We are fast approaching the end of another great summer. At Staller Estate Winery, this is a very exciting time as we will begin to harvest the hard work that we have put into the vineyard all summer. It is a time that we can look back and appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that tending the vineyard requires. This is not unlike other aspects of our lives. I was inspired to write this memoir today from a great discussion I had with a customer today. We had a large group winery tour and wine tasting for a family that was having a family reunion at the winery. During and after the winery tour we had a great discussion over a few glasses of wine and a cheese and wine paining picnic platter. The family was from Janesville and Lake Geneva and had a number of family members in town from around the country. One of the siblings had flown in from Los Angeles, California with their three daughters, one of the girls was just about to embark the endeavor of education at UC-Davis. This is the same school were Wendy studied wine-making. As we spoke with this young lady as well as her parents about the details of her subjects of interests and advise from Wendy on the best spots to study in Davis, California, we could not help but notice how proud the parents were of their daughter while at the same time sensed a little sadness that their little bird was leaving the nest to take on the world. The parents talked about all the aspects that brought them to this point, from the late night feedings in the first year, the challenges of the toddler years and that they would gladly relive those early years in exchange for the grey hairs they earned for the teenage years. But most of all they talked about the successes; the first full nights’ sleep, first steps, first words (both good and unitedly bad), first soccer goal and the acceptance letter from UC-Davis. I could not help but think of the similar emotion put into each vintage of wine as we sat in the sun-room overlooking the vineyard. As we sipped the wine that required late night pressing at its optimum fermentation to the worried anticipation as the vintage aged, not quite ready to be bottled. And as we looked out over the vineyard, I could not help but think of the pending harvest were it will all start again!