Ever been curious about the fascinating world of winemaking? Then strap in for an inspiring journey with Chad Preston, the founder of Birds and Barrels Vineyards and partner in Cochise Wine Company. From being a wine enthusiast during his college days to now standing at the helm of a flourishing vineyard in Wilcox, Chad's story is one of passion, faith, and resilience. Tune in as we traverse the twists and turns of Chad's winemaking journey, his brave forays into new grape varieties, and the hard-earned lessons of risk-taking.
Alongside the intoxicating aroma of crushed grapes and wine barrels, there's another guiding force in Chad's life: his deep-rooted Christian faith. With the vineyard as his pulpit, Chad shares how his faith shapes his approach to winemaking and life in general. He views himself as a tool in God's toolbox, serving His divine plans in his own humble way. From his early days in youth ministry to his current role in the wine industry, Chad's faith journey is a testament to the power of belief, prayer, and listening for God's voice.
Wrapping up our conversation, we celebrate the courageous endeavors of Chad and his wife, Monica, as they continue to raise the bar of Arizona's wine industry. Reflecting on his journey, Chad emphasizes the importance of community, patience, and gratitude. This episode is a hearty toast to Chad's accomplishments and his unwavering faith. So, fill up your glass and immerse yourself in this riveting conversation about wine, faith, resilience, and the amazing journey of a hobbyist winemaker turned industry influencer.
https://birdsandbarrels.com/
See audio and video episodes at: https://communionwineco.com/podcast/
Find out more at: https://linktr.ee/communionwineco
Ever been curious about the fascinating world of winemaking? Then strap in for an inspiring journey with Chad Preston, the founder of Birds and Barrels Vineyards and partner in Cochise Wine Company. From being a wine enthusiast during his college days to now standing at the helm of a flourishing vineyard in Wilcox, Chad's story is one of passion, faith, and resilience. Tune in as we traverse the twists and turns of Chad's winemaking journey, his brave forays into new grape varieties, and the hard-earned lessons of risk-taking.
Alongside the intoxicating aroma of crushed grapes and wine barrels, there's another guiding force in Chad's life: his deep-rooted Christian faith. With the vineyard as his pulpit, Chad shares how his faith shapes his approach to winemaking and life in general. He views himself as a tool in God's toolbox, serving His divine plans in his own humble way. From his early days in youth ministry to his current role in the wine industry, Chad's faith journey is a testament to the power of belief, prayer, and listening for God's voice.
Wrapping up our conversation, we celebrate the courageous endeavors of Chad and his wife, Monica, as they continue to raise the bar of Arizona's wine industry. Reflecting on his journey, Chad emphasizes the importance of community, patience, and gratitude. This episode is a hearty toast to Chad's accomplishments and his unwavering faith. So, fill up your glass and immerse yourself in this riveting conversation about wine, faith, resilience, and the amazing journey of a hobbyist winemaker turned industry influencer.
https://birdsandbarrels.com/
See audio and video episodes at: https://communionwineco.com/podcast/
Find out more at: https://linktr.ee/communionwineco
Well, welcome back to another episode of Cabernet and Prey, where today we're diving into the wine world. I get to spend time with Chad Preston today and I'm going to introduce Chad for you. Chad and his wife, monica are from Mesa, arizona. They're the founders of birds and barrels vineyards. Chad started hobby winemaking while in college. After he was discharged out of the military after the first Gulf War, he made all of the wine for his wedding 20 years ago, which is that's quite the flex. There.
Speaker 1:Chad and Monica moved to Wilcox in 2015, where they planted their first 3,000 vines in the spring of 2016, with their first vintage being in 2018. Currently, they have 14,000 vines in the ground, eight reds and four white wine varieties. They're also partners in Cochise Wine Company, where Chad and Desiree Geirth are the head winemakers. There, they do custom crush for 11 other vineyard wineries and they support the Arizona wine industry by not just making other people's wines, but also by coordinating wine grape purchases, assisting with licensing, branding, marketing and crafting tasting menus. Chad, it sounds like you do a little bit of everything. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you very much. Yeah, we try to really help out people around us and the idea is really to support the whole Arizona wine business.
Speaker 1:Well, you are on the ground making it happen. Anything else we need to know about you that I didn't cover in the intro bio.
Speaker 2:Well, I am a born again Christian. You and I have known each other obviously for a lot of years and I don't know if this is something that you were planning on us to share is that you did youth ministry and I did children's ministry alongside each other in Mesa, and that's kind of how we've known each other and that has kind of continued since then here in Wilcox.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, we will. We will get into that. For those who are listening to the podcast and you can't see I am supporting Chad just sent me his brand new shirt that says Jesus drank wine inside of the Arizona state, and that's a pretty rad shirt. I'm just going to have to say it's very on brand with Communion Wine Co. So well done. I'm happy to support you guys and rock this. Also, for those who are listening, chad has one of the most epic beards you will ever see and it's a thing of beauty. So even if you just go online and check out some YouTube or social media clips just to see Chad's beard, you need to do that Now. Chad, I want to say, before we get into what we're drinking today, you have a unique claim to fame in my book and I don't think I've told you this. I might have, but I wanted to tell you and put it on the record for all the listeners. You have made.
Speaker 1:In my opinion, the single greatest wine to pair with a cigar, have I told you? Oh, really, okay? No, I have not heard this. I'm a big cigar fan and one of the things. If you're a cigar lover, you know that a lot of wines just get swallowed up by a cigar and you're enjoying a good cigar and also in that wines it's flabby, can't keep up, and so that's why a lot of guys that go to you're like a whiskey, you know, with a cigar, but you have a wine you make called SBR, super Bold Red. That I am just telling you is a thing of beauty to pair with a cigar. Have you had that with a cigar?
