Join us in celebrating... Serendipity

Designing a label is a lot like giving birth. There’s a great deal of energy, effort and even a few tears that go into the process. You’ve got one chance to make an impression on the consumer and there are thousands of labels out there, all waiting to be selected. Each one tells its own story, each one is the culmination of a great deal of time and thought, and each one is vying for your attention, so the pressure is on to make yours standout, make it unique.

Easy, right? Not so much, in fact, it’s really difficult, and the process can be tedious. Think you’ve hit on the right shape? Color? Logo? Font? Placement? Think again. Run your design by half a dozen people and you’ll quickly discover that your “fantastic” design, well, it isn’t. In fact, nothing about the label is a hit, so it’s back to the drawing board, literally. And it can take months, not days or weeks.

I’m sure that there are creative folks out there that hit it on the first try, but for most of us, it’s a slow process. So, by the time you’re done, and your ‘baby’ is ready to head off to the printer, you’re mentally exhausted and personally, not even sure that you like it anymore. But then, that lovely label comes back on a thick spool and all of a sudden… WOW!

Put that label on a bottle and, well, it’s true love. I love our label. I love our label on our bottle. I love placing the bottle on a shelf in the light and admiring the colors and how the light shines through the bottle, illuminating the design. I love our new ‘baby!’

So, please join me in celebrating our newest addition… Serendipity Sparkling Wine, created in the Méthode Champenoise style. It wasn’t an easy process. It didn’t go quickly, but the result, I think you’ll agree, was worth the wait!

Feb 25, 2019 at 9:00 AM Permalink

What's in a name?

Nostra Vita Family Winery is the culmination of a lifelong dream of my husband, Robert. He’s been making wine all of his life, literally. He grew up in a winery, playing underneath his mother’s desk, following his uncles around as they checked the tanks, and his sitting on his father’s lap on the tractor as they built ditches in the field for irrigation. And we both grew up in and around vineyards, as our fathers grew grapes and took great pride in cultivating their individual pieces of fertile sandy soil.

There is a sense of responsibility and freedom that comes with farming the soil. You grow up understanding that you owe your livelihood to that land, and with that brings an obligation to nurture and care for it. You mark your life by the seasons, because changes in the weather mark the passage of time, and with each season there are tasks that must be performed in order to keep that vineyard healthy and productive. But there is that freedom to meander and wander about on that land, getting lost in the wonder of watching a litter of baby bunnies playing in the field, a flock of wild turkeys dining on insects, or even a pack of juvenile coyotes wrestling on our back lawn. It’s the freedom to just sit, watch and marvel at what nature creates.

Enter the next generation, our children. We wanted for our children what we’d both had—an opportunity to live on a piece of land in the country, so when they were very young, we stretched and scraped together the funds to purchase our own piece of land in the rolling Clements hills. Then we planted our vineyard and raised our children in the center of those vines. Yes, we actually built our home in the center of our vineyard, and the photo that you see on our Home page is a view from my kitchen window. Nice, huh.

So, what’s with the name? Because we’ve all grown up in and around vineyards and wine has been a natural outcome of producing all those beautiful grapes, when it came time to select a name for our family’s company, Nostra Vita was appropriate. Robert is of Italian descent, making our children part Italian, and since our lives have always been seasoned with Italian sayings, words and terms, it wasn’t a stretch for our son to select an Italian name. Nostra Vita means “our life” in Italian, and grapes, wine production, farming, eating, drinking wine, and family are all intertwined.How do you pronounce it? It’s actually easier than you think. First word, Nostra: Nō Straw. Second word, Vita: Vēē Tăh. Nostra Vita: Nō Straw Vēē Tăh.

Because we understand that each year is unique, producing characteristics in the grapes at harvest that will shape the essence of a handcrafted wine, we celebrate that exclusivity. Wine isn’t simply a beverage, it truly is a sensory experience meant to be shared with family and friends. We invite you to join us as we discover each vintage and make “our life” a part of yours!

Feb 17, 2019 at 9:14 AM Permalink

All Hail Spring

While everyone else is just beginning to awaken from their winter slumber, we’ve been hard at it getting ready for the new year, literally. Lodi vineyards are in full swing and you can easily begin to see the difference, particularly when one vineyard is pruned and the one next door, isn’t. Each year, pruning crews must come through and remove the previous year’s fruiting canes or spurs.

Dormant pruning is a critical component of the grape production cycle, protecting the vines’ health and ensuring a good crop. Grape growers generally prune their vines with the intent to achieve a balance between fruit production and adequate shoot growth. Too many shoots, and you can wind up with a crowded canopy, providing too much shade and/or too many grapes, making it difficult for the grapes to ripen in time for harvest. Too few, and you wind up with little or no fruit, lowering the yield and quality.

Because the best fruit is only produced on new shoots, healthy new canes must be “pushed” by the vine every year, and this means that growers must prune annually. Depending upon the variety of grape and the winegrowing region, growers often employ a pruning formula, which can vary based upon the individual vineyard. Believe it or not, there can be significant variances in soil type, temperature and watering conditions, even between vineyards that sit adjacent to one another.

Freshly cut canes litter the ground underneath these newly pruned vines. This time of year, vines are especially susceptible to infection as water and sap drips from the open wounds in the wood.

Beginning in January and running through the end of February, California vineyards are filled with the sounds of hand tools lopping off old and dead spurs. Music carries through the fog in the early morning and conversations blend as the morning sun warms the air and the day progresses. Sleeping vineyards don a manicured look as last year’s canes are shed, and the vines are readied for a new growing season.

If you drive through the valley, you’ll see countless men and women working in the vineyards, making their way up and down the rows, skillful caretakers pruning each vine.  It’s the official first step towards our ultimate goal, a bountiful harvest, and it’s exciting to watch, knowing that we’ve begun yet another season.   

As February approaches, growers watch the weather, monitor their fields and push to get their vineyards pruned. In the meantime, if you have the opportunity, take a drive in and around the area. Slow down and notice the activity in the local vineyards. There’s a unique life force that drives all of agriculture and here in Lodi, we’re fortunate to be a part of that energy.

Cheers!

Feb 1, 2019 at 11:41 AM Permalink