Sauvignon Blanc Harvest / 2017

October 23, 2017

UPDATE: I wrote this post before the devastating fires that swept through Napa, Sonoma, Lake County and Mendocino beginning October 9th-20th, 2017. I’ll share my thoughts on the fires and how it impacted our community as soon as I get my head back above water. xo – Meg

In Napa Valley, harvest is one of the first indications that the seasons are changing. This summer was so jam packed with work, sourcing trips, events, photo shoots, and multiple design projects, that the 2017 harvest season arrived shockingly fast. When our Director of Wine at ONEHOPE called to tell me that we were going to be harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc on August 24th, while ecstatic that I was going to be in town to shoot, I was simultaneously a little bummed that summer was really coming to a close and that it felt like it had passed by in a blink. Now that pumpkins and fall produce have arrived in stores and the temperatures are cooling with particularly chilly mornings, I’m choosing to embrace it and I’m looking forward to a change in pace after a marathon of a summer. Here are a few of my favorite shots from that day.

PS: I blogged about harvest last year here and how monumental it was in shaping my views on the Mexican American farmworkers here in Napa Valley. Watching this crew harvest 12 tons of grapes by hand in just under three hours only reaffirmed my views that we need to be taking care of our farmworkers here, not only in the wine industry, but in agriculture in general. As consumers become more and more conscious of how and where their food is being farmed, I hope they also pause to think about where their wine is coming from and the work behind it, the next time they open a bottle. I’m so honored to be working for a company that cares so much about the production process and the people behind it. Cheers!

Wine Wednesday / Cabernet Harvest

November 2, 2016

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of being at our first Cabernet harvest since Jake and I moved up to Napa. Our Sauvignon Blanc harvest was pretty mind blowing (I wrote about it here and here) so I was excited to get in the vines for the second round of the year. This time, however, our winemaker asked me to meet him at Clos du Val after all of our grapes were picked so that I could participate in sorting for the first time. I was so slammed that day, but dropped everything to be there. Having the opportunity to sort grapes with our winemakers, Tony Coltrin and Rob Mondavi Jr. who are legends in the valley, was far too awesome of an opportunity to pass up. Here are some of my favorite shots from that day.

Cabernet grapes ready to be harvested! Tony explained that some vines will shed their bottom leaves to maximize sun exposure on the fruit.

One of a few hundred bins filled with grapes.

Bins are then dumped into containers on the tractor until full.

One worker will usually stand on the back of the tractor to do an initial sort (picking out any obvious leaves).

Moving on to the second Cabernet block for picking…

Time to weigh in! The tubs are lifted onto the scale with a forklift and weighed on site before transport to the crush pad.

Grapes in the shad waiting to be sorted at Clos du Val.

Grapes are dropped one container at a time on to the sorting line. Leaves are removed and discarded.

The fruit drops into the crusher and de-stemmer where all of the stems are removed and eventually composted.

Filling up the tanks!

The tanks inside Clos du Val, some of which hold our wine while our winery is being built.

Since we were on site, Tony took me to the barrel room to try a few barrel samples of our Fumé Blanc.

Thieving wine from the barrels. PS: it was delicious!

Have a great weekend!

August 26, 2016

Fall harvest officially started on Tuesday of this week and I’m so honored that I had the opportunity to capture it on behalf of ONEHOPE. I had no idea what to expect, but I certainly did not expect what I ended up experiencing: the shocking, gritty, exhausting, exhilarating pace of the process and people working harder than I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I talked a little bit more about it here.

My grandmother’s side of the family was made up of primarily migrant workers that moved from state to state to find work, so in my heart I have a real connection and love for agriculture and all her family endured working in the fields to survive. There is something about Northern California that has always felt like home to me, particularly when I’m out in the “country”, and since she was born in Salinas, maybe it’s just something that’s in my soul. Because of that, I felt like it was really important to experience our first NorCal harvest in person, not just on a professional level, but on a spiritual level too.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the team that harvested our Sauvignon Blanc all week. To be honest, it felt so petty and insignificant going back to designing this huge home right smack-dab in the middle of the vineyard. What has kept me going, however, is the mission behind this property… that this structure will incubate and house change on a global level, that it will bring together leaders in all different industries to experience what I just witnessed and more. And if people can leave here with even a sliver of the inspiration that I have felt this week to do good, to be a better person, and to enact change, then we will have succeeded.

