Oswald Vineyard and Family Growth
It has been quite awhile since a blog post has been written on Oswald Vineyard but we are back. Actually, we never left! That’s right, the past couple of years have seen a lot of growth and changes both in the vineyard and the family.
On to New Adventures
For starters, let’s begin with family changes. You can see in the picture below, from left to right, Silas, Louisa and Merrill who have moved on to new adventures.
Silas now lives in Del Rio with his family and is happily adjusted in his new job. They left with three children and now have four!
Louisa decided that while she loves the vineyard, she values being a wife and mother most of all. She still lives within walking distance and has participated in harvest and even shown up for pruning.
Merrill has also moved to Del Rio and is enjoying his new job, a motorcycle and working out.
So who is Left at Oswald Vineyard?
The three sons who are now co-owners of Oswald Vineyard live on the vineyard and are all in walking distance. Living at the vineyard makes work and life definitely a famiy affair.
John and Dina-Marie of course are still around! While retirement is appealing, it is not on the horizon.
Julian married Mackenzie and now have adorable baby Hattie! They have poured the concrete slab for their house and are carrying on the tradition of building with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF).
Christoph married Holly (who was instrumental in introducing Julian and Mackenzie) and now have precious Natalie with another baby on the way! Their container home has two container and they will be adding three more soon.
Zane, the bachelor of the group, is deciding on what type of house he wants to build but does have the site picked out!
Vineyard Changes
Having had hail greatly decrease our crop several years in a row, we decided to invest in hail netting. When half of the vineyard was netted, we had a hail storm and the netted half was unharmed while the unetted suffered damage. As sad as it was, it proved the value of the nets!
Winery Changes
Our winery is growing! We still host for Harvest Host and RV Overnights, as well as having drive up tastings.
Due to the economy, we had several wineries back out on their grape contracts which left us with about 60 tons of extra grapes…on top of what we intended to process for ourselves. So, room was made in the winery (barn) and grapes were fermented.
These wines are in varying stages but are close to transfering to barrels for aging.
Our plan is to begin distributing our wines locally. We look forward to making our wines more accessible to others.
Below you can see our wines on the shelves in Curby’s which is in Lubbock, TX.
Growing can be challenging for sure!
Knowing that God’s plan is perfect, it is exciting to see growth in the family and in Oswald Vineyard.