December 21, 2023

The Stories, so many of these last 10 years for our family and Smith Story Wine Cellars. 

Lord Sandwich (SandwichtheDoodle on Instagram) was born 2 year before our first harvest and has truly been the most consistent character in our lives and continues to help us give back in a simply and fun loving way. 

All those hours back in Austin while standing in the downtown WholeFoods demo'ing wines, I watched this little shelf placement of Toms shoes grow into a section and end cap of products with meaning. 

Social entrepreneurship by Toms inspired me to start Socks for Sandwich. Giving back brings me the greatest joy. Going into 2024, we are shooting for the moon and the stars seem to be finally aligned to achieve success Eric and I have always imagined. 

Thank you ALL for taking time to support our small but might winery. - Ali 

PRESS DEMOCRAT ARTICLE  

December 12, 2023

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?!  2023 was soooo fast, how can it be middle of December already?

Um, yeah, well… we have devoted every single waking hour to Smith Story Wine Cellars. Not unlike years 1-9 for us, but making up for some unimaginable challenges over the past few years for sure.  

As small business owners, it's tough out here, maybe tougher than ever before due to more things than we care to list. 

The fascinating news is, we have hit an all-time sales revenue record for our small but might winery. It's been a complete battle zone in wine wholesale and just when we had the most ever new Storytellers join us in one year, we had the most leave/skip the club too. Our biggest increase has been tasting room visits and guests who placed over three online orders throughout the year. The best part of the 2023… there are many, we're working on narrowing down a Top 12 list. 

2024 oh you are going to be filled with so many new adventures for Smith Story Wine Cellars, we are ready! 

2023 has been BANANAS! Bananas are delicious and good for you, we'll take it! 

 - Ali & Eric 

November 10, 2023

I'm on a flight from Houston heading back to Sonoma County after a FANTASTIC “Iron Somm event”. Most likely sleep deprived at this point, feeling the love from so many Houstonians last night though. Please take time to visit The Periwinkle Foundation, they are doing such important things to support children going through cancer and for their healing path as a survivor. A perfect evening of combining some of the very best fine wine produced in the world for a tremendous cause! Eric's at the winery today pressing our 2023 Merlot from Pickberry. Oh I can only imagine how beautiful it smells there this morning!   Don't forget, the 2019 Smith Story Helluva Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley “One Helluva Holiday” promo ends Saturday at midnight. The wine is selling a quick lick, so don't wait, inventory is low. $44 a bottle on a 4-bottle purchase or more. THANK YOU for making this a number one selling wine for us every single year! It's gonna be hard to say goodbye.

OHHH! Here's a link to our Smith Story Wines Harvest 2023 Playlist on Spotify. It promises to get your toes tapping and maybe just maybe invoke a little T-Day dancing in the kitchen too. 

 - Ali 

Baseball.

My family has always been a big baseball family. I even kept stats for the high school team and watching Ranger’s games as a kid. Now at age 51 my head is full of detailed memories. That crack of the bat, buttery salty popcorn, an ice cold coke in a waxy paper cup. Taking turns with my brother Colby Smith running up the stairs to the nearest bathroom to grab paper towels that we wet and then placed on our knees back in the seats when heat indexes soared over 100°.  

We loved every single minute of Nolan’s pitching and yelling “Let’s Go Rangers” with our seat mates before any grand theater and sound systems entertained the crowd.

We often watched for the first section to start the WAVE and stood tall with arms waving above our heads while giggling each time it hit our section. Leaving the game, the AM radio was always on with the post-game wrap up on WBAP & then KRLD.  Fast forward to the late ‘90s and my office cubicle, smack dab above the the middle of centerfield at the new Ballpark at Arlington. Thrilled to be selling radio promotions for the Texas Rangers Radio Network. That job, it taught me more than I learned after 4 years at Baylor. Skills I use to this day.

Fast forward to the 2010 World Series… Mr. Story emailed me a welcome back to California message and asked if I wanted to take a bet. The Giants vs. The Rangers, the loser had to cook the winner dinner. ⚾️ Baseball is my past, present and future. How can you not be romantic about baseball?! 🍷⚾️❤️💙

An empty bottle we shared over that very dinner sits among inspiration shelves in our tasting room now. A 1993 Joseph Swan Saralee’s Vineyard Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. And if you have noticed, baseballs adorn the middle blooms of our hand painted mural in the wine garden.  #fortheloveofbaseball #GoRangers

-Ali Story 

Friday October 27, 2023

Harvest Update
October has flown by with a mix of patience and eager energy awaiting grapes to ripen. Here in Sonoma County we've had rain, heat and very cold evenings since last we updated you on our harvest happenings.