I’m thrilled that tomorrow we’ll be at STOMP to help raise money for the Mexican American farmworkers in our community. While we’ve attended in the past, it will most certainly have an even bigger meaning to us this year. I can’t wait to share more next week.

Have a great weekend!

-Meg

Life Lately / Summer in Napa

July 25, 2016

Life has been seriously chaotic this year so I’m trying to make a concentrated effort to spend every moment outside of work to soaking up my first summer in Napa. I trekked around the vineyard last week to check out our construction status and I wound up covered in scratches, pickers, and blackberry juice when I discovered heaps of ripe berry bushes along our creek bed. Nature is surprising me around almost every corner here and continually makes me fall harder for this new place we call home. Here are a few snaps of my favorite summer surprises.

Hope you’re having a great week!

Hello July! // Life Update

July 5, 2016

Hello, July! Summer is in full swing! The days in Napa are incredibly hot, the nights are cold (still getting used to these 40 degree daily temperature swings!) and I’ve been totally under water trying to keep up with preparations for our big holiday 2016 push at ONEHOPE. Since October-December are our biggest months, the bulk of our holiday prep happens in June and July. Being that we’re coming out with so many new products this year, our holiday catalog shoot took a few weeks of preparation, one full day of setting up and three, head-spinning 12-14 hour days of shooting. Last week I was in LA handling that (Monday-Friday) and I feel like I’m still recovering from being on my feet for so long moving backdrops, flower market runs, styling, shooting, adjusting, restyling, etc.

My parents flew into town on Saturday to visit us for a few days before we head back down to LA for a big conference we’re hosting in Manhattan Beach. Things have been so stressful for the past few weeks, that there was honestly nothing better than being able to give them a big hug when they pulled up. Family just makes everything better – am I right? Jake and I were planning on possibly hosting some friends in Napa for the 4th, but being that I was still exhausted from travel and he was wiped out having just returned from being on the road for 10 days, we decided to keep it low key with just our parents for the day. It was truly a different vibe than our typical Sangria Flip Cup championships we’ve hosted for the last three years while living in Hermosa. Yes… SANGRIA flip cup. Maybe next year? Or maybe we just finally grew up…Yikes.

As different as this year was, we still had a blast. Jake’s mom brought over a few delicious dishes and my parents helped us whip up some great barbecue. We did a ton of yard work this weekend, thanks to my dad figuring out a plan using what we had in materials (so much rock in our area!) and we got to work sprucing things up. Our plan is to add on to our garage and house, but that can’t happen for at least a year, so it’ll be nice to have things looking a little more polished for the time being. Here are a few snapshots from the past week!

Quick stop by the vineyard to check out our construction progress. Look at those grapes!

Summer staple: Vine ripe tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella.

Kept one 4th of July tradition: homemade triple berry cake!

Love this festive cake topper from Meri Meri so much!

Have a Great Weekend!

June 3, 2016

This week was a total doozy. Monday started off with Bottle Rock Napa load-out (not much of a day off!) and Tuesday was spent recovering from the festival madness. We’re so scrappy at ONEHOPE, so much so that it’s written into our manifesto, and while it’s rewarding when all is said and done, the process is usually tough and can be wearing. I’m sure we’ll look back at the days when we were DIY-ing everything, loading 300 lb. cabinets in and out of a tent on our own, renting and driving over-payload Budget trucks instead of ever hiring movers or help, and laugh at how ridiculous we were and how hard we worked. But when you’re in the moment, it’s hard not to internally (or even sometimes verbally) scream “WTF am I doing all this for?!” And then I remember that we’re building really cool shit at our company, see my vision come together and want to pinch myself with excitement when it all pays off. Ahhh the emotional rollercoaster of scrappy entrepreneurship.

That being said, this weekend I’m looking forward to doing literally nothing. The weekend before last was spent moving a few tons (as in thousands of pounds) of gravel around our yard (more on that later), so I’m planning on kicking my feet up, drinking some wine outside and enjoying our cute little town for a few days. What are you up to this weekend?

