Dear Casa Carmen Family,

Winter is a time of introspection and contrasts. Things that seem dead are alive, and as if standing on a threshold, we simultaneously cast a gaze to the future and to the past. Looking at the vineyard after a snow storm, it is hard to believe that the naked vines that punctuate the frozen landscape will soon begin to produce minuscule furry buds, that those buds will unfold into tiny leaves, to eventually flower and become juicy, sweet clusters of grapes on the verge of bursting. It is a transformation that never ceases to amaze and remind us of the “continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.”

Winter is indeed a time of introspection. It is fitting that this Wine Club allocation is in a sense reflective, as it “looks back” by enclosing the last few bottles of our first vintage. It is composed of wines that have had time to sit for a few months and settle into their characteristics. Rather than portraying the joyous vivacity of youth, they expose a sense of unity and assertion that we only find in maturity.

Winter is also a time of contrasts. Oddly, the silence, the nakedness, the frost, reveal not only the end of a cycle but a beginning. As we reflect on our first vintage, the Spring quickly approaches. In the vineyard we are pruning the vines. With each snip of the shears, the exuberance that beats beneath the frost becomes apparent as the seemingly dead branches begin to ooze clear sap and shake off the snow-dust in favor of growth and lush. And in the cellar this contrast is also apparent, as we run tasting and blending trials of our second vintage and prepare to bottle the wines that, like forsythias, will be the heralds of spring.

As always, thank you for being part of the Casa Carmen family. We sincerely hope that you enjoy your wines as they should be enjoyed: with friends, family, and good food.

Salud,
Enrique