2005 Vintage Newsletter
Where does one begin? Probably the year 2002 when I went back to Rookie League - a new uniform, new hat, new boots and a new dream.
It seems like only yesterday I was bush whacking my way around this little piece of heaven here on Diamond Mountain and stumbled onto an area that tuned out to be three acres south and east facing slope and saying, ”Gee, this might work“. Finding the site was a result of my wife Nancy not wanting trucks and traffic to access a potential area east of our house, but that is a story for another time.
Let the journey begin, the learning curve started literally at ground zero, adding to my vocabulary words like rootstock, clones, spur position, shatter, Pierce’s disease, wings, and verasion.
Luckily finding the perfect vineyard site was step one. Step two was putting together a team. (Sound familiar?) My lead dog has been the highly regarded vineyard manager here in Napa Valley, Jim Barbour. Jim and his lieutenants have patiently answered every entry level question I have asked, and continue to tutor me in the care and maintenance of a vineyard. And it was Jim who introduced me to the very talented winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, who had been my professor on the winemaking side of the venture.
The third cornerstone of the GTS team is Frank Dotzler, who along with his wife Kathy, own and operate Outpost Winery in the Howell Mountain district. Outpost also serves as the home base for Thomas. Right after harvest, our grapes are delivered across the valley to Outpost to go through the winemaking process, aging in French oak barrels until bottling.
This undertaking is not like going to the World Series for the first time, but it’s not far behind. Please enjoy our efforts and thanks for your patience and support.
Tom and Nancy Seaver