Show Some "Spirit!"

Being a part of the Anacapa Project in Santa Barbara has been eye opening. We have delicious beer thanks to Figueroa Mountain Brewery, amazing wines (especially imports-yay!) thanks to Les Marchands Wine Merchants, outstanding food a la Lucky Penny and The Lark, and artisan spirits made right on site by Ian Cutler.

It's been a pleasure getting to know all of the people involved with these various entities, but Ian of Cutler's Artisan Spirits struck a chord with me and the Riverbench owners for different reasons. My family is from moonshine country, so distilling has always fascinated me, and one of my owners loves (loves loves loves) grappa. We have been making a small amount of honey infused grappa through Riverbench for the past year or so.

Last Thursday, Ian granted me the extreme privilege of allowing me to shadow him for a few hours to watch him in action. His chemistry know-how is mind blowing, and it was pretty cool to see the commonalities and differences between making spirits and making wine. Ian's place is like a mad scientist's lab, except he's methodical, organized, and deliberate (aka, not a mad scientist). Not to mention he's super talented and making truly remarkable spirits. (Try his Apple Pie. Seriously. Try it.)

The main takeaway was that making spirits requires the distiller to taste and smell to find the best balance through the distillation process. The first distillation is reputedly foul (Ian uses it to clean his car parts!), but as a liquid is distilled more and more, it becomes more refined and pure, with more concentrated flavors. The art is knowing how to find the balance, which is a sensory judgment. I loved that the three stages of distilling are called heads, hearts, and tails. How cool is that? Overall, it was a really interesting explanation of mashing, fermenting, and distilling that just made me want to learn more.

This harvest, Ian has agreed to experiment with grappa. Having never done it before, we'll supply him with various types of pommace to see what he can do, as we'd love to make our grappa locally. Do we have the best neighbors ever or what?

It All Comes Down To Your People

It's been a while since I've posted here. Things got a bit hectic with summertime rolling in and the new tasting room opening its doors. Opening a second "chain" should have been easy, but it turns out it's not. In fact, the second tasting room has a completely different vibe, a whole different way of marketing, and a full set of new challenges. This isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, it makes Riverbench as a whole all the more interesting and exciting, and allows two entirely different groups of people to have access to our wines.

Last night, we held our annual employee appreciate barbecue at the vineyard. More than ever, our ownership took the reins, cooking and serving all the food, setting up the festive flower arrangements and tables, and planning a great time for all. The main difference, however, is that our staff has gone from a simple little group of 12 people to a much larger group of 23! And we're still growing. Yet even though the two store locations are in two different places an hour apart, every single member of our team came together beautifully. It was pretty remarkable to see the two groups co-mingling and having a great time getting to know each other.

I've always said that the best hires I've ever made were of people who had never worked with wine. Instead, they all had one thing in common: they smile a lot and know how to be friendly. Such a basic thing, yet so hard to come by.

I know good people exist, but finding them isn't always easy. Somehow, though, I've managed to find two incredible groups of people to build two entirely different segments of the same business. And that, my friends, is a bit of a miracle.

It's not enough, but I do want to give a special shout out to the three most amazing managers with whom I've ever had the pleasure of working: Amber (Tasting Room Manager in Santa Maria and Wine Club Manager), Krysta (Hospitality Manager), and Christina (Tasting Room Manager in Santa Barbara). Without the three of you, things wouldn't be this amazing, and our future wouldn't be as bright. Thanks for all you do.

Here's to an exciting future at Riverbench!