It's been a unique harvest season this year, one word stands out though: delicious! We're very excited to see how the 2023 vintage develops over time. Of course Ali's most excited about the 2023 Smith Story Sauvignon Blanc that will release next spring. It's already tasting glorious! 

Blind Sunday
This Sunday, 12-2pm Ali's hosting a "blind wine tasting". First come first served, about 22 pours available. $10 and the HINT: depending the region, this varietal can be bold or light in style.  Blind Sunday wines are pulled from The Story's personal cellar and hidden until your tasting and guesses are final. A fun way to continue learning about wines of the world! Smith Story Wine Cellars - we're located a minute from downtown Healdsburg on Westside Rd. at Bacchus Landing Way. Look for our orange umbrellas across the piazza. 

What's flying out the door right now?

• The 2022 Smith Story Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County $40
• The 2018 Smith Story "The Boonies" Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley $70
• The 2019 Smith Story Pickberry Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Mountain $75

Shipping Update
All Fall Release Wines, Summer Holds and Endless Summer packs are now shipping. The cooler temps across the country has every single hand on the packing tape here. Tracking emails are going out daily, so please keep your eyes on an email from UPS.  If you need to arrange a delayed or different delivery, this must be changed by you via the UPS website once the order leave Smith Story Wine Cellars. Come pick-up wines in Healdsburg if you are local and don't forget the Sonoma County Airport (STS) is less than 15 minutes away from us too. 

Last but not least.
Thank you. Your support of our first generation family winery is extraordinary! Sharing the Smith Story like you have and continue to do allows us to keep growing. As we see your face walking into our tasting room, work with you within the wine industry, see your name come across website wine shop orders and/or read your kind online comments...we smile each and every time. We've written so often what it means to run a small business with a grateful heart... Ali expanded on this a bit in The Chapters last week, pour a glass and read and listen to Willie "On the Road Again". Cheers to you! 

AND GO RANGERS!!! 

 - Ali, Eric and Dusty. 
 

October 20, 2023

Greetings from Houston! It's been one helluva great week here working with our Texas Wholesale partner, Serendipity Wines. To work alongside tenured fine wine pros is such a pleasure!  Smith Story isn't currently producing more than a few thousand cases of fine wine, so every bottle of wine represented by our wholesale partners matters. Look for Smith Story Wines among the very best wine lists & indie wine shops around town. 

On my flight here (AA from Sonoma County to Houston), I listened to a podcast “One By Willie”, S4 E5: Brené Brown on “Amazing Grace”.  A dear friend of mine mentioned I should give it a listen after we had a conversation recently about understanding how grace plays a role in our resilience. I have listened to hundreds of hours of Brené Brown over the years. This podcast just ranked up to the top #1 spot for me. 

Looking back to our first vintage in 2014, Eric and I have not had a smooth road starting and running Smith Story. It's been a mixed bag of being under-capitalized with unimaginal events thrown at us by Mother Nature, a global pandemic and oh then my breast cancer battle. 

The winery has been in a thin place more often than sturdy. We've remained focused and determined. “Pressure is something that you feel only when you don't know what you are doing”, says Brené. YEP. “It's different than being nervous”.  I think I've been living in a constant state of nervousness these past 10 years. We are so ready for a strategic partner to join us, a winery that will allow our boutique winery to continue to grow the areas of our business that we are incredibly good at and also provide a bit more stability in our lives for our future.

Brené goes on to talk about Willie's 1976 cover of “Amazing Grace” and the way her life was completely transformed the first time she heard it. An interesting conversation about the concepts of faith, grace and acceptance went on for 48 minutes. God I love the piano in this version so much! 

What did I take from this all? Well, I do love the hymn Amazing Grace. I also hear everyone who's ever sung it before when it plays. But here's the big takeaway that resonates so deeply with me right this very day.

 “Grace is courageous, grace is not for the faint of heart, I am trapped in relentless grace!! It's BRAVE to accept it, it's brave to give it, Amazing Grace”.  

You just don't hear grace, you feel it.  “I am determined to set-up-shop personally where grace lives in me.”, Brené. The mere thought of this calms my nerves. 

Life of any entrepreneur is a life of extreme highs and lows, thanks for being on the sidelines and frontlines cheering Eric and I on. We are so very close to reaching the level of success we have been working towards. Smith Story has what it takes, a week of being on the road again in Texas has absolutely filled me back up. 

Amazing grace…bright shining as the sun. Thank you Willie! 

