The Impact of Our Decisions

When you are starting and growing a business, especially on a small scale with very limited budget and string of assets, it is important to utilize your resources to their fullest potential. With every decision comes opportunity costs. Knowing that going into every decision made - whether it is regarding production, sales, staffing, spending, marketing, timing, etc - makes you look into every small detail before you pull the trigger on anything. Especially when your blood is in the deal. My Father and I started Nottingham Cellars with this mind set, and so far, it is panning out very well.

I would be lying to you if I said that every decision we have made so far was the best possible. I can, however, confirm that it becomes apparent very quickly whether or not a given decision panned out the way we wanted it to.

One decision my father and I stand by - and if you know us, we don't tend to agree too often - was not cutting corners on production. That means sourcing fruit from a very select group of growers whose dedication to growing the best possible fruit matches our passion for turning that fruit into wines that you will enjoy. The majority of our budget and time is spent visiting and revisiting our Vineyard Partners. They are the ones who are responsible for what is in our bottle.

We are not a large winery with a million blending options who can hide or mask flaws in wines by blending it away. Our wines are what they are. And so far, our customers, as well as judges from the west coast, and the east coast seem to think we are on the right track as well. In 2011 we have submitted wines to two competitions. The first, The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition - the largest competition of American wines in the world. NC Submitted six wines and took six medals. Riding on the heels of that great success, we entered in our first international wine competition at Fingerlakes. Widely regarded as the most prestigious wine competition in the world with entries from wineries in 15 countries, 9 Canadian Provinces and all fifty states - a total of over 5,000 wines, NC entered eight wines with hopes (not expectations) of taking home a medal or two. Amazingly enough, we took home eight medals, including a Double Gold on our 2009 Casa De Vinas Petite Sirah, as well as Three Gold Medals; 2009 Reserve Petite, and both of our Bordeaux Style Red Blends - 2008 Ralphi's Red (60% Cab 40% Merlot) and 2008 Supremacy (61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 11% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec)

I have never in my short life been in a situation that consumers can literally taste a decision I have made. Weird to think, even weirder to say out loud to myself. But it really is true. Had I slightly altered any number of things on a given wine we would have achieved different results. Whether it is fruit source, yeast strain, time on skins, barrel type, barrel time, blending options, bottle aging etc. Just changing one of these things will ultimately change the final product.

Could I have done some things better in the past? Absolutely. Am I striving to outdo myself every vintage? Please believe this. The 2008 Vintage was really my second year of making wine. I still don't feel like I have figured it out - and I hope I never do. That way when it comes time to making important decisions I can continue to go into them with an open mind and not get stuck doing the same old thing and just become another winery lost in the mix.

My decision is made indefinitely on one thing, however. I will continue to seek out the best possible fruit, meticulously craft micro-lots of ultra premium wines with fruit sourced from Livermore Valley's finest vineyards. At no point will a decision be made that can or will negatively impact any wine in my production. I will continue to promote the Livermore Valley because I do believe in what we are doing here as a community. I will not be misguided by any negativity towards our Valley, and I will continue to ride this wave of momentum so that I can proudly say, "I made this" and never be ashamed of any bottle my name is on.