41. 2021: Lift-off
I am very pleased to announce that because of the support of a number of individuals, whom we deeply appreciate, Alta Marfa has secured loans that will fund our project moving forward. A huge thank you to our financial supporters. Thank you so much for believing in us. We now move forward. We are hoping to purchase 15 tons of grapes in 2021 (we bought 5 tons in 2020), and turn those grapes into wine at our own winery facility in the city of Marfa later this year. There is so much to do before harvest, but the way has been cleared. I look forward to continuing to share our journey with all of you.
My friend Alan drew this. He is an incredibly talented artist and he created the label art for our 2020 wines. The labels have been submitted for regulatory approval and I am excited to unveil them soon!
After 4 years of commuting the 600 miles from our home in Houston to work in the vineyard on weekends, we spent 2020 split more or less 50/50 between Houston and West Texas. It was great to get to spend longer periods of time close to the vineyard. We were able to get a lot more done, but we also got a chance to really see how much needed doing. In February Katie and I finally moved the last of our things out of our house in Houston, and are now full time residents of Jeff Davis County.
In early February we bottled our first wines from 2020. A huge thank you to Dan at Robert Clay Vineyards in Mason, not only for allowing us into his facility, but for helping us every step of the way and making sure we didn’t mess anything up too badly. Thanks to Blake and Gabe for their help as well.
In 2019 we only produced 10 cases of wine for sale. We are very excited to release our first three 2020 wines, totaling about 150 cases, and are very excited to share them soon!
Reminder: If you do not receive emails from Alta Marfa and you would like to receive an email when our 2020 wines are available to buy on our website, please join our email list by going to the ‘Contact’ tab on this website. If you can’t figure it out, just send me an email stating that you would like to be added to the email list. Thanks!
Shortly after bottling our wine we experienced the record cold weather which I’m sure everyone either experienced themselves or saw on TV. In just two days the temperature at the vineyard dropped from 60 degrees F to 2 degrees F. The temperature held at 2 degrees F for about twelve hours overnight. It also snowed 6-12 inches during the same time period. We were very lucky and did not lose power, but without a furnace in the house we burned a ton of wood and didn’t stray far from the fireplace for a few days. We are now working through the vineyard pruning and it is clear that more than a few vines succumbed to the historically low temperatures. We won’t know until after bud-break what the extent of the damage was. My biggest worry, at this point, is that this harsh weather will have negatively affected vineyards all across the state to a degree that will make the high quality fruit we are looking to purchase much harder to come by.
It was beautiful. Here is a frozen oak tree on top of our hill.
A frozen cholla cactus.
A view of Mitre Peak dominating the snowy landscape.
Our friend Adam White at our neighboring vineyard, Chateau Wright, was kind enough to let us take some cuttings from his vineyard for propagation. These are a grape variety called Cinsault. Cinsault is a red grape mostly grown in southern France.
I am attempting to get the cuttings to grow roots before we plant then in the ground in order to, hopefully, improve their chance of survival once they are planted in the vineyard. I have them in a box of compost with a heating pad on the bottom.
Our new-to-us wine press! Very excited to try this thing out!
We also welcomed four ducklings and 6 baby chicks about 4 weeks ago.
Here is Katie with the little duck I named Big Bird.
They grow fast! and they love to swim.
It’s really feeling like spring in West Texas. The migrating birds have returned and green leaves and shoots are appearing everywhere. This picture shows a golden currant that I planted at the vineyard this winter.
Pear blossoms at the house.
Here is Katie on the first day of pruning with Blue Mountain in the background.