PS: The above picture is what convinced me to pull the trigger on those crazy amazing West Elm chairs I’d been eyeing forever. I CAN’T wait for them to arrive in a few weeks! (image via)

Poppies & Pinot (Grigio)

June 1, 2016

Happy #WineWednesday and hooray for a short week! For the past two years, our company has participated in Bottle Rock, a music festival in downtown Napa. This year it happened to fall on Memorial Day Weekend so the past week has been filled to the brim with prep, load-in, working the festival, entertaining guests at home and load-out on Monday. I took the day (mostly) off yesterday to recover and our rentals were just picked up from my house so it finally feels like the festival has come to a close for this year.

Through all the Bottle Rock madness, we launched a new wine, a Pinot Grigio that customers have been requesting for years. Our #PinotForPaws (Pinot Noir) funds one pet adoption for every one case sold (over 13,600 shelter animals saved to date!), and it’s been hugely popular so we were excited to add a Pinot Grigio to the mix that gives back to the same cause. Good California Pinot Grigio can be tough to find and it can sometimes be seen as a negative in the wine-world if it isn’t coming directly from Italy. That being said, there were a lot of factors to weigh and launching a CA Pinot Grigio was a bigger decision for us to make than many of the other varietals of wine we produce. However, when we found a really good source, we had to jump on it and bottled our first vintage earlier this year. I finally got my hands on some yesterday and was able to taste it for the first time since barrel samples in February. I was so impressed with the finished product – deliciously refreshing and acidic with hints of yellow mango and passion fruit – the perfect pairing to some light fish or shrimp tacos, a seafood pasta or grilled veggies.

Since our yard is in poppy heaven right now, I picked a few to take some shots with our wine and wanted to share. Cheers!

A Personal Update

May 4, 2016

Hey there! If you’re a close personal friend or follow me on Instagram, I’m sure you already know that we’ve had some BIG life changes over the course of the past few months that have kept me away from my little home on the web. We bought a house and moved to Napa! I still can’t believe we’re finally in Northern California (a move that we’ve been talking about making for the past 5 or so years) and how much our lives have changed in 2016!

I’ll spare you the full ONEHOPE history, but Jake started the company in 2007 with a team that had followed him from Gallo. They were all based in Southern California at the time, so while the wine was being produced in Napa and Sonoma, our headquarters have always been in Orange County. At the beginning of 2015, as we started developing an estate/winery project for ONEHOPE in Napa, it became pretty clear pretty fast that we needed to have a bigger presence up here and that we really needed a few people closely managing a project of this scale. Jake’s dad has been a construction manager at Stanford for many years and was the perfect candidate for managing the build, but to not have full-time teammates in wine country as a wine brand of our size was starting to seem silly. Since I’m doing the interior design on the project, making materials selections and designing the home from Southern California was becoming difficult. On a personal level, we’ve both spent the last 7-10 years away from family and wanted to be closer to Jake’s parents and sisters. My best friend Carla, who is basically family, also lives in the Bay Area – finally being close to someone from home made me SO excited to move north! We decided we’d save as much as possible for the remainder of the year and try to buy at the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.

When the cutest house came on the market in November, I instantly had a gut feeling about it and knew I had to fly up to check it out. Jake was in China at the time on business so his parents picked me up from the airport and we drove to Napa where I fell head over heels for this house. I KNEW it was the one that we were going to celebrate holidays in together and build a family over the years. We scrambled to get pre-approved, made an offer and then waited. Jake had written the most wonderful, heartfelt letter to the sellers, our offer was strong and we were positive we had gotten the house…

And then we didn’t. I was absolutely crushed.

Everyone kept saying “it was for a reason” and “the right house will come along” which I truly believed in my heart, but I was too devastated to even continue looking for the right one. I kept waiting for their deal to fall through so we could scoop up our house and get on with our lives – still envisioning us in that cute little house that never was.

