Wine Stories: Presented by From The Sky Down
Wine Stories: Presented by From The Sky Down is your inside look at the world of wine, straight from the heart of Woodinville, Washington.
Hosted at the From The Sky Down Tasting Room & Farm, this podcast brings you closer to the stories behind every bottle. Tune in for updates on events and happenings at our tasting room, along with conversations that explore what it really takes to run a modern winery. From vineyard decisions to cellar work, we pull back the curtain and share the journey.
Each episode also dives into regional and global wine industry news, approachable wine education you can actually use, and thoughtful discussions designed to deepen your appreciation of what’s in your glass.
Whether you are a seasoned wine enthusiast or just getting started, Wine Stories offers insight, perspective, and a genuine connection to the craft of winemaking.
Wine Stories: Presented by From The Sky Down
Ep. 2: Why Merlot Got Canceled By A Movie
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We dig into what “from the sky down” really means for wine, from weather and wildfire risk to soils, drainage, and the way vineyards express place. We also get nerdy about minerality, misunderstood grapes like Merlot, and why taste is personal even when the pros are scoring bottles.
• Why rain, heat, aspect, and site shape a vintage
• How soil types and drainage affect vine stress and wine character
• What we mean by minerality and how to describe it better
• Kimmeridgian marl, fossil oyster shells, and why Chablis loves oysters
• El Nino, fire season, vineyard loss, and smoke taint concerns
• From the Sky Down bottling updates plus Chardonnay and malolactic trends
• Carmenere’s history, Bordeaux blending, and why it deserves more love
• The Sideways effect on Merlot and the missing context
• Washington State wine identity, Pinot benchmarks, and blind tasting lessons
• Why wine scores help people explore and why they still miss the point
• Labeling and heritage grapes like Valdiguie and Zinfandel’s real origins
• Old vines, longevity, and cluster shatter and millerandage
We do still have Somm Sessions happening every 1st and 3rd Thursday here, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Every Sunday we have live music, 3 to 6 p.m. July 2nd we are starting every Thursday movie night outdoors, bring your chairs, the snack bar will be open, and you are also welcome to bring your own movie snacks with you.
Farm Banter And Introductions
unknownWe're live.
SPEAKER_00Good morning from the sky down. It's another beautiful day here at the farm. I'm here with Ian. Good morning, Ian.
SPEAKER_04You should really be looking to a second career as a radio host. Because dude, that voice is insane. I try. I try. Or get, you know, do a little voice acting.
SPEAKER_00Voice acting. Who would I be?
SPEAKER_04Dude, you could be anyone. I can see you as a personality on the movie Inside Out. Inside Out. You know, like in Disney.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sure. I'm one of the emotions. Yeah, it'd be one of the emotions. Am I am I greed? Am I disgust? I think you'd just be logic.
SPEAKER_04Because that's the kind of person you are, and like that's kind of your vocal tone. Is it like, yes, this is a very logical decision.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Yeah. You know, one of my favorite characters is Data from Star Trek. So that works out. Very nice.
Brand Name Weather And Soil
SPEAKER_04Welcome to another episode of Wine Stories presented by From the Sky Down. Yeah. Here we are. Here we are. Here we are. What does From the Sky Down mean? I guess we should tell people about what it actually means.
SPEAKER_00I mean it does mean something.
SPEAKER_04It does mean something. There's a couple different interpretations. My favorite one is the farming aspect of From the Sky Down. What does that actually mean? What comes from the sky down? Rain. Rain. Rain. We need rain for farming.
SPEAKER_02Purple rain. Purple rain.
SPEAKER_04R.I.P. Prince. We need rain for the farms for the grapes and everything. I mean we do irrigate here in Washington State. But you know, rain is a huge aspect of farming. Always has been. And the one of the most important things. You know what I'm saying? So that aspect of from the sky down is cool. Something I like.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that in addition to the impact from weather patterns and you know, that's your sky influencing your grapes and throughout your season, your growing season. Yeah. You also have the down, as in down under. You know? I mean, we're just talking about the dirt though, not Australia. Yeah. You know, I mean they grow some great wine in Australia though. They do. Really do enjoy a nice Serez. Nice Shiraz. Shiraz might. If you're Australian, don't get mad at me for my poor accent. Anyway, the ground. That's the down. That's true. The earth is has a big impact on wine. We don't quite know exactly how. We don't. We really don't. Soil type, soil kind of grain size can impact drainage, mineral content, as well as if you encounter multiple different layers, different kinds of soil. So those grapes dig way deep. Want to tell us a little bit about how those roots kind of dig down with the vines, Ian?
SPEAKER_04Tell you about how the roots dig down with the vine. That's hilarious. Different soil types that you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Also, maybe varietal-specific, you know, tendencies to dig deeper versus be more shallow and maybe how different climates can influence a deeper rootstock than others.
SPEAKER_04I don't
Soil Types Drainage And Vine Struggle
SPEAKER_04have much knowledge about different varieties and how deep their roots go necessarily, but different soil types throughout the world, uh, it's actually really interesting to talk about. Some people, if you're more in the scientific realm, you might get a little bit annoyed at this podcast category. But for I mean, most people, uh most vineyard managers and psalms, one thing that we've always kind of seen as a direct effect to wines is a soil type. So whether it's limestone, granite, chimerygian marl, sandy loam, or clay, it is really interesting on how the effect happens. I mean, there's some grapes that are more affected than others, that are more sensitive that take up that terroir, if you will. Pinot Noir is one that is very sensitive to where it's grown and the soils. So that being said, there are you know, the more rocky, I guess you could say, the more stony the soil is, the better the drainage. And vines like a lot of drainage. They don't like to sit with their feet wet very often. And as we know in life, the more struggle happens with a vine, the more character the wine has itself. And so that is a direct something we can apply to our all of our lives, I feel like, you know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, don't take it too easy. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Be like a good vine.
