Having fun, BUT...

Two weeks on the vineyard and the reality of the task that we have taken on is somewhat overwhelming.

We are having great fun out on the vineyard, but the marketing side of the venture, which is rather important really, is less fun. However, no sales means no income, so it must be done - maybe tomorrow... 

When you are not used to tooting your own trumpet, getting out there and saying "look at our amazing wine" does not come naturally, even when it is amazing wine :)

So, imagine our delight when we learned that the Greylands Ridge Pinot Noir 2014, (the last Pinot Noir bottled under the Greylands Ridge label earlier this year) has won a Pure Gold medal in the lastest Air NZ Wine Awards.  The glory goes, of course, to the previous owners, their vintner Antony Worch, and their viticulturist Robyn Sim, who all collaborated to produce this delicious wine. But WE reap the benefits, both in the huge morale boost, and on the financial side.

Winning the medal is good for morale AND

• gives us a really good reason to tell people our exciting news and to offer our wine without being shy about it
• gives us confidence in the prices we have put on the wines - the quality is "up there" with the big boys 
• was a great stimulus (a kick in the pants to stop procrastinating and) to get on with finalising the website, and starting a Grey Ridge FB page
• will be great publicity for the wine itself
• and sets the benchmark to strive for with our future vintages - under the Grey Ridge label!

So, of course the answer to the question is "yes"! Winning a gold medal certainly boosted our morale and has also stimulated and challenged us to get on with the hard bits (marketng) as well as the fun bits (working out in the sunshine).

The other morale booster has been the way so many of our friends have shared our joy, with messages  of support (and some purchases too :) )

Now I need to get out there and do some more shoot thinning.  I'll tell you about that fun task later.

cheers

Sue