Speaker 2:I actually just had it this weekend in our hot tub with a cigar.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was a nice Maduro.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it, yes, okay, so that's, I'm just going to put it out there. If you're a cigar fan watching and listening to this and you've always thought, yeah, wine can't keep up, chad makes an SBR. That is a thing of beauty. You need to go check it out. That's your claim to fame in my book.
Speaker 2:So now, thank you, oh, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:That's on the record for everyone to know. All right, that means it is time for us to talk about what we're drinking today. Now, today, I have a 2017 Noviolo from Brava. This is a Bordeaux style red wine blend from Washington. About half of this blend is Cabernet Sauvignon. The rest is split equal parts Cab Franc, petit Verdot and Merlot, and I was.
Speaker 1:I tapped into this a little bit right before I got in the episode, and what I have noticed about this one is the fruit notes in it are very subtle. I'm getting a ton of what are traditionally considered tertiary notes, which, if you're like, what does that mean? These are some of the fun wine flavors that people talk about and you may go. You got that out of a wine. So here's what I got. I got tobacco. Mushroom and leather are the three flavors, and you may you know you may be listening to this going. That sounds awful, like why would you want to drink that? But if you are enjoying a wine that is balanced well and is aged properly, those are really nice flavors to get. So that's what I'm getting. Chell, what are you drinking today?
Speaker 2:I'm actually drinking an Arizona Strive Allianico which is a 2020 vintage, and this is a new grape bridle to the area. Here in the Wilcox ABA. The first grower was actually Jim Graham at Golden Rule Vineyards, and not all grapes grow well in all areas. You have to match your grape bridle up with your toar and your soil and your weather patterns, and when Jim first started growing grapes and he really knew nothing about them somebody had recommended that he plant Zinfandel. Well, I love a good Zinfandel, but Zinfandel does not grow really well in Arizona. It's tertiary white ripening, which means on the cluster of grapes you'll have a ripe and underripe and an overripe buried. So what happens is during the monsoons, that overripe buried will typically split or get bird damage and then that whole cluster will start to rot. So what he decided to do and I assisted him with this in 2018, that's why I'm kind of geeked up about this wine is we cut off all the cordons on the Zinfandel and we grafted Allianico buds on the Zinfandel vines, right, and so 2019 was the first vintage and then 2020, 2021, 2022. But it seems like it's a grape that's well suited for at least the Wilcox AVA and it's really well known and popular in the Texas wine country. So it's a really well balanced wine.
Speaker 2:Typically it takes a couple, two or three years to really figure out a grape and what it wants during the fermentation process. Whether you know how balanced it is with the acidity is like what kind of yeast it likes. We'd like to use lab grown yeasts that are cultured for that specific cell of wine and it was pretty much just a home run out of the box. Desiree and I were both given about a thousand pounds just to fiddle around with the first year and it turned out so well with so little work. It's like, oh my gosh, this really. It seems like it's well suited for the area you know, let's say, medium to full bodied red wine. It's very, very well balanced with acid and tannin and fruit fordness. It's structured really well but it's not overpowering in any of the areas and you just really get a sense of to our in place when you do drink it.
Speaker 1:So Well, to that we say cheers, cheers, well done. That was. I'm intrigued. I wanna try that, which is always the mark of a good explanation. You're like pour me a glass. So, chad, you did not spend your entire life in wine. You're not, like you know. Second, third generations is all you know. You got into this, as I mentioned earlier, kind of in a hobby. When did that begin for you? When did you first get interested in wine?
Speaker 2:Well, we really started right after I got out of the military. I went back to college on my GI Bill. I was studying religious studies, sociology with and doing biblical.
Speaker 2:Hebrew is my foreign language and my family comes from a farming background in Iowa Not that you know I ever farmed in Iowa that my mother was the daughter of a farmer and they would never buy anything if they could make it. So I started asking her about wine has she ever made wine? And she's like oh yeah, wine's easy to make. Like really. She's like oh yeah, you know, the trick is to make good wine consistently, and so I started filling around with it in college and then sitting down and with some of my colleagues, you know, doing Hebrew homework, we would have these wine dinner parties where it's like oh, this is the new wine that I just made, and sometimes it turned down and sometimes it didn't. But it was just kind of a fun thing that I started experimenting with, and I'm not one to, I'm not a dabbler, I'm either all in or all out of something. So it was that point kind of all in.
Speaker 1:So did you as you were progressing and obviously you are at a place now where you're I mean, you are on the front lines of the Arizona wine scene. Did you have a mentor? Did you have someone who coached you? How did you get from you know, I'm a hobbyist who's tinkering with this to, like you said, I'm all in.
Speaker 2:Right, I think we all have mentors, specifically the wine mentor stuff. We're always learning and that's kind of why, you know, we surround ourselves with people that are smarter, more talented than we are, that we just want to soak it all up. I mean, whether you're you know, whether it's the financial part of your life or your spiritual walk or whatever it is, we should be looking to other people as role models and for people to show us how to do it better. And so all throughout this walk I've been looking at, you know, people like Jim Graham for viticulture and rod keeling and, of course, gosh, mark Joerbe at Zapara. And then when we first moved down, it was it wasn't that we knew. Obviously you think you know something until you figure out, oh my gosh, there's so much more to learn and it's absolutely overwhelming. And so, luckily you know it's kind of introduced into this community that people were very open and forthcoming with information. And, hey, how do you do this and what would you recommend? And if you could do something over, what would you do? And it's the same thing in wine.