SPEAKER_04Be a good vine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04You know. Yeah, so one thing is interesting, is one thing I can talk about for sure is limestone and granite, because we have some of that here in Washington State, and those are some of the most sought-after and celebrated wine regions in the world have limestone and granite and or granite. Like Northern Rhone area has a lot of granite, and they're known for Syrahs over there. And they're all planted, they don't irrigate in France, so it's all dry farmed over there, and it has tons of drainage. Granite with Syrah can come out having some sort of bacon fat, cured meat, and a lot more expression
Granite Syrah And Minerality Debate
SPEAKER_04of black pepper, and the terrible M word, the minerality. Ooh. Why is minerality terrible? Minerality. Some folks don't like that word because it's a generic term to describe a sort of mineral-like presence in the wine that you're drinking.
SPEAKER_00Um specific, but specific.
SPEAKER_04Whether it be like gravel, like dirty gravel, or like slate or some sort of stone, you know, those are all qualities of minerality, sort of like you would assess quality, the fruit quality of a wine. So if it has more blackberry notes, is it underripe blackberry? Is it ripe, fresh ripe blackberry, is it wild blackberry, or is it like blackberry preserves or jam? Because those are all the qualities of that fruit within the wine, and you can kind of see where the climate has influenced that wine based off of the fruit quality. You know, like if it's oh, there's a fly in my face. There, got it. Sorry. Got distracted with that fly in my face, almost landed my eyeball. I would say that what are they talking about?
SPEAKER_00You're talking about fruit.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, fruit quality. Sorry. That really distracted me. Fruit quality.
SPEAKER_00Flies like fruit too.
SPEAKER_04They do like fruit. That's probably why it won't go on my eyeball. Fruit quality, if that blackberry flavor is a more a jam or a preserve, it's likely going to be a hotter climate that you're looking at. That's where it's grown. Versus if it's like a fresh picked blackberry underripe, it could be a cooler climate that you're looking at, uh, where that grape is grown. You know, that it's very similar for uh minerality, although it's a little bit harder to detect where it's from based off of the type of minerality, versus like if it's chalk, if it's like a white wine and you're looking at chalk, it could be like Kimmeridge and Marl, like Chablis or Loire Valley, or Champagne. If it's more of a flinty, flinty kind of river rock, you know, minerality, you could be looking at Chardonnay from Burgundy, where you know it's limestone predominantly.
Kimmeridgian Marl Fossils And Oysters
SPEAKER_00So you mentioned a term I'm not sure most of our listeners are aware of, Cammeryan Marl. Cammeridgian marl. So as far as I'm aware, please correct me if I'm wrong, this is fossils, basically. Ancient Cambrian period sea life fossils trapped in kind of a limestone-y situation that ends up kind of almost chalk-like. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's more it's more related to chalk than anything else.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So Cameridian is not referencing the Cambrian period and and the fossils.
SPEAKER_04I am unsure.
SPEAKER_00I'm not a geologist. It's time for a fact check. We need a soundboard Ian.
SPEAKER_04We do.
SPEAKER_00Throw a siren in there. Origin of Camaridian.
SPEAKER_04I know we need a fact checker here. Moral. Throw it and some air. Jamie, throw that up for us. I know that Santa Barbara has a Santa Rita Hill specifically. It has a lot of fossilized sea life, ancient fossilized sea life that we call diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous Earth. Interesting. Yeah, and that's kind of Santa Rita Hill's limestone because their Pinot Noirs are very, very similar to burgundy in a whole lot of ways. With the salinity, it brings out like an olive toppenade and mushroom tone that I'm obsessed with. And it also has a great balance of fruit flavors like cherry and cranberry. It's just very delicious that way. But I've seen that yeah, I mean Diet Tomaceous Earth is like their limestone, so Burgundy has very similar qualities within the limestone that they they see. But I've had only a handful of Pinot Noirs from like the Loire Valley area. They're not typically known for Pinot Noir, but I've had a few producers that have done Pinot from there, and it it doesn't it doesn't strike that like burgundy quality. It's just like more of a fun thing, I think they're doing, and it's a lot cheaper than any kind of burgundy you'll ever see. But wow.
SPEAKER_00That sounds exciting. I'd love to try some of that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it is really interesting. It drinks more like a game, I feel like.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I'm getting a ping. It looks like we got a g got a result back from our fact checker.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00So we're both right and also maybe slightly wrong. Yeah. So I was wrong in that the Cambrian period fossils are in Marl, but they're not in Chimmeridgian Marl. Chimmeridgians with a K, by the way. Yeah. So the Cambrian period fossils are in calcium carbonate-rich sedimentary rock, which is similar to chalk, but they are located in Xianjiang, Biota, China, and the Burgess Shale in Canada. Okay. Kimmeridgian fossils, they're actually not Cambrian, they're Jurassic era fossils of oyster shells.
SPEAKER_03What?
SPEAKER_00So if you ever know got a bite of an oyster shell or eaten an oyster, you know how intensely saline and mineral forward those are. So really amplifying that flavor if having your basically crushed fossilized oyster shells in your Cambridgean fossils. Yeah. Yeah. So you should eat your oysters with your Chablis.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01That's what we're learning. And champagne. Oysters and champagne.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's always been oysters and sans serre.
SPEAKER_02Fire.
SPEAKER_04Also.
Fire Risk El Nino And Smoke Taint
SPEAKER_00Killer. Speaking of fire, we're getting into the summer season here. Really worried about fires this year with El Nino. You know, it's gonna be a hot one. El Nino. Who's that? The little boy. Except he's not so little and he's he's very, very angry. Oh no, that's so sad. El Nino is a weather pattern that happens due to a change in how ocean currents flow warm water north or south. And effectively, we're getting a warmer Pacific Ocean this year. So it's affecting us here on the west coast of the U.S. So we're going to get a lot of heat. And we did get some rain earlier on, but the rest of the summer is supposed to be very dry and hot.
SPEAKER_04Nice.
SPEAKER_00So California may encounter a lot of fires. Selfishly enjoy a nice dry and hot summer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, big fan.
