Time to get my feet wet in the BLOG...

Life can be overwhelming...when you are a one man band trying to produce the equivalent of symphonic sound. There are days when that is how I feel. Days when the bells and whistles, cymbals and horns, drums and other devices simply don't produce anything coherent. When the vision I can see so clearly in my head simply cannot be reproduced by any of the tools that I have at hand. And then there are days when it works.

Those are great days, days that I revel in and hold close in my memory. Right now its about 60-40 in favor of the latter and thats good enough for me. Most of my family, friends and acquaintances know that for the past couple of years I've been launching my new concept in wine experiences, the Micro-Lease. I've committed everything I have to the dream of working with my friend and vineyard owner, Jean de Montlaur to produce an experience in wine that was previously beyond the reach of most, if not all, people who were not already intimately involved in the lifestyle.

And my vision is that we do this at the farm and chateau in the south of France that has been at the heart of Jean's family and of winemaking for over a thousand years. There is no other vineyard in the world that has been in the same family for as long a time. There are few vineyards in the world that can make a claim to a heritage dating back to the Greeks and the Celts. And there are no other vineyards in the world that are actively seeking customers to enter into an ownership arrangement called a Micro-Lease and encouraging those Micro-Leaseholders to come and experience life as a wine maker in the south of France. And no one is offering so much value to the few who will become the stewards, builders and long term patrons of this vineyard. Imagine...your own vineyard....in the south of France....wandering through ruins from the Romans through the 16th century at your doorstep...sleeping in a fourteenth century farmhouse that you help restore with your own hands...sipping wine from your own vines around a fire with good friends while music fills the night in the courtyard of an enchanted castle.

These are some of the pleasures that await those with the passion in their hearts to reach out and taste life, feel the soil in their own hands, hear the wind traverse a gentle transit from the mountains to the sea, smell the spice of wild fig, rosemary and thyme, and watch a purple sunset in a timeless place. The senses are fully activated...nothing left to chance...beauty abounds and its possible to be changed by any and all of these things even if in small ways.

So much needs to be done. But we are on our way and help is always welcome. There are few pleasures greater than the joy of re-creation and sharing that pleasure with others is the whole and complete goal of Monte Lauro Vineyards.