Speaker 2:We're really about experimentation and you can't be afraid to fail, that's. You know, when people come in and they say, oh my gosh, all your wines are great and I go thank you. But you don't taste the flaws, you don't taste the failures, you only taste the stuff that really turned out. Those other things just kind of disappear. And we learn from our mistakes. But you can't be afraid to make mistakes, and so, even like Desiree Geirth for Scribe, her and I are co-wine makers at Cochise Wine Company. We bring strength, our strengths and weaknesses to the table and luckily they balance out, and her wine style is a lot different than I am, at that, mine is. But and then we make wine for, you know, 10, 11 other clients, and then we can incorporate both of our styles and then really listen to what other people are looking at and what they think they want in their style, and really support and encourage each other and collaborate so we can make something very unique for each one of our clients.
Speaker 1:Now you I mean, you see you today and you think this guy's got to figure it out. This looks easy. We don't see your failures. We don't see all the things that you try that don't work. We see the, you know the final product. We get to enjoy it and you guys make incredible wine. But your story is I mean, in the wine world especially is a very young story. We were talking this was what eight years ago that you made the move and really decided to go all in in the way you're doing it and you're, I mean, not that far removed from this. What did you feel like when you decided let's make this move, let's go all in? I mean, was it adrenaline? Was it an excitement mixed with a fear? Was it like a hopeful optimism? Like what does that journey like to pursue something that you have no idea? You know, big picture, how it's going to play out?
Speaker 2:Right, right. Well, first and foremost, my identity isn't in wine making. My identity is Christ and following his path, and so you know it's one of those and I'm sure you've heard it before where it's like. It's almost like Peter stepping out of the boat. It was the willingness to do something my wife and I used to have a, we had a policy and we should still have it, but it seems like it gets diluted a little bit. But we would have date nights, and if we missed too many date nights, we do weekends away, and the weekends away was we started exploring Arizona wine country and the only reason we knew about this area down here in Southeast Arizona is because our small group took a trip, a camping trip, and it was in like July. And you know, the small group said, hey, let's go on a camping trip, We'll take all the kids. And I said that'll be great. I know this place in Northern Arizona, it's perfect. And one of our good friends said, oh no, you need to go to Southeast Arizona. And I looked at him and I'm like, hey, man, you're going the wrong way. It gets hotter down there and it's wildcat country, so we can't go down there. Being a guy for me, as you right. So we said, you know, we're like okay, we caved in. We're like okay, we're going to do this. And it was just magical, it was high prairie, it wasn't cactus. And so we started falling in love with the area and so If we missed too many date nights, we'd do a weekend away.
Speaker 2:That's when we started exploring Southern Arizona. My wife is originally from Kansas. She's like, oh my gosh, this really looks like Kansas. I'm like, yeah, I guess it does, the prairie and everything. And then the elevation was 4,000 to 5,000 feet.
Speaker 2:We got to this point where we were assessing our careers and living in a city and we lived a good, comfortable life and our three adult kids were out of the house. And then our youngest son was going into fourth grade and we're like, you know what, if God opens the door, we'd be willing to make a change. We would be willing to do that. And so, as fate would have it, I said, okay, fine, if God has this in his plans, I would be willing to submit to them. But my gosh, that would be quite defeat. And I even one of her friends said, monica thinks that she's gonna be moving down there in six months. And I went, oh my gosh, that is so pie in the sky. I mean, this would take a complete act of God. Well, god just kind of said oh really, and that is a challenge. And so it was, quite literally, we didn't have to push. And that's obviously God knows us better than we know ourselves.
Speaker 2:Because I'm the kind of guy that if I want something, whether it's God's will or not, I'm like blowing down doors, I'll knock doors down, I'll pick the locks, I'll go around above. And this was none of it. Just every door opened, one right after another, and it was almost just trying to keep on her feet. And even financially, it was like, hey, this was after the recession and housing prices hadn't really bounced back. And I'm like she was looking at these places and I'm like we could never afford that right now. And she's like you know, if it's God's will, honey, you know, don't doubt God, and sure as heck. One thing right after another. And just I was like, okay, god, you know, the hands are off the wheel, you've got this thing. So that's just kind of how it started.
Speaker 1:And look at you. Now you're riding that wave and it seems to be a wild ride. What for those of us that don't know what's the best part of running a winery?
Speaker 2:Well, there's not a lot of things glamorous about running a wine, where I said the only thing glamorous about wine is drinking it. If I was gonna say, I wouldn't even use the word glamorous, because I think about 85% of what we do is actually like cleaning. We're cleaning drains, we're cleaning barrels, we're using pressure washers and everything to keep everything sanitary and sterile. But I love the creative aspect of it. Like, quite literally, if you think of a winery as a kitchen and you have all you could do make wine in all these different styles you know, pinot Noir doesn't have to be made this way, it can be made in all these different styles. And then you have, you know, let's just say, 20 different wine varietals to play around with and they're like spices in a spice rack. So you can do co-fermentations and rosés and sparkling and all these different things. And even, you know, co-ferments between white and reds, blending trials.
Speaker 2:A lot of people think it's like we have this barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon and you know, you tasted that for 18 months and yeah, it tastes pretty good. We should bottle it up. We go through like double blind blending trials and everything that we make, because we feel that if it's good it can be better. You know and we're giving, you know, creative bandwidth that we can add a little of something to like, for instance, the Cabernet Sauvignon, like if it's got good front palate, it's got kind of a flat mid-palette, or we call it a donut with good finish. We have a percentage that we can work with to add a little bit to that mid-palette to try to make a more balanced wine, and so we're very fortunate to have the ability to do that with all the wines that we have available.
Speaker 1:Well, you obviously get to drink a lot of wine as a winemaker, so you know that is a glamorous part. You said drinking wine's the best. You get that part. What's the most challenging part? You talk about cleaning being obviously not, you know, as glamorous. What's just really hard about what you do.