SPEAKER_00So you can go way down yonder by the river, you know.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Enjoy that. But yes, smoke taint can be a real problem for grapes. Also, straight up, vineyards burning down, as we've seen back in, I believe, 2020.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there was one particular vineyard that I was very ups really bummed about that burned. It's Sincline. They're one of their estate vineyards or Gamay in Columbia Gorge burned down last year, I think. Yeah, last year. Which is so sad. I actually saw I keep on forgetting his name. And I love his wines, and he's such a nice guy, and I feel so bad.
SPEAKER_00The winemaker for Sincline.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the owner and winemaker of Sincline. Super nice gentleman. And I was talking with him shortly after that fire happened, and I had no idea that the fire happened on his property, and I was like talking about his Gamay, because he grows an amazing Gamay, and it's one of my favorite wines in Washington State. And uh James, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Shout out, James.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00R I P your Game will pour out a splash for you later on. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, and I met I saw him like a week after it happened, and I was like, Oh yeah, dude, uh I love that you're planning Gamay. It's amazing that you make it. Because it's so rare in Washington State, but so delicious. And I could just see some like tears kind of welling up in his eyes. He's like, Yeah, burned down last week, and I was like, Oh no. That was so bad. So fires, I mean, fires a real, real thing. So I hope everything's safe this year. We got some fires going up in eastern Washington lately already.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it's gonna be a tough one for fires. Hopefully, we can make it through. We have gotten a decent amount of rain leading up the spring, but snowpack levels are low due to El Nino having a lower precipitation during the winter for the West Coast. So I'm definitely so many different weather um impacts affect wine throughout the year, which is really weather, the your geographic positioning, your location of the vineyard, your aspect, the sun, soil, everything, all from the sky down impacting those wines. So really kind of why we branded the the winery that name. We really wanted to honor the unique impacts and also honor our history with our first vintages of From the Sky Down being single vineyard focused Cabernets from some really special sites.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Really value those sites, and we we there was a huge amount of passion and intention that went into selecting those and to highlight them and some of the best places for Cabernet in uh the Columbia Valley
Bottling Updates Chardonnay And Malolactic
SPEAKER_00in Washington State.
SPEAKER_04So we also have some new developments with From the Sky Down, which is amazing. We bottled our Sauvignon Blanc last Tuesday, that was the 16th, as well as our Chardonnay for From the Sky Down and also Rose.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Rose happened yesterday. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I'm excited. I got to try the Sauvignon Blanc and the Chardonnay yesterday. Actually, we both did, and it was I thought it was delicious. I that Chardonnay is that's a porch pounder. Very fresh. It's very fresh. It's like I think 13.5 alcohol, so it's more kind of it's more leaner on the leaner realm, but there's still a good amount of viscosity and body on the mid-palette to where I feel like it's a people pleaser Chardonnay because those that usually don't like the oaky styles will find enjoyment in this because of the acidity and it's not all oak. And then people that like the oaky buttery chardonnays will like it because of the viscosity and the hint of oak that's in there on the end.
SPEAKER_00Definitely a very balanced wine. I don't quite know the aging program on this, but I do know it was in barrel. I believe it was mostly neutral oak barrels used for this wine. And a little bit of malolactic fermentation, but just the touch to give it that textural quality. Yeah. Definitely become begun to see a bit more of a trend in delicate use of malolactics in Chardonnay as we're moving away from the butter bombs of the 90s and early dots. Yeah. Lots of winemakers are now being very intentional with how they're allowing malolactic to happen, what temperatures it's occurring at, and the degree to which they let that go through in their white wines to allow for a little bit more body, texture, and character in the wine, but without allowing those diacetyl flavors of butter to take over. Instead, producing wines with delicious notes of like slight nuttiness.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Maybe caramel occasionally as well.
SPEAKER_04Caramel?
SPEAKER_00Caramel.
SPEAKER_04I haven't heard that. Caramel?
SPEAKER_00Caramel.
SPEAKER_04Caramel.
SPEAKER_00Are we are we caram corn? I'm I'm a caramel person. Caramel. Caramel. I think I say caramel more often. Yeah. You know. But what did I say before? Caramel. Oh. I don't know where that accent came from. I was channeling my ancestors in Tennessee, I think.
SPEAKER_04Tennessee, yeah. That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00You're the only ten I see.
SPEAKER_04Hilarious. Yeah, so we're really excited. We're for From the Sky Down, and we're gonna do some blends that have some more, some red blends. A little bit later that has
Carmenere History And Bordeaux Blends
SPEAKER_04some Merlot blended in as well with some Kabisov and some other ones. That would be cool to do. Heard you talking about uh Carmoniere yesterday. Yeah, we were chatting about. Which is a really fun and very nerdy grape. It's very interesting. And I think it'd be cool if we did 100% carminiere.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I would love a carminiere. If we did that, I'd be all over it.
SPEAKER_04If we're trying to go more Bordeaux focused, I mean that would be a good, very unique and fun thing to do. Just do like a really small bottling of it. Sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Just throwing out ideas. We'll see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00I've really enjoyed. I've had some 100% carmoniers. I think they're delicious. I do think it does benefit from a touch of cab or cab franc in there just to give it a little bit of lift and kind of bigger tannins, a little fleshier on the front end. Because I love the herbal notes from Carmoniere. I love the pyrazines, the peppery qualities, but I love when it comes with a little bit of a kick as well. So I like maybe like a 90-10 Carminiere Cab or maybe 80-20 Carmaniere Cab Franc situation, I think. Those are some of my favorites I've had expressions of Carmaniere.
SPEAKER_04For those of you that don't know what Carmaniere is, it's a Bordeaux grape variety. It's one of the six red grape varieties that Bordeaux uses for their blends. Bordeaux area, you have left and right bank. They don't usually make a hundred percent great variety of any one grape. It's usually blends. So left bank is Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, and right bank is Merleau dominant. Example of left bank would be Pouilliac, Saint-Julian, and the right bank would be Pomerol and Saint Million. So those are your ex examples. So the six red grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merleau, Malbec, Petit Verdeau, Petit Verdeaux, and Carminiere.
