My Dad and I were together on a Saturday morning in 1971, when we saw "the for sale sign." Ten months later, my parents finished building the house in the old fruit orchard. It was a wonderful place to grow up: catching steelhead in the creek with my dog Josh, afternoons spent hiking with friends in the western hills, exploring the ruins of old farm houses abandoned long ago. As the years passed, I married and moved away. In time, as my Dad’s health failed, we decided to buy the property from my parents and build a little house of our own so we could look after them. By then the old fruit trees had grown tired and old and a friend suggested we plant a vineyard. I didn’t know the first thing about grape vines, but it sounded like a good idea. So in 2002, I cleared the land and with the help of friends planted the vineyard. Like a new parent bringing a baby home, I then had to quickly figure out what came next. So I enrolled in the Viticulture program at Napa Valley College, taking classes as the vineyard grew. Since the beginning I have done the vineyard work myself – the training, the pruning, the irrigation, the cover crop, leaf removal, thinning and sampling the fruit, managing and balancing the crop load throughout the season. I really love working with these amazing plants. I have come to know each of these vines personally. Some are stronger, some are weaker, some are a little unruly and other are well behaved. Looking back over the years I never realized I was truly a farmer at heart. My Dad and I still like to talk about the day we saw "the for sale sign."