House of C's

Friday, February 29, 2008

Happy Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day everyone! An extra day, do something you never get to do.

Lohman Family Estate has it's first wine made and bottled.

Chad ventured out to San Francisco this past weekend to bottle our first wine. Trice was glad to go along and be the photographer. This wine is a Sauvignon Blanc and it's Cooper's wine. Chad has been working with a company called Crushpad to make all of this happen. You might have seen or heard about Crushpad as they have been featured in many magazines and on the Today show. Crushpad allows you to be as involved in the wine making process as you want to be. Chad was able to choose the vineyard the grapes were sourced from, the chemistry makeup of the wine, the bottle type, and even the label. All of this is great, it just means more decisions for Chad to make.

The grapes were harvested last year and when we visited Crushpad in September 2007 the grapes were in the tank already. So it's been a work in progress. We are also making a red wine, but as you may know, reds have to sit in the barrels a lot longer than a white wine does. Chad couldn't wait that long, so he decided to do a white wine first. Our red wine grapes have been harvested and they are in the barrel. Chad was able to taste the red out of the barrel on this trip.

The bottling process was interesting for Chad to watch. The labels weren't back from the printer yet, so they just skipped that step. From watching simple water fill some bottles, to pushing air in the bottles to clean them out, all of it was exactly what Chad wanted to see and do. The corks went in, the foil went on, and Chad happily boxed them up and put them on the palette.

Our art designer, KC, kindly printed off 5 labels to go on the bottles so Chad could bring those back with him. It was actually KC's last day at Crushpad, so Chad was sad to not be able to work with him again.

The label has an interesting story. The picture on the label is titled Nice Cups and was a piece of artwork hanging in one of our friends' houses. We had seen it many years ago and Chad always said that would make a cool wine label. So as this venture presented itself, Chad contacted our friends and the artist actually made a new print for our friend and we ended up with the Nice Cups print, which now hangs in our media room. The design was perfect and it's just enough edge that it's an unforgettable label, but still classy.

The romance part of it, goes as follows. (This is the story part on the back label.)
"We are pleased to present our first Sauvignon Blanc. We finished this wine in stainless steel to allow for the true essence to shine. Bright, crisp acidity with green apple and lemongrass aromatics. This is Cooper's wine. Our 5 year old red headed daughter is very similar to this wine. Bright, but with a touch of sass that sometimes you just have to shake your head at. Straightforward, yet firm, all wrapped up into this little ball of joy."

If you're a white wine lover we hope this suites your taste buds. For those of you who like reds, just be patient our next one will be done next year. Around June or July as it has to sit in oak for 18 months.

We hope that one of the suppliers in Kansas will bring in our wine and then we will be able to sell it. We'll keep you posted and let you know when our reveal party is.

Girls Weekend!

This past weekend Chad went to San Francisco so the girls and I went out to my mom's house for the weekend and a little girl time. My sister and Bailey were there and we all had a lot of fun. Campbell loves all the dogs and chased them all over the house. She wants to help grandma with everything she does, even when grandma didn't need help. Cooper and Bailey played well together. Their imaginations seem to lead them in many directions; school, house, sisters, etc. Mom, Kelly, and I enjoyed watching HGTV and catching up on our magazine reading. We tried to come up with solutions to our home decorating issues. We played games, painted fingernails, did crafts, and ate great food. The funniest part of the weekend was during a game of UNO Attack-o. Bailey played a trade hands card and traded hands with Cooper, to which Cooper replied "God-Dammit, now I can't play that card." Mom, Kelly, and I couldn't say a word as we were laughing so hard that we were crying. The girls didn't have a clue why we were laughing, but mom and Kelly both say Cooper gets that language from good old mom. ;o)

Monday, February 18, 2008

K-State Victory

On Saturday night we took both girls (Campbell's first time) to the K-State vs Missouri basketball game. K-State had a huge victory and both girls enjoyed cheering on the wildcats. That evening they were recognizing the teammates from the 1948 and 1958 winning teams. One of those players is Ernie Barrett, otherwise known as Mr. K-State. Chad knows Mr. Barrett from donations Nespor's contributes to the K-State Fish Fry. He was excited to take a picture with Chad and the girls. We had a wonderful evening together. When we left the game we discovered it was raining outside. Our attempt to take pictures of the girls is to get their picture included in the Future Wildcats show displayed during upcoming basketball games. I think we'll make it, they are so cute. The score was 100-63!