SPEAKER_00And a lot of people forget about Carminiere, as for a long time people knew Bordeaux as having five grape varieties. And this is due to a plague. I don't know if we talked about this on the last podcast, but phyloxra destroyed the majority of French vines, almost wiped out French uh wine production back in the 1800s. And Carmeniere was completely wiped out. There was none left in France. It was only saved by a French wine merchant who had sold grape vineyard vine cuttings to Brazilian winemakers. Or was it Brazilian or Chilean? Chilean. Excuse me. Chilean winemakers. He sold it under the moniker Black Merlot.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they thought it was Merlot for a long time.
SPEAKER_00And then only until I think the 1980s or 90s they were able to genetically sequence that and find out that turns out it's Carminiere. And then they began to slowly replant, I think, a little bit of it, although France still doesn't really like carbonniere. Yeah, correct. It was never a hugely planted there, but it's kind of just the ugly duckling of the six grapes, although it's not very ugly. I really think it's a beautiful wine. Really, really enjoyable. If you like Cab Franc and you like the herbaceousness that can come out of that, you would probably like carbonier. Yeah, I agree a thousand percent. Speaking of French varietals, I believe we wanted to talk a little
Merlot Stigma After Sideways
SPEAKER_00bit about the state of Merlot.
SPEAKER_04Uh yes. Merlot. The the very misunderstood and misrepresented great variety of America. Of America. Of America. Yeah. Because mostly American consumers that have a stigma towards Merlot. Just because of a movie that is really good called Sideways.
SPEAKER_00No, that should be on our list for movie night.
SPEAKER_04It should be on our list for movie night.
SPEAKER_00Listeners, if you're hearing this, we are doing movie nights at the farm coming up here in the next couple months. Up on our beautiful lawn space at the evenings here at the farm with a projector. It's gonna be wonderful family friendly movies.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Love to see you there.
SPEAKER_04Sideways is not a family friendly movie. There's a lot of cussing involved. A lot of adult things to be talked about in the movie. So I wouldn't play it here necessarily for families, but it is a good movie. Go check it out. Yeah, so one thing of in Sideways, the premise is that. There is a bachelor party happening. These two gentlemen are based in San Diego, California. And they take the drive to Santa Barbara County, a little wine country over there. And the main character that Paul Giamatti plays, he's obsessed with Pinot Noir. And he talks about Pinot Noir the whole time. And he does not like Merlot very much in the movie. So this character is seen as a wine aficionado. He's a little snooty, a little stuck up, thinks he knows everything about wine. But the audience trusts him in his wine knowledge. That's how the character development kind of works in this movie. Therefore, uh Merlot took a really big hit after Sideways released because the general public was like, oh, Merlot is not a good great variety. It is gross, or I don't like Merlot, XYZ. Which is an interesting thing because Merlot is doesn't really have any sort of standout character that would create an aversion, I feel like. It is a very and for Psalm terms, we would say it's a donut hole. It's just like the middle of the grid. So it's like medium body, medium tannins, medium acidity. It's usually like medium across the board for the most part for your typical, stereotypical Merlot. So there's not like a quality in Merlot. That's why I got confused by it a bunch in the past. I was like, why do people not like Merlot? It doesn't make any sense. I learned it's because the influence of the movie is sideways. So one thing about the movie that changes a whole lot of things. So he stands outside of the wine merchant cafe in Los Olivos and he talks to his buddy and there's two girls in there waiting for them. And it's kind of like a sort of like a blind date situation, a little bit. And Paul Giamatti's character does not want to go in. He is recently divorced and he's trying to get over his ex-wife, yada yada yada. And he said, if anyone is drinking any effing Merlot, I am leaving.
SPEAKER_03Is what he said. Wow. Which is wild.
SPEAKER_04So I first saw the movie when Blockbuster was still around and we were getting renting our movies from Blockbuster. So I rented the DVD and threw it in my thing my PlayStation at the time. And I like looking at deleted scenes a whole lot because they're just fun. And back in the day when we had DVDs, there was the option to see all of the directors' cuts and see a bunch of deleted scenes. So one thing I realized within a deleted scene that was cut, which should have been which should have stayed in the movie, I think, because it's really and it's really needed backstory for the character development and the context of the Merlot situation. Where he talks about why he hates Merlot so much is because it was his ex-wife's favorite great variety. And also the great variety of choice at their wedding. And she divorced him and he is trying to get over his ex-wife. So in the context of if anyone's drinking any effing Merlot, I'm leaving, makes a lot of sense because he's trying to avoid this traumatic or kind of get over this traumatic experience.
SPEAKER_00It makes sense in context, but they remove the entire context of the movie. And for some reason, people see Paul Giamatti's character as being some sort of authority in wine as well. I believe there's also a line from the movie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he demeans Merlot saying it's only to be used as a blending varietal. Is that is that correct? Does he say that or something?
SPEAKER_04Uh he doesn't say that specifically, but he alludes to it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. He alludes to the fact that it's like quote unquote subpar varietal and should only be seen in a blend and is only useful when paired with other superior grape varietals. There's something like that that he alludes to in the movie.
SPEAKER_04And it's it is funny and is kind of ironic because his favorite wine that he's been saving the whole time, waiting for its pink peak drinking window, which no one really does that anymore, unless you're a psalm. Oh, that's fair. Which is funny. Like 300 bottles sitting because, you know, you're that guy. He that bottle is a bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc, which is a highly regarded Grand Cru wine of the right bank. And it is very much Merlot dominated in that blend. It's about 65 to 80 percent Merlot. And he just which it's ironic because he hates Merlot the whole movie. And at the end of the movie, he's drinking this wine. He's like, Oh, it's perfect, it's amazing. He's drinking out of a red solo cup with this girl that he met in Los Livos, you know.
SPEAKER_00Wow, comes full circle, does too bad the viewer did not understand what exactly was going into that.
SPEAKER_04I feel like only like someone who is a super wine nerd or a simolier would I think that's the only thing that would really person that would actually catch it.
SPEAKER_00Also, it was it the impact this movie had was completely disproportionate. It completely skewed the entire industry. Merlot sales dropped, I think, almost 80% in the U.S. Oh, yeah, people immediately following the movie.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, people in Santa Barbara, they ripped out their Merlot vines because of that situation, and they planted Syrah instead.