For Christmas, Jake and I traveled home to Michigan to visit my family. Every year, Jake and my dad get into their token political “discussion” that is inevitably heated and teeters on being a full blown argument. Trying to drown out their seemingly endless banter, I hopped on Zillow and a new listing popped up. It was so cute, smaller than the house we’d loved, but also with a smaller price tag and still in our favorite neighborhood. We decided to put in an offer sight-unseen and to our surprise, our offer was accepted! We traveled to Napa just after the new year to see it in person and confirm we actually liked it before moving forward and it was perfect! It was built in the 1930’s, had a lot of charm and a big back yard – we were sold! We closed at the end of January, packed up our tiny home in Hermosa Beach and moved at the very end of February.

{ signing our lives away! }

At this point, we’re almost completely settled in with the exception of some wall art and window treatment updates that need to happen. There are of course a million long-term changes we want to make to this place that we need to save for, but we’re comfortable for now. And most importantly, even with the changes I’d like to make, I still get butterflies when I pull up to our cozy little house.

So what does that mean for the blog? I’ve had this little site for over 5 years now, but my consistency has definitely lacked – especially when life gets crazy. But through all the years, posting here still feels like home to me and now that we’re settled into our real home, my goal is to use this as a place to document this great big Estate8 project and our new house, as well as some recipes, styling projects and events I’ve been working on for ONEHOPE. And, let’s face it – when you’re living, working and building a company together with your partner, sometimes a girl needs a little “me” time. I guess that’s how I’ll look at this little site from here on out 🙂 Cheers!

{ the most beautiful welcome home basket from new neighbors }

{ exploring the new neighborhood – favorite spot for brunch! }

{ love the morning light in our kitchen nook }

{ working from home – something new for me and something I’ll be chatting about one the blog }

{ visiting ONEHOPE’s vineyard in Rutherford on the first sunny day in spring }

We’re Engaged!

August 18, 2015

On March 21st, Jake asked me to spend forever with him and I’ve been in pure engagement bliss ever since. I wanted to document absolutely everything so that I never forget, so here we go 🙂

On Christmas morning, Jake and I exchanged gifts at my parent’s house as we were visiting for Christmas. A few weeks before, he had asked what I wanted for Christmas and I stated that I really wanted to go to Italy so if he decided not to get me anything for Christmas so that we could put that money toward taking a trip to Europe, I would be thrilled. I vowed to spend lightly on his Christmas gifts so that I too could save for the trip of a lifetime. On Christmas Eve Jake confessed ~~tricked me~~ that he simply could’t figure out an affordable option for us in Italy and that he’d decided we’d go back to Hawaii later in 2015 (which was my second choice of travel). I was a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be going to Europe, but was at the same time thrilled that we’d be heading back to Hawaii (we had such an amazing time there in 2014) and I figured we’d save Italy for a later date when the timing and financials made more sense. On Christmas morning as we were exchanging gifts, Jake pulled out his computer and presented me with a powerpoint that detailed our trip to…….ITALY! I was in such shock that I embarrassingly sobbed for a few minutes an in disbelief that he had taken the time to figure out our work schedules, research accommodations and book flights to all of the places I’ve dreamed of visiting for as long as I can remember.

Fast forward to January…

January-March were crazy chaotic putting together our Summer catalog which was the first ever that we were to introduce. In between sourcing, a team retreat, making over a house, product testing and more sourcing, we were also planning a recruiting event for our viaONEHOPE community in Napa. ONEHOPE purchased a property in Napa in September 2014 (more on that later) and we knew we wanted to host an event at the vineyard before construction on what will be our biggest project to date. I was part of the team putting on the event and headed up to Napa on the 19th to get ready for the weekend. My mom (also a part of our viaONEHOPE community) had asked if I needed her there for help. When she mentioned that my dad was taking a business trip to Mexico and that she needed a trip outside of crummy, cold, wintery, Michigan, I agreed that it would be great for her to come. I picked her up in March 19th from the airport and headed to Napa to get ready for the event.

