Reflections Beyond the Road – Bill Frick

Winter Morning Reflections in Dry Creek Valley

Written by Bill Frick of Frick Winery

 

White frost blankets the vineyards. Plumes of smoke rise from the neighbor’s chimney. Winter is the reset button for a new vintage growing season. It is time to reflect, do a little pruning and watch as the grapevines sleep deeply.

 

Being a one man winery I wear many hats. Weekends are devoted to the tasting room so I meet folks from all over the world. When they find out that this year, 2016, is my 40^th year as a winery they ask,

“I bet you have seen a lot of changes?”

The feelings in my heart have not changed. I am now even more excited about the whole process of growing grapes and making wine. Every day I consider myself a lucky camper on this beautiful land.

Admiring the vineyards on this frosty morning, it could still be 1976. Little has changed in my little hillside corner of Dry Creek Valley. The ridges are still a lace of conifers. The red-orange glow from the rising sun casts long shadows of orderly rows of grapevines. No movement. No sound.

Beyond this view things have changed, but I don’t go there often.

 

Another frequent question,

“You do everything yourself! That must be a lot of work?”

It is not “work” in the traditional sense. My days and nights consist of living and enjoying my best efforts to create a bottle of wine that I am proud of, with my name on it. Then the reward is when that bottle of wine is welcomed into people’s lives for birthdays, weddings, holidays, romantic dinners. Nothing is better than that!