SPEAKER_00There was a huge consequence also up here in Washington. One of the largest wineries at the time, uh Chateau Saint-Michel, had planted a substantial amount of Merlot, thinking it was going to be Washington's quintessential grape. That was their main red wine bet after their success with Riesling. And they encountered a lot of resistance and had a much more difficult time expanding than they thought since they'd bet so heavily on Merlot shortly before Sideways came out. Which is kind of funny
Washington Wine Identity Pinot Benchmarks
SPEAKER_00because now it's kind of becoming Syrah a little bit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And I mean, one thing about Washington State is that it isn't known for any particular thing because it's sort of like a Swiss army knife. We have so many different diverse microclimates and diverse soil types, and there's so many places to grow quality grapes that we have been are aren't really known for anything one in particular. I think Napa is known for cab just because and Chardonnay because of the judgment of Paris. And that really became their identity because they won over the French back in 1976 with these particular grape varieties, and then they put all of their pennies into those grape varieties.
SPEAKER_00Even though Napa also can do very well at other grapes as well, Merlot, Cab Franc. I love a Cab Franc from Napa, it's one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_04Also, they have this grape variety called uh Valdeghi, which is really interesting. It is very specific to Napa, that one. It is, I don't even know how to really explain it. It's somewhere in between like a Merlot and a Pinot Noir in a lot of ways. Kind of reminds me of Grenache. And they also have this, they also have Mitaro there, which is Morvedra, but they call it Mitaro for some reason. It's a certain clone. It's this yeah, it's a certain clone of Morved, and they call Mitaro.
SPEAKER_00Very interesting. What's the history behind Valdegee? Where's that coming from?
SPEAKER_04Valdeghi, I don't remember offhand, but I but we can look it up in the fact check. Fact check, fact check check. Valdeghi, great variety.
SPEAKER_00It's from southern France. Celebrated as a Californian heritage varietal. Once mistakenly called Napa Gamay. Yeah. Yields light to medium-bodied, high acidic reds with bright berry and floral notes, making it the perfect summer red to serve lightly chilled. Valdegee is fire. We've been serving a lightly chilled grenache here at the farm this past month for our summer what we call the farm shed. A little shack we have out back for your wine needs. Serving you up on the lawn in the hot summer heat.
SPEAKER_04They also have some charcuterie every now and then as well, coming from the farm shed.
SPEAKER_00We love a little charcuterie.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Brought to you by a local business called Gray's Craze.
SPEAKER_00Shout out Grays Craze.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they specialize in charcuterie boards and they're really good. I love them. They're very tasty. Yeah, no, Napa has a bunch of really cool, great varieties. But I mean, Washington State isn't known for anything one in particular because we grow so many quality different grapes. But I mean Reesling Chardonnay has been on top. I mean, I can see Shenon Blanc having a big future in this state, too. Because I mean, so many, I mean, especially Royal Slope, they grow, they can grow so many different grape varieties. They do anything from Southern Rhone grape varieties, like they do Roussan, Marzon, Grenache, Morvet, Sinso. They also do some Grenache Blanc, which is really tasty. They do Gamay, Pinot Noir, Syrah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, it's so versatile.
SPEAKER_04We're talking about Washington, right? We're talking about Royal Slope. Yeah, Washington State.
SPEAKER_00So because Washington has been so good at and competent at growing so many different grape varietals, it's been hard for us to find an identity in one specific grape. In the wine industry, a lot of us have been acknowledging Syrah in recent years for just how special Washington Syrah is. And it really, we get compared to California a lot. They are our older wine-producing brother and larger wine-producing brother. So through those comparisons, there's really not a good analog for Syrah production in California. The volume and quality to which Washington produces Syrah is definitely above that, I'd say, than California's Syrah. And so, in a marketing and in wine, being unique sits you apart. Which I don't know if there was a judgment of Paris kind of moment for Oregon, but they're known for Pinot Noir without kind of that fanfare and everything, and due to the fact that that's its core competency. The misty valley of Willamette Valley just does very well at producing some delicious, delicate Pinot Noir, you know, the diva of a grape that it is.
SPEAKER_04I mean, I think there's something to be said about that because Pinot Noir has a lot of mushroomy kind of notes to it. And Willamette Valley is known for mushrooms and and truffles as well. You can go truffle hunting in Oregon. I think it, you know, it goes where it grows is a I think that is a very true statement as far as food pairings and whatnot. So like anything anywhere that'd be misty like that would be great for Pinot. Only unfortunate thing about Pinot is that it is very susceptible to rot and diseases like that because the cluster is so tight that it you know tends to have a lot of rot in the cluster. But it does like those sort of environments where truffles and mushrooms are usually found. And and I know Oregon Pinot's ha definitely have a whole lot of that umami sort of flavor, which is amazing, and it's why people are drawn to it for sure. But there there was a sort of judgment of Paris for Pinot Noir.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04It was a documentary called Psalm Three. There are three different documentaries. The psalm, there's a Psalm 1 where people let me follow the master's exam candidates. And then the second Psalm was about wine making and different wine regions and different grape varieties and stories told by vineyard managers, winemakers, and similiers, which I think the second one is probably my favorite because I get to really nerd out about it, and they really talk about wine pairings too in depth.
SPEAKER_00I think I've only ever seen Psalm 1 and 2. I don't think I've seen Psalm 3.
