After only a week of self-employment, I’m already getting more sleep and having fun.

This past week was taken up principally with signing, sniffing, pruning and strolling.  We had a lot of paperwork to get through with the sale of our Vancouver home, the vineyard purchase and the incorporation of our company, Motovino Wines Inc.  Thankfully, our lawyer, Penny, is skilfully guiding us through this process.

We had the chance to smell and taste the 2016 white wines before bottling and I was reminded just how much I have to learn about making great wine.

One of the highlights of the week was learning how to prune a vine.  Roger, the previous vineyard owner, was a very patient tutor, demonstrating the technique to identify the best shoot to keep on the vine (look for the most buds in the right positioning and get rid of the rest), to allow for the most grapes.  I made a few mistakes but the vines will recover.  They are newly planted (one-year old) Sauvignon Blanc vines and I look forward to their maturity.

I must admit, I felt quite serene, kneeling with pruning shears in hand, no cell phone, laptop or high heels in sight.

In between other meetings that Zac and I had in Duncan, we strolled around the town to get our bearings.  The numerous totems are quite lovely and there are a number of small businesses that we look forward to frequenting, from the Olive Station (https://theolivestation.com/), purveyors of gourmet olive oils and balsamic vinegars, to Mad Dog Crabs Seafood Market (https://www.maddogcrabs.ca/), where local fisherman bring their catch, I think we’ll enjoy living in this part of the world.

Next week, I’ll get to experience the bottling process.  Should be good fun.