Our boys' teachers are probably relieved that their mom and dad are done teaching these kids for the year. The meme above is all in good fun - I found it floating around on social media and wanted to share LOL :) My apologies for being a little quiet here over the past several weeks. This whole distance learning thing threw a wrench in my plans, but SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER and we are back in action! There has been so much excitement about our upcoming opening! We can't wait! But we aren't quite there yet. We have some interior trim to finish, some concrete to pour, grass to seed, and a few pieces of equipment to place. It's looking like we will need a couple more weeks. But we are OK with that, and we hope you can hold tight just a short time longer. We are hoping this will also provide a little more time for the restrictions to lighten up a bit more, and a chance for all of you to get out and support our local restaurants that have had to adjust their operations through the stay-at-home order. So what have we been up to? Our bar plumbing was installed so the back bar and sinks could be moved in and the tasting room is about complete! I also started moving into my office slowly with the help of the boys. They've gotten to turn a few wrenches through this whole project and are getting really good at it! All of the finishes in my office have come from Meco7 and I'm SO excited to be able to finally work in this space! Thank you Karina! Joe and Darrien have been busy being cellar rats too, making sure the wine continues to progress. The recent step is fining and filtering to make sure the wine is crystal clear by the time of bottling. Everything is shaping up very nicely and we can't wait to share this with you very soon! And Shane and his crew have been busy finishing up the exterior siding, trim, and concrete work. It's so great seeing everything finally come to life! It really did turn out so great! Joe also got a nice window of time to get our field work and seeds planted at the beginning of the month. Thanks to the great weather, he was able to finish in record time - 4 days! It was such a relief to have that complete so we can continue to focus on getting the winery and wines ready to go . And our crew has been super busy in the vineyard. They finished up pruning and have been working on moving our south fence line too. The vines have been growing nicely, but seem to be about 2 weeks behind previous years. That pink hue you see in these pictures will develop into grape clusters! The pizza ovens arrived and we have been working hard on putting some recipes together and tweaking our process so you are able to have a great experience this summer. Thank you to all of our taste testers for helping us try some new things out on them. It's so good! And just because we are not all work and no play, here are a few pictures of our shenanigans over the last couple of weeks. Cardboard forts, big bubble baths, and nature walks! One last thing, we are getting some new product in for the tasting room. Watch for new additions to our online store over the next couple of weeks! So many great new things coming your way!
3 Comments
Everett D Wallin
5/23/2020 01:52:43 pm
Always good to see the progress that has been made. Looks like a first class operation.
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Lori Bodzioney
5/24/2020 06:45:49 am
Looks like my nephew, Darrien, has a beautiful place to work and good people to work with/for.
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Melanie
5/24/2020 09:36:34 am
Thanks so much Lori and Everett! Some days aren't as good as others, but I guess you could say that about anywhere. Please do stop by next time you are in MN! We would love to meet you!
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About the AuthorI'm Melanie, co-owner of Rolling Forks Vineyards, boy mom & wine lover. Archives
September 2020
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