SPEAKER_04It is really interesting. It does follow it follows Dustin Wilson, who's a master simulier and probably one of my favorite psalms in the US. And he owns uh this wine shop called Verve wine shop. They have locations in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and he decided he wanted to do a judgment of Paris style, but for Pinot Noir. So he blind tasted arguably the best palettes in the world. And they all gathered in New York. And it was like, I think 12 of his psalm friends, a bunch of master psalms were there, highly regarded sommoliers. And and they he wanted to narrow it down to three of the best Pinot Noirs out of I don't know how many they tasted, probably 10, something like that. They tried they tasted a bunch of Pinot's and they narrowed it down to three different ones, and then had Jansis Robinson, Steven Spurrier, and Fred Dame blind taste those three and trying to figure out what is the best of the best. Because one thing that happened was that Fred, Jansis, and Steven Spurrier all picked different wines, and so there was no tiebreaker between the three bottles. But three bottles were Domain Delacote, Bloom's Field in Santa Barbara, Santa Rita Hills, which is a Raj Parr. I think he still owns it. But Sashi Mormon is now the winemaker there. So it was that one, and there was an organ Pinot, and then there was a Vulnae Pinot from Burgundy, Grand Cru Volnay. And those are the three that really you know made the top, which is really interesting. And they all were picked differently.
SPEAKER_00Three tasters, three wines just shows how unique every palette is, even at the highest levels.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Those are the best tasters in the whole world. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like hands down. To a degree, there are aspects of wine that are subjective. And all three of those wines must have been incredible to make it through that panel. And it's like a gauntlet. There is also a lot of pre-selection done for what wines were even going to be tasted that day as well. So once you're at that level of quality and distinction, all three of those would have been incredible wines. It comes down to taste. Yeah. And that's why one of the favorite, my favorite sayings that I've been told about drinking wine is drink what you love. Don't let prestige or reputation of wine necessarily dictate what your enjoyment is. And it can be useful to a new consumer or someone seeking out new wines as a guide for what might be of quality. However, for someone who's already enjoying something, don't let someone else's rating of the wine diminish your appreciation.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's completely up to you. It's a very emotional experience and that should be treasured and enjoyed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
Wine Scores Competitions And Taste Subjectivity
SPEAKER_04And speaking of ratings, when people talk about wine critic ratings, like the 100 point system, it is really interesting. I mean, I am starting in my wine career, I was always in the camp of not liking ratings and not thinking they were accurate or important. Mostly because I was in the boutique wine space where a lot of the little producers that made really excellent high quality wines didn't submit their wines to ratings because they just didn't believe in the process. And they thought it was kind of BS a little bit. Not saying not it that's not because they got low ratings or low scores, it's because they've never ever submitted their wines to scores before. But I would say I do like scores because it gets people drinking more wine. And ultimately, I'm a fan of anything that gets people to drink more wine.
SPEAKER_00I think that's a very fair point. And the score system, it's been in place and it's been so success successful. People love ranking things. We've seen the success of like, I mean, back in the like 2010s, BuzzFeed rankings and all of that. And like there's all these videos, like Epicurious on YouTube, and these are the channels that do all of these rankings. People love to see things ranked. And I think it's just in human nature to want to know what's better than something else. Yeah. We're very competitive beings. And so being able to quantify wine to that degree, something that is kind of esoteric and a little bit emotionally bound down to a number for people new to wine and for other people who are not necessarily new to wine, it's makes it easier to digest and understand. And making wine more approachable is something that we definitely Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04I've had like a number of hundred point wines, whether it's it really also the wine critic really matters a whole lot with that score or any kind of score, because you have to follow the person that you like their palate the most or you trust the most. And just because someone has a hundred-point score doesn't mean that you're necessarily gonna like that wine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just like those three tasters um from Psalm 3, all very like highly expert, maybe the three best tasters in the world trying wines, all pick different wines. Yeah. So the score definitely matters, and it's fun to try and see kind of comparisons on the big reviewers out there and which ones you tend to follow. There are some that genuinely score higher on average as well, and it's not necessarily a good or bad thing. They're just using a slightly different scoring system for how they're doing their points, and it just takes a little bit of perspective and understanding of how they score to understand the value of those scores. A 98 from one reviewer is not the same as a 98 from another reviewer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you you have to kind of look at those within the context of who's giving out the score, like you're saying.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, the people I trust the most are usually like Venice, Jeb Dunneck, Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator. Those are like the main ones that I really really trust, and their scores go a lot long, a long way for me than others do. I've I've never been in the camp of wine competitions. I just don't really think they're really that worth it, in my opinion. But it depends.
SPEAKER_00Oh, like the gold medal winner competitions.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. You're just I mean you have like a a panel of people trying 900 wines in like a day. You know, it's just like where's your palate at at that point? You know, it's gotta be fatigued, it it's not gonna be accurate, you know.
SPEAKER_00And that's just my opinion, but I I really love I know this may be controversial. I if I was to judge wines in a competition like situation, I would want it to be over a period of time, and I would want to do sort of a bracket system, and I'd have a panel of people, and we would all taste the wines and vote on who moves on, and that would be per varietal. That's pretty cool. I think that would be a way to really get some good side-by-sides going on and assess the wines on quality and appreciation and complexity. And I'm sure we'd have a couple stalemates, but we'd end up with an odd number of people. So we would we would avoid that. But I would quite like to do that, even as just a little experiment, maybe with local wines, been something I've been curious about for some time too. That could be cool. Do varietal focus and really find out who's got some interesting techniques going on. Because sometimes when you're going tasting, you're usually at one location, one producer. If you go to a wine shop or or a wine bar, that's different.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But usually you're not within the context of doing really dedicated side-by-sides of truly seeing who maybe has an elevated process or who's uh who's really helping the wine express its complexity level and finding where their true gems are. So something for my own education. Would love to do.
SPEAKER_04That's a great idea, honestly. I think more people should look into doing that sort of system. That'd be interesting to follow along, too. Yeah. Yeah. Different articles based on the different brackets and tiers and stuff that you're at.
SPEAKER_00Maybe that'll be a piece of content we'll have coming out sometime
Heritage Varietals Labels And Terroir Aromas
SPEAKER_00soon.
SPEAKER_04That could be cool. I like that.
SPEAKER_00So looping back to an earlier point of conversation we're talking about. Yeah. I found some more information. Valdegui. So in France it's not known as Valdegui. It is known as Gros Ageroi.
SPEAKER_03Oh really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, in Legvodac. Yeah. Am I pronouncing that correctly?
SPEAKER_03I think so. Let me see the spelling.
SPEAKER_00Legro Michel. The old banana. Have you guys heard of the old? The old bananas?