Speaker 2:Well, during the growing season, like for instance right now, we're balancing a left and different clients, our own vineyards, so we're trying to take care of the viticulture and our own vineyards. A lot of clients like us have multiple varietals growing at one time. So we have 12 varietals in our vineyard. They're all coming in at different times. So we have, you know, 11, let's just say 11 clients. I have 12 varietals. They all come in at different times.
Speaker 2:You're trying to pick your balance, harvest times, getting you know, taking bricks and pH samples of everything, and then things just aren't always convenient.
Speaker 2:You might have you know nothing coming in, you know, for three days and then 10 or 14 tons coming in and then you know we had a night last or day last week.
Speaker 2:I call it a night, but it was a seven in the morning until midnight, because there's certain varietals like Pinot Grigio that is kind of like the half brother to Pinot Noir, that A. It's genetically unstable, so it can flip flop between gray, which is gray, which would make a white wine out of two red. If you leave it on skins too long, it comes out looking more rosish, like a rosé. So there's times that it's like hey, we're not gonna know what is coming in until it comes in, and how much, and it might have to burn them in night oil. So a lot of it is just time and labor and being flexible and taking things as they come and saying, hey, you know, lord's got this. We're gonna do the best we can, but we can't just let it sit in a bin and not do anything with it right now. We have to process it right away.
Speaker 1:Well, you made the comparison to farming, and that's obviously. You know, farmers are at the mercy of the sun and the weather and the rain, and you know, is this a good year? Is this a hard year? You are. The more I've spent in the wine industry, the more I've realized you are so at the mercy of the sun Every single year, compared to what you're trying to do based on what the weather does. Right.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I mean, we say this all the time. That wine is really history in a bottle and we can look through. I can recount all the vintages we made and went. Oh, this one was great.
Speaker 2:It was a dry year. We got rain after harvest or before harvest. Oh my gosh, this was tough. You know, my gosh, last year we had like 24 inches in the vineyard. We had six weeks we couldn't get a tractor in the field. And I think I told you the story as soon as we could. I told my son, ethan, get out there, let's get on the tractor and get stuff done. And he got to end of one row and said, called me and like, hey, bring the tow rope, I'm stuck. And then you're you know even disease pressure and rot pressure trying to get things sprayed. And we try to do things as organically as we possibly can, but you still, you know, there's so many things out of our control. It's truly farming and there's a reason why it, you know, farmers, or so I guess so tight with the Lord, because they're always like come on, just let my, let my crops grow and let me get them onto the field. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I imagine your prayer life is pretty active. It is pretty active, yes. So, as you, as you look and I would be curious for your answer to this both in Arizona and broader, where do you see the wine industry going? What? What kind of trends are you seeing? What anything shifting, anything different? Where do you see this going?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think Arizona is on this. Arizona wine is on the same trajectory, as you know, someplace like Temecula was 20 years ago, or Texas. We are at its infancy stages here, not just in Wilcox but Arizona in general. We're really, and that's why everything that we're doing down here is just the wild west. As long as it grows well, it tastes good, it has your bridal, bridal, bridal characteristics of that wine. It's like disguised the limit and you know we consult. I mean, we're such a tight knit community that you know, even you know, I had the idea of growing Pinnatash. I was just like, well, it's similar climate to South Africa.
Speaker 2:So I call Caligan at Calican vineyards and he's been around a long time and he's kind of a, you know, I'd say I call him, you know, a mentor of mine, whether he knows that or not, just because I like the way he works, I like the style of wine that he does. And he said well, pinot Noir or Pinnatash is a cross between Pinot Noir and Senso. Pinot Noir is thin skin, great, but you know what? You're not gonna know until you try. So he would never discourage trying something new, but he'd always preference it by saying I don't know, but try it. You know these are might be some of the things that you might have to deal with. And, my gosh, it works out great and it's a great seller. So really, the sky's the limit, just like the Alianico that I'm drinking today. Jim Graham's the first one that planted it. He thought it might work, but you just have to take the risk and try it, because you're not gonna know until you try.
Speaker 1:Now, when you say try it, that means I'm going to plant something, I'm going to cultivate it. You know you're talking. What a few years to try it, how long does?
Speaker 2:that take. Oh, oh yes, I have personal experience on this one. So I planted a Montipugiana, which is a Italian bridal that another grower in Suriname planted and I love the wine and I worked on that grape for over five years. It grew well, it had a great, you know, trunk growth, cordon growth, spurs, canopy, but it would not set fruit. I mean, this is five years and so after some point you have to say, and this is bringing in, you know, viticulturists from U of A and around to do, and they're doing pedial samples and soil comparisons and everything should, should the fruit should set, it should be fine. And after a while I just said, you know, this 500 vines is a real expensive hobby and so that's where this spring I went.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're pulling the Monty out, we're putting Merlot in, and so we learn from our mistakes and there's so many. You know it could been the clone, it was on own route, it could have been the soil. I mean there's so many things that it could, it could have been, but we're just not gonna know. It even could have been viticulture technique. You know, I I do bilateral cordon, vertical shoot positioning system, which is a single trunk, a cordon, which is an arm and then spurs that grow two buds. It might have been, looking in hindsight, hey, maybe this should have been cane pruned or spur pruned. You know so. If you go to France, you know what a cane pruned is. But again, you can't. You can only do what you can do. You can't. You know there's a reason why God put eyes in the front of your head, not behind, and then you just move forward. So it just wasn't meant to be so, yes, it's a little expensive.
