Annually, on my birthday (not today, I wrote this a month ago), I like to reflect a bit. So please bear with me as this newsletter is a bit more emotionally than educationally driven. Looking back, I see BLANKbottle as a huge clumsy aircraft trying to gain speed on the runway. In the start-up years I squeezed as much baggage into this plane as physically possible. As a result, for 7 years, we were going round and round on the tarmac – trying to take off, failing and returning to the hanger. Each time chucking off excess baggage. After 8 years and maybe the millionth (or so it feels) attempt, we actually gained just enough speed on the runway to take off.
For some people, takeoff might be the first step in their journey. For me, it sort of feels like the last step. As a student I always thought how great it would be if I could one day produce interesting wines in limited quantities AND have a market for it. Thanks to you all; this is where I am at. I am not sure for how long I’ll be in this position, but at least I’ve experienced it. So this e-mail is an official THANK YOU! Not only to the clients who regularly buy from me, but also to those of you who always read the newsletters, tell your friends about BLANKbottle and motivate me. Thanks to you all.
And yes, now that Aneen and I managed to get BLANKbottle into the air, we’ll try and figure out where the biggest, ugliest storm is brewing and fly this plane straight into it. What I am trying to say is that we have a plan, an interesting plan, which I will hopefully be able to share with you in a few months.
All the best and enjoy the holidays. And whatever your new year may hold, may it give you lots of interesting stories to tell.
PS: I will be closed from the 14th December onwards, so please let me know if you still want to buy wine before the holidays. We need a week to get the wines to you.