SPEAKER_04Oh, Grojoa. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Ojoa, that's also in the Loire Valley, I believe. Or there's an Ajoa Gris, I think, in there.
SPEAKER_00Apparently that is what Valdegi is.
SPEAKER_04You know who makes one? Is Lobo Hills. Lobo Hills, really. I believe. Yeah, in the warehouse district in Woodenville. Believe they do an Ajoa.
SPEAKER_00Now that'd be a fun little field trip. Yeah. So how this got to California, it was sold to them as Gamay, kind of like the Black Merlot situation in Chile. And so they were selling it as Napa Gamay after they realized it wasn't quite game. And then in the I think the 80s or 90s, they were told they had to stop because it wasn't Gamay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00France got mad. Don't make France mad. They'll sue you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, we uh label things wrong. That's correct. We do. It's just like grammatically does not make sense.
SPEAKER_00We barred upon ourselves here in the US.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah, like labeling something Chablis or Champagne is just kind of weird because it's a a region. You know, if Seattle was known for some sort of type of coffee and we called it Seattle. And then someone in Kansas City started making the same type of coffee and they called it Seattle. Seattle would get a little upset.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we would. We would it's about pride.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And also grammatically just doesn't really make any sense. Yeah. Okay. Grammatically it doesn't. You call something a region and it's just not from that region, you're just like it's just confusing.
SPEAKER_01That's you're that's right. It is confusing.
SPEAKER_03You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01I do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, there's a bunch of things that happen that way with different grape varieties coming into California or the West Coast or whatever, and it mutating and changing and having a different name, like Zinfandel is a big big one for that because I don't know if people know this, but before the Prohibition, if we did not have the Prohibition, we would likely California and the West Coast would likely be very influenced by Italian and Spanish grape varieties rather than French.
SPEAKER_00California's climate is very Mediterranean focused and very closely resembles Italy in some some aspects.
SPEAKER_04Oh for sure. Yeah. And well, most of the immigrants that came to California were Spanish and Italian. And they were planting all these different grapes. Like in California, you can still find a grape called Mission Grape, which is something that you know during the mission of California, Spanish brought over. It still grows kind of wild. Yeah. It's very light, very delicate grape variety. It's like lighter than a Pinot Noir. But it's very tasty. And Zinfandel was one of those that got brought over by Italians. And Italy Zinfandel is called Primitivo. And it is not native to Italy. It's actually native to Croatia. It's a Croatian grape variety, which is called Karl Jenek Katalonsky. That's quite a mouthful. Yeah. Also known as Tribidrag in Croatia. And so it got brought over to Italy because of Croatian immigrants. And then Italian immigrants came over to California and they planted a bunch of Primitivo. And then it kind of more mutated outside of that primitivo, I guess, style or profile. And it's called Zinfandel. And so Zinfandel is a mutation of the Primitivo or Tribidrag grape that is now very unique to California itself. Yeah. Which is a really interesting story. I love stories like that.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of latched onto its own geographic identity, which is kind of similar to the story of Shiraz in Australia. It really seems to have its own signature. And this is debated among genetic and chemists, chemists, chem chemical scientists who've researched grapes and their ability to pick up on flavors and aromas of their environments. And keep telling us Somaliers and wine industry folk that the grapes do not take on aspects of their environment, such as eucalyptus from the trees in Australia or orchard fruit from being planted on an old orchard. But nearly everyone who's really looked at wine chooses to disbelieve those scientists. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04I mean, there's a bunch. I mean, I know I won't say any names or anything like that. There's some very respected, more scientific folk for viticulture and winemaking in this state that I look up to a whole lot, but I just disagree with their point of view on this. But yeah, I mean, grapes do take up aspects of their natural environment. Like there's a ton of eucalyptus that grows wild over in Australia, and Australian Shiraz and Cab can take on more of a eucalyptus sort of profile. Same is true because in California, and when I was making wine in Santa Barbara, I was sourcing a lot of different Syrahs from different areas. One of them is called Thompson Vineyard in San Annez Valley, and they have wild eucalyptus trees growing there. And that Syrah always had a sort of eucalyptus oil sort of nose and profile to it that was really interesting, versus the vineyard that was, you know, a few miles down the road, you know, called Larner Vineyard that you know had more of a intensity to it, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and there's some definitely some debate in terms of how these flavors are getting into the grapes. And the more romantic notion that I really like is the idea of the mycelial network. I don't know if we want to get too into that. I mean, it's not super woo-woo, it's literally just the network of rootstock, forest floor, fungi that's growing in the soil that makes up your top layer, usually in the forest. Uh, but in any region with lots of plant life, there's going to be this pad of what you call the mycelial network, which is not just mushroom mycelium, it's the network of roots and sharing of water between trees, which we have researched and found that trees do share water and can help other trees that are struggling in a forest scenario. And so the notion I like to uh kind of believe in, even though I I have no evidence to support this, is that grapevines, as they're going through these different layers of soil, will encounter other rootstock of other plants. And perhaps they are communicating it or exchanging minerals or information with those plants.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And if that plant happens to be a eucalyptus tree root, maybe that tree root happens to pull concentrations of minerals that help it to develop the eucalyptus oil, and maybe that gets transferred into the grape. But another likely scenario would be maybe just there's lots of those esters in the air from the eucalyptus trees being around, and it's a very potent compound, and those esters and oils are settling on the skins of those grapes. And upon crushing and fermenting on those skins, the oils are extracted and integrated into the wine as well. So I think both are very plausible with what's happening.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's there's a bit of horticulture aspect to that as well. Folks that I don't
Vine Age Longevity And Cluster Shatter