Speaker 1:I mean I just, I think he's like emotionally going five years pouring yourself, trying it, wanting it to work so badly, and then get to the point where you say pull it Like, oh, that's just has, that has to be a rough day, oh.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's a few tears, a few tears shed, but we're pulling those out. But again, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So, and you know, every year it looked like it set fruit and it would set fruit, and then, for whatever reason, we'd have this spontaneous berry abortion and berries and start falling off, I mean in the infancy stages, where they're just small, small green berries, and so at that point it just wasn't worth pursuing. It was like, okay, well, I've tried my best, and this is one of those. And it's not about the destination, but it's about the journey. And this journey said this is not gonna work, so let's move on. This journey hurt yes, it was. I call it character building.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think that's what's so Impressive about winemakers is the absolute dedication to the craft and and an acknowledgement of this may not work, and especially when on the front end of something like you guys are, you know you go to other places where it's like this this great has been grown here for generations. That's not the case in Arizona.
Speaker 2:It's like we're figuring out what grows really well here, and sometimes you have really happy Coincidences or accidents of like, wow, that was way better than you have a five-year learning experience, which is right, right, yeah, and luckily, I mean, I'm I feel so blessed that we had mentors that came before us, like I said Kent Kelligan, eric Lomsky, you know Sam Pillsbury, you know these guys that were growing before I did and I could go to them and, hey, what are you growing? What do you see that works the best. And they're more than willing, willing to share, because I say we're really not in competition with each other, we're in competition with ourselves, because you know, whether it's viticulture, whether it's, you know, winemaking, the analogy part of it, I mean we're all gonna add our our little twists and nuances to things. So, you know, we just try to encourage and support each other. And that's just not with information, that's even with equipment.
Speaker 2:You know, somebody's crushed or the stemmer went down a couple weeks ago I had an extra one. So I'm like, hey, use mine. I mean, why not help out our friends? I mean this is a community, that's what we would do for neighbors, that's what we're trying to build down here as a community. And I think that's when people come down here they appreciate hearing that, because there's so much division in the world, when they see World America getting together, even from all these diverse backgrounds and working together. That's gives them a sense of hope where humanity is going.
Speaker 1:I Totally agree. When I was down there and visiting you guys, I definitely got that sense of this is a community. You're all rooting for each other and I think that's that was surprising to me. You know, I wouldn't anticipate walking into a wine scene like that and everybody gets along and everyone wants to. You know, you think, aren't you? Aren't you competing with that guy? You know, for, for sales?
Speaker 2:right.
Speaker 1:You guys don't see it that way. I think it really is a beautiful statement about the Arizona wine scene, but also just a testament to you guys and to the community that you're building. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I think so too, and we all have favorites, you know. And somebody says, hey, what we? What would you recommend? I mean, I don't, nobody around us makes bad wine. It might be made in a different style that I don't prefer, but there's always a wine someplace. Like you know, I get on kicks. I don't know about you, but I'm like you know. You know I get on a tempur neo cake. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm just geeking out about tempur neo, yeah. And then you know I have my tempur neo mentor, which is Mark Jarve, over at Separa. And if somebody really likes my tempur neo, I'm like, hey, if you like this one, go try my favorite, which is over at Separa. And they're like who are? What are you talking about? I'm like, oh yeah, we have our favorites in places, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:so Again, I still peek out about you know different lines of different places and stuff.
Speaker 1:so Okay, as as a an insider, what's an underrated wine that people listening or watching this should go check out that they may be totally unaware of?
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll describe what I believe is the underrated wine and the reason why it is okay, okay, okay, first of all, this might this might blow some people's minds out there, and I have never been a really a big proponent of this wine, but I'm gonna tell you right now. It's rose a.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I was not a rose a drinker.
Speaker 1:I was like that is that is.
Speaker 2:That is your grandma's wine, man you are. What are you talking about? It's some of the rose a that is coming out of Arizona. It's authentic rosé's. So what they're doing is they're basically taking I mean, we do a lot of this here and other. It's really catching on and it's kind of more of a seasonal thing. Right like, typically, I'm not gonna, you know, drink rose and and you know, you know when we're smoking a cigar, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean it's, it's to be a parent kind of deal, or. But you know, we take, you know, a couple tons of Malbec, a petite for dough or petite straw. We crush into stem it and then we use this technique called saunier, which in French means bleed. So you know, typically a ton, 2,000 pounds of grapes will give you between 150 and 160 gallons of finished wine. But what we'll do is we'll crush into stem that those grapes will saunier some of that juice off and We'll put that juice either in a stainless steel container or a neutral red barrel and we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll make that wine in a white wine style, even though it came from a red grape. So it'll pull some of the nuances from the red wine out. So it's not like this Convoluted, like oh rose, what is that? Oh, it's white wine and somebody threw a dash of red wine into it to color it up. So we're, we've been experimenting a lot with rosé's where I mean we've made some crazy ones Grasiano, petit, reddow, malbecs, raw Cabernet, sauvignon, so that's new and exciting.
Speaker 2:Obviously, our big reds. I love our big, bold reds that we do in Arizona. But I think this is something that people should look at on the radar and don't poo poo like I first did, because that was like oh, a rose a, what the heck? You know, people come up to me it's like what is a rose a? Anyhow, it's like well, let me tell you, you know, but now it's, it's starting to catch on and that's a great thing about Arizona wine. It is like the Wild West and it adds to our a tasting menu of portfolios. So oftentimes in your taste room, you know you have your white drinkers and you have your red drinkers and you try to bridge that gap in your, your wine menu, your tasting menu, and that's what rose will do. You could have a couple dry rosé's and they're so fruit forward. People would Swear their sugar left in that wine, but they're not. So it's, it's definitely something to be looking forward to.
Speaker 1:I'll be honest, that is not where I thought you were. You would go with that question.
Speaker 2:I know, I know I.
