Winderlea Journal
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We’re Putting it in Neutral | 2021 Solar Panels
We've been having some very nice sunny days lately and the forecast is for several more ahead of us. After months of grey and drizzly weather, it's hard to convey how much the sunshine is welcome. The daffodils are in bloom, fruit trees are flowering, and in the...
Seasonal Rhythms of The Cellar
I stepped outside yesterday after a day spent toiling away in the cellar. A bright beam of late afternoon sun caught me by surprise and my face wrinkled. The coming and going of sporadic spring showers tapping the metal roof above all afternoon had tempered my...
A New Adventure Awaits
After years of living in Oregon and enjoying all this area has to offer, my husband and I feel a pull to a rural way of life. So, we've decided to do some traveling and experience life in other parts of the country. Our first stop along this journey is to live in the...
From Challenge Comes Change
The theme of International Women's Day (and therefore the month as far as I'm concerned), is Choose to Challenge. The website tagline reads "A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change". The second part of this sentence has always rang true to...
Finding My Place in Wine by Allison Fields
When I first started studying wine in my early 20’s, I searched to find a mentor I could not only learn from but also connect with. But my Sommelier courses were dominated by stuffy men in suits that I definitely didn’t connect with, and I struggled to fit in with...
Sparkling: harvest through tirage bottling
When Bill and Donna made the exciting decision to launch the Winderlea sparkling wine program in the spring of 2016, the cellar was buzzing with activity. Rosés were being bottled, Pinots were being racked, Chardonnays were being tasted. And now, the challenge of...
Using Business as a Force for Good
March is B Corp Month so it seems fitting to write a bit about what that means to us here at Winderlea. As a reminder, the B Corp slogan is, "People Using Business as a Force for Good." So, as a start, we look at everything through that lens. That's not to say that...
Waiting for Nature’s Magic
As I write this we are in day two of an ice storm. We've had a lot of tree damage so far, and the roads are treacherous. It's beautiful to look at the smaller trees and the limbs from our Yew hedge bent over because they are encased in an inch or two of ice. At the...
Getting Excited About Carbon Offsets
Last week I told you about our decision to max out our solar electricity production but that still leaves other types of energy that we use to think about. We've taken a lot of steps to reduce our carbon footprint, but we are still left with about 135 metric tonnes...
Creating Green Energy
We think a lot about sustainability here at Winderlea both because we are Biodynamic® and also because we are a certified B Corp and part of their Climate Action Group. Sometimes programs are more suited to large complex organizations than they are to us, so we try...
A Thank You and a Toast to the New Year
Donna and I are enjoying a few days off at the end of the year. For me, there are few things more enjoyable than having the time to read and to listen to music. I find it helps to quiet my mind and that, over time, important thoughts can emerge (though, to be fair,...
Surely I Can Do Something
This is one of the times of year that we reflect on the things for which we are grateful. For most of us, our health is right at the top of the list. It is also a season for giving and an opportunity to contribute something meaningful in the battle against a big...