10 years Ago this Spring

A lot can happen in 10 years.  In 2007, I was just starting to date my now husband, exploring a transition from education to the wine industry, and paying $800 rent for a condo with a water view…in Seattle (I don’t want to even think about what that place goes for now).  Since then, I started with Fidelitas, got engaged, bought a house, got married, had a kid, expanded my role with Fidelitas, and have accomplished a million things I wouldn’t have thought possible 10 years ago.

10 years ago this spring, Fidelitas was also on the brink of something new.  The doors were about to open at our new home on Red Mountain.  Prior to this, Charlie’s family-owned winery had spent its first six years relying on tasting tables in the back of other tasting rooms and home deliveries by Charlie himself.  I’ve heard countless stories of Charlie hauling a case of wine on his shoulder to this house or that, or people finding our wines in the “Sandhill days”.  To have his own tasting room open, fulfilling a decades old dream, must have meant so much.

It took a lot of hard work to get the Red Mountain tasting room to open, and a bunch more to keep us open for the past 10 years.  It’s beyond Charlie, beyond me, and our staff, and our families.  We’ve had support from growers, fellow winemakers, neighbors, Club members, and extended friends and family that we maybe didn’t even know we had.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be sharing our stories on how we came to be on Red Mountain, what we’ve learned in the past 10 years, and our vision for the years that lie ahead.