Dear Friends,
As we glide into the holidays we find Thanksgiving here again.
In this moment we offer thanks for the year behind and for the prospect of the year to come. Thanksgiving has always been an Amador highlight. Family and fun. The day starts with wonderful aromas throughout the house courtesy of Lisa’s amazing cooking. The bird gets in the oven along with all the trimmings coming to life. The newspaper gets spread out on the table for the cracked crabs and we start receiving family and guests.
This year marks a milestone—the first Thanksgiving in the new house with a granddaughter (Taylor Madison, 11 months) and a new daughter-in-law (Cecily).
As we reflect on our gratitudes, we wanted to share a couple of wine club member and guest stories:
Ryan from Boston has a lot to be grateful for … Sandy said, “YES!”
He wrote us to say, “thank you to everyone at Gracianna for helping me propose to my (now) fiancé! I really appreciate Trini (III) pretending that my [then] girlfriend won a bottle of wine for being a return guest (we had visited Gracianna on our first ‘big’ date and drank wine for hours there while talking) and then escorting her to the vineyard canopy where I was waiting to surprise her and propose. My fiancé, Sandy, thought she was just going on a girls wine trip (the girls were in on the surprise) and she had no idea I would be there.”
He included a photo collage from our proposal day, which shows all of us at Gracianna.
There were two beautiful engagements at the estate this year and we could not be happier for Odette and Roberto who came all the way from the Dominican Republic and New York City to start their new lives together at Gracianna.
A rebirth of two people is one thing but a new life is another … when another amazing story came out of this year. Some guests of the winery were so moved by their new addition that they decided to name their daughter Gracianna Rose!
“Every baby is a miracle in his or her own way. The birth of our daughter has been one miracle—one grace—upon another,” wrote Gracianna patrons Paul and Mary Jo on the recent birth of their daughter.
The family bestowed upon their infant daughter a name that gave thanks for their miracle girl, a name that conveyed a sense of humble gratitude. At the same time, they wanted to offer her a role model—a vision for who she might become. Grace, or “Gracianna”, seemed to impart all of this wonder. Gracianna Rose was born September 7, 2014!
Needless to say when we heard the news we were brought to tears. To have a miracle baby named after our great-great-grandmother is the ultimate honor for us and underscores the reason we do what we do—to share our gratitudes with you and to keep “thankful” close by.
Last is the serene calm of the new Gracianna Estate. The family has a single place now, the tasting room (the heart of our future), and the new home (the heart of our dream). It has taken us months after some frenetic years to refocus our eyes to the new vistas; the view of the vineyard out the windows, the drumming of the Flickers (a type of woodpecker), the geese flyovers, and the new garden. Our neighbors, Al and Janis McWilliams at Arista, have warmly welcomed us, and we in turn have welcomed some new neighbors, Steve and Donna Hicks who bought the Flax property to one side and David and Carla Ramey who purchased Westside Farms on the other.
The Miracle Mile has not revealed itself to us all at once. Rather, slowly over time we think it will show us all it has to offer. Mostly it offers all of you reading this. Your love and appreciation for what we are building, slowly, deliberately, is revealing itself to us. As we grow together as the Gracianna family we welcome you to reach out to those that you are grateful for on this blessed Thanksgiving and renew your ability to revel in all those things we are thankful for.
Love,
Your Gracianna family: The Amadors, Jesslyn Jackson, Danny and Linea and Tom and Sue and Tony and Leona and Spencer and Christina and Sandy and Colin and Ricky the Tasting Room Kitty.
Thanksgiving 2014