Honestly, the events of the 21st were kind of a blur, but this is what I do recall… We shopped in the morning for meats/cheeses and last minute necessities for the event and headed to the property. A few of the girls from our team as well as Jake’s mom and older sister joined us later in the morning and helped prep some of the food while others dusted, swept and got the house ready. I’d asked my best friend Carla to come to the event since she’s in the Bay Area and I was hoping to see her and was thrilled when she made the trek to Napa. A few of Jake’s girlfriends were there visiting as well and joined us before the event. I remember my mom telling me several times that I needed to get ready and that she could handle the rest of the food prep. I’ve done countless shoots and events for ONEHOPE and know how stressful that last hour can be so I was reluctant to take her advice, but finally took a few moments to myself to curl my hair, fix my makeup and put on a dress. I knew the dress I was putting on was Jake’s favorite, but didn’t know about his plans for that day.

I was standing in the bathroom curling my hair when Tiffany, from our team came in to check on me and we chatted about her adorable baby belly, anticipating being a mommy of two, the flow of events for that day, and that she wanted to film a quick video with Jake. She wanted the video to be out in the vines to welcome our new viaONEHOPE recruits to the team which seemed totally normal to me and I loved the idea. I agreed to help her with the video, finished up and went outside to meet guests. Jake flew in from a business trip during the event and I remember giving him a hug and a kiss as he walked in the door and he said “you look so pretty – that’s my favorite dress.” ((Insert heart explosion)). We dove into the day – meeting and mingling with as many people as possible and I took a minute to chat with my best friend before the formal presentation and wine tasting were to begin. After a minute or two of talking, she said “I think I’m going to cry” and started to walk away. When I followed her and asked what was wrong, she said “I’m so sad that you guys are tearing this place down,” and continued to walk away. At the time, Carla and her husband Clay were starting to house hunt and I assumed she was just emotional about the process. The house on our vineyard is going to be taken down in preparation for another big project and while the current home is charming, it has a TON of issues so I thought it was a little odd of Carla to get emotional about something that seemed so silly, but assumed it might have to do something with their house hunting and wondered if maybe she was just having an off day. I had no idea that one of Jake’s friends had just told her he was planning on proposing that afternoon.

About halfway through the event, Tiffany grabbed me to gather a few items to take out to the vines to film our video. We found a bottle of Sparkling, an ice bucket and some flutes to “toast to the viaONEHOPE community.” The three of us (plus our photographer) walked out to the vineyard together, stopped in the clearing that will eventually be home to our winery and Tiffany started filming on her phone. I was standing next to her when she mentioned that Jake still had his name tag on and that I should run over and grab it from his lapel. I walked over to Jake, took his name tag and as I turned around to walk away he grabbed my hand. I just remember him saying, “no, actually, I’m proposing right now” before he got down on one knee. As everyone who has ever been surprised with an engagement knows, the next few moments were completely a blur. He was so nervous and he’s never nervous. I just remember him mentioning that he wanted to spend forever with me, that he couldn’t wait to build a family and a life together and that he wanted my “big brown eyes” to be the last thing he saw as he took his last breath. I was in complete shock, yet so touched and so ecstatic that the best man I’ve ever met was asking me (ME!!!!) to be his bride. He pulled out the ring of my dreams and I said “YES!” in between sobs. I also remember saying, “are you serious? Is this really happening?!” at least a half dozen times before our families ran out to the clearing to give us hugs and congratulations.

I always thought that a low-key engagement while on a vacation or even while at home with just the two of us would be the way I’d want to get engaged. But there is something so special about having your closest friends and family there to celebrate immediately after that is irreplaceable. Having Jake’s sister, his parents, my mom and best friend there along with many of our friends from over the years was so incredible. I’ll never forget watching my mom and his sister Michelle run through the vines to congratulate us, a warm embrace from Jake’s parents, hugging Carla on our walk back to the house and my mom handing me the phone to talk to my dad for the first time. Complete and utter joy….

The following week, we jetted off to Italy for the trip of a lifetime. Our little engagement-moon was absolutely perfect in every way.

As blurry as it is, I will never, ever forget that day. I am so thankful that he chose me and that we get to build this crazy, wild life together. <3

HUGE thanks to everyone who made our day so special… all of the friends, family and colleagues. Lastly, thank you so much to Megan Clouse who captured every single moment. We’ll treasure these images forever.

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