Speaker 1:Like it. All right. On that note, it's time for a drink break. All right, I like. I like doing podcast when you get to drink one chat. When I have the drink break, I like to ask people give us a snapshot One of the best wine moments you've ever had in your life? Great people in wine? No, like. There's just these moments where everything clicks, the stars align, the wine hits perfectly. Just, you probably have lots. Pick one. What's this one story you think of of? Like that moment when I had that wine and that setting was Perfection. What was it?
Speaker 2:98 Brutal A.
Speaker 2:Okay what was the setting this? Okay. So the setting is I was in, I was at ASU, okay, I was in my, my late 20s. I really wasn't a wine drinker and At the time I was dating this gal who you know, liked her buttery oaky chardonnay. And I had a buddy of mine that bought some bulk wine and when I say bulk wine, like bulk bottles, so mixed cases of stuff, and he's like you know, hey, I have some, I have a whole bunch of this wine. It's really good wine. But I kind of bought Broken cases. If you guys want to come through and look through them, I'll sell them to you for like five bucks a bottle.
Speaker 2:And I was like, okay, so at the time I really didn't know much about wine. So I brought my girlfriend at the time and I said, hey, let's go through here and take a look at some stuff and see if there's anything we want to, we want to buy. And she's like, ooh, bujaleh, this stuff is really good and and and I was like, okay, whatever, whatever, honey, you know one of those kind of things. And you know we bought four or five bottles and then, you know, sat on it for a little bit, opened up a bottle. I'm like whoa, what is this? It was just magical. It's like Like this is what wine is. Yeah, before then I really didn't have an experience. I either I drank pour wine, or it just wasn't my thing, or my my palette wasn't maybe sophisticated enough, which I don't think. That's it, but it's just the right time at the right place that all the stars are aligned and I went this is crazy, this is crazy and that's what really got me kind of wrap, wrapped up into the whole wine thing.
Speaker 1:Ha, I love that and I love the way you describe that and you know, so much of what we do is is trying to help people have those, those moments where they have that glass that it clicks. And I love when, you know, I was at a wine tasting the summer with some friends and you know, one of our friends said I haven't really understood all your obsession with wine until right now, you know, and then we were having this one tasting, we were doing a vertical and it, like it finally clicked. And I just love those moments. I love hearing other people's moments when it's like, whoa, this is amazing, because not, you know, I Love, I love a good, you know, dr Pepper, but I don't have the same Reaction. Right, I do with you, get that right glass of wine in the right setting. I think that's so cool.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's switch gears a little bit. We mentioned earlier that you and I met at church and met you and your wife there and and you guys were very involved Serving and you know, kind of like hardcore volunteers and I was on staff. What's been your journey with Jesus? Just kind of give us a story of how did you come to faith and what does that look like for you.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, gosh, you know it's kind of crazy. I was raised like always, you know, I guess, since I was in fourth grade, going to church, going to Sunday school, going to youth group. It wasn't until, I think, like a lot of us in my early 20s were, I always felt like I walked with God, but I didn't really know God all that well, and it wasn't until my probably late 20s that you know, mid to late 20s that I, that I really there were some things that happened in my life that I, you know, oftentimes you don't know what's going on at the time until after it happens, and then you look back and then God's hand was all over it. And you know, I had some tragedies in my life and I didn't look at it, as you know, being mad at God. I, I saw God written all over it and he took care of me and my family and and, and then the more I served, the closer I got to him. I don't, I don't know about you, jeremy, with especially some of the sermons that you write. Often those sermons are not for other people there, for you, yeah, totally, you're doing this stuff so and so, as I'm, you know, in and youth ministry and I'm and you know I am describing the walk I'm having and Pursuing God and how he's revealing himself in my life through scripture and other people. Again, it's just he just built on that and continue to build on it.
Speaker 2:It's kind of funny, in like youth ministry and children's ministry would say you know, it's like you know, especially children's ministry, you know, we kind of go through and I actually have children's ministry tonight and I'm like, hey, this is how we show Our neighbor, how we love them, is we show respect for them, right? I mean, we don't, you know, we don't have to say I love you, you know, but we say you know, it's like, don't interrupt your neighbor, you know, look out, put your neighbors needs in front of your own and God speaks through all people if, if our ears and eyes and hearts are open and so Through these, you know things with youth ministry and children's ministry and people around us, don't interrupt God, you know, listen for him and he'll guide you and he speaks through all these things, including scripture. So over the years I've had, you know, mentors, you know spiritual mentors, that I mean people If you know, you have known, if I mentioned them by name, and you know, the longer I live, the more I realize it's not about me. That's why my identity is not as a winemaker, my identity is a Christian, that I'm a tool in God's toolbox and as long as I continue to be Utilizable and my toolbox is open and I'm willing to swing that hammer or be utilized, he's gonna use me.
Speaker 2:And so I think that's why, you know, we have a lot of friends and relationships outside of the mind industry, because it and then even what we do is a little bit different here in the wine industry is that we try to encourage people to go on this journey with us. This isn't our journey as in Chad, monica's journey or Cochise wine companies. This is our journey as Arizona. So you know, people say, oh, I want to start a vineyard. I'm like, if you like wine, join a wine club vineyard. It's just a lot of work and a lot of money. But if you want to go on a journey with us, we'd be happy to have you out, you know, out to bottle and harvest and press and prune and everything else.
Speaker 2:But it's not just ours, it's our Everybody's, because if it wasn't for the people supporting us, we wouldn't be where we're at. I mean and again, just God surrounding us with with wise counsel and people that are smarter than we are and better winemakers and better viticulturists. You know everything. I know I contribute to somebody else because I mean even the. You know the grapes mean. God's the one who raises the Sun every morning and provides the soil and the water and the nutrients and things like that. I just trying not to screw it up.