 - Ali 

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Greetings from the winery in Sonoma. The 2023 wines are tasting beautiful! I visited Pickberry Vineyard on the way in this morning. Dependent on an incoming weather system, I'm thinking of pulling the Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot late this week or early/mid next week. The Cabernet Franc still needs to hang for a bit. I ran some samples: 

Cab. Sauv: 22.7brx
Red berry flavors starting to develop. Texture coming through too

Merlot: 23.5brx
Really good color. Definite red berry characters and good texture

Cab Franc: 19.7brx
Still somewhat green. But hinting at some red berry flavors
 - Eric Story 

And now a few words from Dusty! 
This morning I finalized a private event we're hosting this week in our Healdsburg tasting room. Which also reminds me to make sure you've made a reservation at The Parish here in town on Thursday featuring the history Bistro Ralph menu and Smith Story Wines. Eric will be the Sommelier for the evening.

Also, tickets are available for the BFF Night at Cavallo Point in Sausalito this Thursday. Ali's pouring her BRAVE while the beneficiary of this fun evening is ZERO Breast Cancer based in Marin County. 

A SMITH STORY SOCIAL AT HOME
I'm very excited to announce a new program for our Smith Story friends and fans! Details of how to book A Smith Story Wine Cellars Social are now posted on our website.

From casual gatherings to corporate dinners, we are providing a fun and unique reason to host a social with Smith Story Wines. 

Now scheduling dates for November, December, January and February.  Email me anytime to set up a call to discuss coming to visit! 

 -Dusty Rhodes, Hospitality Director

October sunshine has arrived!
SALE ENDS MONDAY AT MIDNIGHT 

Enjoy a 6-pack for $99.

Three bottles each of the loveable Lord Sandwich Blanc + our gorgeous Smith Story Rosé.

TO PURCHASE

“Our role is inherently simple yet profoundly meaningful: we are here to deliver joy. This joy comes in various forms—joy in a glass, the joy of togetherness, the joy of laughter, and the joy of elevating meals and experiences. The human condition is short and challenging enough, so our job to deliver joy is truly meaningful”, Paul Mabray, friend and Wine Industry Pro. 

A mixed bag of emotions right now for sure. 

Maybe it's the weird weather. Or maybe I'm feeling blue because yet again it's “breast cancer awareness month” when all I want to do is forget that I had it and beat the living daylights out of it during the most challenging time for small wineries in our lifetime. (yes that was a long sentence). 

Maybe I'm overjoyed today because Eric and I have built something incredibly special from our hearts, a brand or two now that has brought such happiness to thousands. 

Maybe I am so frustrated because nothing that use to be normal in our business is normal today and we're all working like mad to create a steady new world of wine.

Maybe I'm feeling nervous because we couldn't produce wine in 2020 because of the fires and smoke and currently we have the lowest inventory ever in the cellar.

Maybe I haven't slept well all week because people have let me down. Probably due to outstanding payments from wholesale partners who are hurting our small winery deeply. It's maddening. 

Maybe I'm feeling cautiously optimistic because our small business is growing but also feeling so burnt out from the grid of it all. 

Maybe my grateful heart will banish all my agnst soon, how thankful I am to so many to be alive and thriving. 

Maybe today will end with JOY and a glass of Smith Story Wine Cellars. 

Entrepreneur life!  

 - Ali 

September 29, 2023

Hang time. 
Have ya heard…??? Yep, it’s a late and slow harvest season for us. Somewhat attuned to being held at the top of that roller coaster hill, waiting… anticipation builds… still waiting… Well, are we going to do this? 

As of today, we have our SB’s in and a Russian River Pinot Noir in. But, that’s it! To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, we picked our last fruit of the season on September 30th of last year. This year we started with our first pick on September 12th.

So, with all of that said, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The fruit we have brought in, which is almost done with their fermentations, are showing so, so good already. And, the fruit still hanging is healthy and as long as Mother Nature stays steady and even keeled, I think this year’s quality is going to be quite good - love you Mother Nature!

While writing this I took a look at the long range forecast and it’s looking bright and sunny with temps ranging in the high 70’s to even getting back into the upper 80’s. I guess we can go with a… So far, so good and hanging in there type of start to harvest 2023. This vintage just may one epic 2023, low brix and great flavors are what we enjoy most. 

 - Eric Story 

Ali's hosting this weekend in Healdsburg, come taste with her. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations keep things organized for our small winery. Details to visit are here. 

What should you open this weekend? 2022 Smith Story BRAVE, Carbonic Zin... a RED CHILLED WINE to be enjoyed while relaxing!

This special label celebrates breast cancer survivorship, Ali's working on a a new post to hit on Sunday on The Chapters in honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness month. Less than 15 cases of the 2021 BRAVE available as of today. 

SHIPPING REMINDER
All orders in queue to begin shipping the first week of October. Healdsburg will-calls are available on October 1. If you live in a HOT region, we will continue to hold orders until your evening temps are below 75°.