Growing Pains

Well, we have one year under our belt and we are experiencing some "growing pains".  Nothing serious, just little things that we need to figure out.  I think we had some beginner's luck last year with our first batches of wine.  They were all well received, stable wines which sold quickly, but as we've tried to duplicate those wines, things haven't always worked smoothly.  For example, Rustic Red was out best seller last year.  As you may know, it is a blend of Chambourcin and Chancellor grapes sourced mostly from West Virginia vineyards.  When I tried to duplicate that recipe, we ended up with a good quality Rustic Red, but after a couple of months, it began to ferment in the bottle.  Of course, I thought "I can fix this", so I dumped it into a vat and let it stabilize again.  It is almost ready to bottle again, and we are hoping it will be fine this time.   We also enjoyed participating in several festivals last year, but this year, those aren't working out either.  The festival held at Stonewall Jackson State Park was great last year, but I have just learned that we are not being invited this year.  Not sure I understand why.  Also, we are never invited to the Morgantown Wine and Jazz Festival in September.  We are participating in a new one this year.  It is the Charleston Wine and All That Jazz Festival on the 27th of June.  Come on out and see us there.