soul. 6/01/07 |
The year is almost half over…and I am still working in January. Now that should tell you something about being behind. There were so many outside factors to life these last few months that it was and is very hard to do the work that is needed daily.
First off the bat was the battle with the wholesalers. The wholesalers of Arkansas wanted the native wineries to sell all their wine through them—even the wines sold at the wineries. They have 99% of all wine sales in the state, but wanted the other 1%. This does not speak well for them. Then the Governor went against the wineries being able to sell wine on the internet and ship the wine to customers. This makes no sense at all—not to promote your state and the products and people of your state is bad. We beat some of the bills against us, but did not come out the best.
Then the freeze hit and destroyed all the fruit in the state except maybe the
Muscadines; they may produce a crop. This added a lot of extra work to the vineyards and a loss of all the work and money already put into the vineyards. I believe that most of the vines will live, but there will be no crop of fruit this year. So it is taking a lot of time in the vineyard to retrain and work the vines.
Then the price of gas goes through the ceiling, and the number of tourists decline. We can tell the number of visitors has dropped off a bit. However the number of guests to the Bed and Breakfast has held steady.
But this is not the time to ask “WHAT NEXT” …It is the time to keep your eye on the goal and work around problems. For a person of faith will believe that things always work out, and most of the time in a way that we can accept.
So with all that said, and not asking what next…I am off for a glass of wine or two. Would you like to join me???
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