Speaker 1:As a winemaker, I Love that perspective because it you know you talk about. Yeah, I see God and scripture in some of the normal ways, but you also just talk about your natural experiences as a winemaker, seeing God in all of that, and I love that. You know so often we put God like got you go visit God on Sundays at church. You know that's when you know it's like no, no, no, whatever you do, like you need to learn to see God in that. What are some ways? You've mentioned this in this conversation but like, just what are some practical ways? As someone you know who spends most of his days around vines and in the growing and all of that, that, you just see like wow, that's God in that, or that has shaped your faith compared to someone who doesn't have, you know, the same job you have.
Speaker 2:I, literally, I mean my gosh. There's so many challenges that we have, you know, whether that's in the field or in the winery, there's, I mean, so many miracles every day that it's often not what you know that gets you in trouble. It's what you don't know and and sometimes you just feel a tug in your heart like, hey, maybe you should move, you should do this this way. Or hey, this person is you in your life for a reason. Why don't you consult with him and see what they have to say? And Again, I mean my gosh, even Gosh. I'll tell you a quick story.
Speaker 2:So, friends of ours, we have this program called harvest toast I think I told you the story right where we have, oh, it saved our bacon during COVID, right I mean. So COVID basically shut us down for like six weeks and somebody said, hey, have you looked at this program called harvest toast? And that's where people buy it. You know they have our bees and they come camping at your place and you know they don't. You know you don't charge for it, they just kind of buy your wares. I'm like, oh, it sounds like a great idea. And so during COVID, I mean we signed up for this thing and it was like, oh my gosh, you know, that was the time we probably saw it where, you know, everybody's buying our bees, like, if we're getting locked down, we're gonna be locked down in an RV traveling the country with our kids, right, and so, so, anyhow, we had, you know, on average of a dozen our bees come through and stayed our vineyard a week and it just, like I said, it wasn't further. I mean, this was just like, oh, I did this and it seemed like at work, it was like a suggestion over there, and I was like, hey, why not? But it was God really telling us through this person, hey, do this right. And so we did it, and we're obviously blessed by it, I mean. I mean not that we're rolling in money, but it kept the lights on right.
Speaker 2:And then, through this, you know and I've said this to you before we're really not in the business of wine, we're in the business of relationships and the byproduct of our relationships or whatever we do. So we had five RVers that night, separate RVers, and I even have a picture of this. I might have showed it to you when you were down and I was talking to these people and I don't know something just resonated about them. Right, they're sitting on the patio and if you're a harvest host, you don't have to leave when the tasting room closes, and so we're having this conversation about you know how crazy the world is. I'm like, yeah, but we're so blessed we're having this conversation right now, and this goes to show that we shouldn't take any day for granted. And these people, I Mean they were probably early 60s, late 50s, right, and they look like they're in good shape. The gal looked like a yoga instructor, the guy looked like he was a marathonist. I mean, these people look like they. You know, we're keeping a good physical shape and we had other people there. They're kind of just, you know, just kind of like me. You know like, hey, we had a few too many cheeseburgers or whatever, but we're enjoying life, right.
Speaker 2:And so Monica and I, my wife and I, my son, went up and we're fixing dinner that night and the RVs were all in the you know pasture, you know overlooking the vineyard, watching the sunset, and, gosh, somebody. Somebody came Running up and knocked on the door which is very uncommon and said, hey, somebody had a heart attack. And so we're like, oh my gosh. And so we called 911 because their cell phones or something didn't work and you know they were bringing somebody out, and then we ran down there and to see if we could help. Well, what? What do you think? The chances are that somebody had a heart attack 20 miles from town and the RV and the people next door there was a EMT, a battalion chief, a retired nurse and like a medic, and and trailers surrounding them and one of them actually the gas right like, oh my gosh, so uh, I Anyhow we go down there and I'm expecting to see, you know, kind of like the middle-aged, you know, had a whopper and a beer, kind of physique, kind of guy tipped over and you know no, was the, the young yoga instructor, the young beautiful, you know, lady Superfit.
Speaker 2:She just tipped over in the trailer cooking dinner. That was her husband. That gasp and then the trailer next door. They were cooking and their window was open and she heard the gasp and she went that's not good. And so she ran over there. Yep, she's in cardiac arrest, not breathing, no heartbeat, nothing, I mean right, and then started to perform CPR.
Speaker 2:What do you think? The odds are that she had a defibrillator in her trailer and she shocked her and brought her back and and you know, then I mean we were on the on the phone to the hospital, which is 20, 25 miles away, and they're debating whether or not to send a Helicopter and an ambulance, and they ended up sending an ambulance out and they were talking to them. Obviously Everybody knew each other's credentials. They said, yeah, we have our stabilized her you know heart rate is this, her pulse is this and she had to be Air-lifted to Tucson Medical. But and I got the privilege of driving the husband to to the hospital here in Wilcox, and Right before she boarded the helicopter and she's like, oh, thank you so much for helping us out.
Speaker 2:And I said, you don't understand, a Day before, or a day that day after, you'd be dead. This was not a coincidence, this did not happen by accident. God put all these people in place for us to have this conversation, for us to pray, okay. And so this all stemmed from a conversation Six or eight months previous about, hey, it might not be a bad idea to do this harvest toast thing, because if they were someplace else, smoke like, most likely she wouldn't be alive. So these are these little things that that God sprinkles in our lives that if we're, if we're listening, we're paying attention, we can be. You know tools and his toolbox to and to. You know Be able to pray with people and and help guide them.
Speaker 1:That isn't. That is an amazing story a lot. You shared that with me. I thought that was so cool, as you, as you look at big picture, what do you think about Christianity these days?
