Photo by: Denise M. Gardner
Do you get to the end of the calendar year and feel desperate for a little time off?
Unless you get to complete your winemaking season by September, physically, the end of the year can be grueling in the cellar. There’s a general rush to get as much completed as possible and stored away in the cellar, and in the back of our minds, until another day. Some wineries switch production focus completely and start fermenting fruit wines around the clock.
Furthermore, most family-owned winery businesses switch precedence to the retail season in November and December. Long hours, lots of visitors, and days can be packed with events.
I don’t know about you, but by January 1st, I’m usually wishing for a long vacation.
Due to the seasonality of making wine in the Northern Hemisphere, I usually avoid making large resolutions or business goals in the beginning of January. It doesn’t feel like the right time. Instead, I take January to reflect on the past vintage and write down aspirations for the coming year.
Take Some Time to Set Winemaking Goals
Before you know it, pruning season will be long past, new green growth will be on the vines, and we’ll be counting down days to the start of harvest. If we’re not careful, we get so far into our routine that we forget to take some time and reflect upon what new wines we want to make in 2020 or what new practices we’d like to try to complete in the cellar.
In a recent The Happiness Lab podcast episode (A New Hope), Dr. Laurie Santos (the host) discusses how timing is associated with the success of starting new habits. After listening to the episode, I think it’s fair to say that the end of harvest or the beginning of a new year are perfect times to jump-start ourselves into new aspirations.
That’s why I’m bringing you a 2020 Winemaking Ambitions worksheet to reflect upon the past harvest, and help you determine:
- What winemaking challenges you may have experienced last vintage.
- What current trends interest you as a winemaker.
- What goals you may have for the new vintage.
By the end of the worksheet, you’ll find a series of “Next Steps” packed with suggestions and resources that can guide you in the right direction through the remainder of the year.
Anyone can access and download the 2020 Winemaking Ambitions worksheet. DG Winemaking clients can also use the worksheet in conjunction with the Post-Harvest Checklist Timeline to guide you through the production year. These tools are available to assist you in organizing the year ahead.
Share Your Winemaking Ambitions
After you take some time to fill in the 2020 Winemaking Ambitions worksheet, jump on over to Instagram or Facebook, and share some of your goals with me! You can DM me or comment on the post regarding my own 2020 goals! If there’s a topic you’re looking for more content on, I’ll do my best to point you in a direction for discovery.
Looking forward to a fruitful 2020!