SPEAKER_04know if who knows about horticulture, but it is a really interesting way to farm, it's mostly used to farming food where certain squashes and certain leafy greens have a really great relationship when they're planted together or very close to one another, and it can have some very promising results for you know successful berries or different types of food and whatnot because of the relationship. And others don't do well together, and they won't, you know, share that resource or help each other grow in that way. So it's really interesting. There is a whole school on horticulture in OHI, California that they teach all this kind of stuff. So I mean that has a direct relationship, I feel like, to vineyards as well. I don't know, that whole viticulture and horticulture aspect is is really interesting to me. I don't know too much about it, but it is an aspect that I would love to talk with uh some true expert. True expert about, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's that's really fascinating. And what's interesting is if if this is being explored more recently, active in the wine community, we aren't going to really see results from this study until years and years down the line because it takes so long for grapevines to mature. And if you're doing these like double-blind studies of the same varietal next to different plants growing and measuring the impact, a grapevine doesn't fully mature until five to seven years after initial planting, and it isn't really considered to be producing super intense berries until 15 plus years after planting. For certain varietals, it definitely depends.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it depends on the grape variety and what you're trying to do. I know red wines, the first fruit is usually I mean, for most grape varieties, the first fruit is the third leaf. So it's the third year it's planted, we'll have the first fruits. But those first fruits are usually pretty imbalanced with the sugars and the acids. For red wines, a lot of folks like to make rose out of that first fruit because it has a bright acidity to it usually. And you know, if you're just solely making it for red wine, you'll probably drop that f first fruit that first year. And so the fourth year will be kind of your first vintage, although pretty young vines. But yeah, I wanted usually like seven, eight years in, that vine is a lot more planted in that area and will you know regularly produce really quality fruit, and it just gets better over time. I know that sometimes Syrah will have will struggle after twenty years. Depends on what you're looking for and what the grape grower is looking for. If they're looking for quantity per acre, then they're likely going to have to replant that Syrah after 20 years. But if you're looking for just general quality and you don't necessarily care that much about the tonnage per acre, you're probably gonna let that Syrah go for a lot longer because you're not gonna be getting as many grape clusters out of a 20-year-old Syrah because after time it starts the production starts to decline. But the concentration of fruit flavors and extraction of the terroir and the quality is going to be a whole lot better within each kind of grape cluster it has. I mean, I think DRC over in Burgundy, Domain Romini Conte, I think they have like a hundred-year-old Pinot Noir vine that produces five grapes or something like that.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_04Just and they just still have it there. Well they add it in too. They pick 'em still. Okay. They add it into the to the pick bins. But I mean that's that's a vineyard where the bottles cost, you know, you know, anywhere from like $2,500 to like five grand per bottle on a current release. That's true. And so you can kind of divide that into like five dollars per grape at that point. Interesting. So they're gonna keep all the grapes.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Well, I've heard that some varietals tend to have different levels of longevity in production than others. Specifically, I've heard about the Zinfandel you're talking about in California can have quite the lifespan. Is it true that they can grow 75, even 100 years and still be producing?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they can. One thing about Zen is really weird, is that it has an un uneven ripening pattern on the grape cluster. It looks like a not really disease, but this thing called shatter that can happen sometimes where you have on one cluster you have fully developed and ripe phenolic phenolically ripe grapes, and in the same cluster you have green small berries that will never mature.
SPEAKER_00If I if I'm not mistaken, the same scenario, the same phenomena can be found on Cabernet Franc as well.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I haven't run into that with Cab Franc personally, but I have with Zen a whole lot. That's why most Zinfandels are really high alcohol because people tend to pick it when the whole grape cluster is fully developed and ripened, which means a good amount of grapes on that same cluster will be overly ripe. And so the alcohol just shoots through the roof. But you're seeing more kind of recent developments with Zen, you're seeing a lot more folks in Mendocino County do some cool climate zins, which are really interesting. They're a lot leaner in style, and they're not crazy boozy. So I'd be interested in try some of those mendocino zins. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01That'd be fun. I'm looking looking here in our fact checker.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00For Cab Franc, it is not kind of typical of the varietal. However, the varietal is ex is susceptible to a problem that can occur during the flowering stage. Yeah. If it gets a lot of wind and rain during flowering, their pollination will be thrown off. And so the the the timing at which those flowers turn to bud and bud, sorry, turn to fruit is going to be misplaced. And so it's this is in addition to shatter, is also called millerandage or hen and chicken. Because you have the fully grown grape and then the little tiny guys that can occur.
SPEAKER_01So a fault due to poor weather. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's kind of wild.
Farm Events Psalm Sessions Movie Nights
SPEAKER_04So I think that might be our time for today. Maybe we should go over a few different things before we leave.
SPEAKER_00You guys it's time for the news. The news. Alright, so some things happening here at the farm. We do still have Psalm sessions happening every first and third Thursday here with Ian, our gracious host. Yes, indeed. If you'd like to join, he will educate your brains on some future wine knowledge, talking about varieties, regions, and how to taste properly and also how to enjoy wine. Explore some new varieties.
SPEAKER_04Different theme every time. 5 30 to 7 p.m. Every first and third Thursday here at the From Skydown Farm. Get s get educated.
SPEAKER_00And every Sunday we have live music. Yes, 3 to 6 p.m. every Sunday. Live music. It is indoors. We pumped that out outside, though. You're welcome to walk around the grounds as you enjoy a glass of wine, listen to some of the music. Really, some wonderful artists, local artists that we have come out, and it's really a great time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And we're working on paint and sip thing. We do have outdoor movies coming up, which is very exciting. So next Thursday, which is what date is that next Thursday?
SPEAKER_00The 20-something.
SPEAKER_04The 20-something. The 25th. Yep. June 25th. We are just kidding. July 2nd. So not next Thursday, but Thursday after. So July 2nd, we are starting every Thursday. We are doing a movie night. Outdoors. Bring your chairs. Don't bring tall camping chairs, but bring some blankets or some beach chairs. Low back chairs are preferred. Low back chairs. Indeed. The snack bar will be open. The farm shed will turn into a popcorn and snack bar during that time and also wine bar.
SPEAKER_00You are also welcome to bring your own movie snacks with you. We are open to outside food here. So if you have some fun snacks, just bring it up to share. And I'll be coming by to steal your snacks.
SPEAKER_04All right. Well, thank you guys for listening. Um, hope you all have a great rest of your day.
SPEAKER_00Cheers. From us to you, from the sky down, have a wonderful day.