Speaker 2:I Think it's being more rough, it's more relevant than it ever has. I think we we went through the atheistic cycle and now people even in science we're, you know, growing up they had to teach evolution. Well, evolution is so Unreason and really realistic unreasonable now that even the scientists are Saying no, there has to be intelligent design. Well, if there's intelligent design, what are we really saying? There has to be a prime mover, as Sarah Stottel said. There's got to be somebody to put things in motion, because motion doesn't come from Emotion, as in non-motion, right. So I think people are really starting to realize there is a God, but who is the God? And I think, as the craziness continues in our lives, that people will be looking for answers and that Christians will become more and more relevant.
Speaker 2:And I say Christians, I'm talking about followers of Jesus Christ, not like title. This isn't about religion. Religion is a form of self-salvation, but this is about a relationship with God. And it's kind of funny. I'm gonna I'm gonna talk on faith tonight, what faith really is, and so I use the analogy. It's like somebody said I can prove to you, I can put, I can lay everything out that that says this is not real. But yet if I have a relationship with God and he's active in my life and he's actually talking to me and directing, directing me, it doesn't matter what they put in front of me. It is not real, it's deception.
Speaker 2:God is real, the relationship is real and I think that's what people are yearning for and I think that's why, you know, that's what we're trying to do, is build relationships, because we're not supposed to be islands floating out there, you know, just are just like sailboats, you know, floundering in the sea. We're supposed to be connected and people have lost that sense of connection and we see that in the city I mean, that's what we saw is, you know People would go. You know, go to work, pull out of the garage, close the garage, go to work, come home, open the garage, close the garage, and you never see them where I think you've noticed driving and rural America, it's like you're everybody's waving, everybody's waving. Do I know? That person doesn't matter, hey man, how you doing, you know.
Speaker 2:So I think that's what people are looking for. Is that, since a community, you don't have to agree with everything that everybody Agrees with, but you have to be tolerant and that goes back to live in your neighbor that, no matter who it is, if they broke down they had a flat tire, you're in it, you're gonna help them and they know that you have their back and they have your back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. What's something you're learning right now?
Speaker 2:Patience. I must have prayed for it at some time, you know, but I'm like I tell people, don't pray for that. That's a rough one. You know, everything's in God's time and it sounds so Redundant and cliche, but even with what we're doing in viticulture, you know, we have this, or I try to Try to have this order, like I'm a very linear thinker, like a timeline, and I have things set out, like you know, even like great varietals. When we need to harvest, it's like, oh, the whites come in first, we'll have chardonnay, then Riesling and Symphony and then penitage and temporary I'll be next. But then we do fruit samples and I'm like what the heck is Malback ready for it should? It's like supposed to be two weeks, you know.
Speaker 2:But Again, everything is just on God's time and enjoy the journey, not the destination, because I think we just got we get To, you know wrapped up into. You know, this is where I am, this is where I have to go, and I think we see that, even with people retiring, you know, I've had, you know, relatives close to me that are like, hey, when I retire I'm gonna do this. Like, don't wait till you retire. I mean, I get it if you're saving money to do something you really want to do. But, my gosh, to put your life on hold. We don't know it. Tomorrow holds, I mean Jesus, come back, could come back tonight or in a moment. So live life to the fullest. Leave nothing on the board. I mean leave, you know, say you, say you love them every opportunity you get. It's just like if you were to be here tomorrow, everybody had nowhere that you would stand, you know yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:We've definitely my wife and I've definitely needed to that. What's up in here excited about right now?
Speaker 2:Right now I think we're running on everything's exciting because, I mean, you know the big scope of things with with all the fruit coming in. I'm kind of excited about this growing season and it's kind of a conundrum, because I might have described this to you. So, you know, june was a really cool month here, so it slowed the grape growing down right, which is typically the hottest month, and then July was so hot it stalled the grape growing. So what we ended up having is, you know, grapes about Two-thirds of the size of a normal grape Okay, so it's about a third smaller and so what that means is we have more Skin contact than we do juice normally. So what I think is gonna happen and maybe we should revisit this podcast in a year or two, right?
Speaker 2:I think we're gonna have bigger, bolder, chunkier red wine because we're gonna have a lot more Skin contact and that's where a lot of you know most of the tannins and and Mouthfeel and things like that come from. And I think we're gonna have more aromatic whites Because, again, it's almost like when you make orange wine that's where you ferment white wine and in a red wine style. Yeah, so it extracts more from the, from the skins. I think we're gonna have more skin to choose Contact on the whites. So it's gonna be an interesting growing year and wine making year.
Speaker 2:Compared to last year, I think we're doing better, because last year was so wet, people were doing Samples of their grapes, thinking that they were further along than what they were and they would bring them in and the sugar content wasn't nearly as high and then we'd have to try to, you know, fiddle with things here at the winery and and I've always said you know, wine is made in the vineyard, not in the winery, winery we try to guide the wine along its journey and Do what we need to do to get it from Juice to wine, but not manipulate it too much to get it where we wanted to go.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's interesting, so this might be related. What's a problem that you're trying to solve right now?
Speaker 2:Right now we're really keeping an eye on rot issues because Of the monsoon. We're just trying to monitor them. We can, we can. We can get ahead of it as long as we're keeping an eye on things that are going on in the vineyard and I think I have a pretty good nose that, like Desiree and my daughter Megan, who, who we all go out in the vineyard together, they can smell this stuff from a mile away and they'll they'll say, hey, I can smell this rod, we need to get this off. So even if it's not ready, we're better off pulling it early if it's got rod issues, especially at the.
Speaker 2:The Viticulturist has done his preemptive spraying was like a chopper fungicide or something like that to try to keep that rot from happening, because every time it rains it just washes off. So those are the kind of things we're most worried about at this time of year is because you can't make good wine from bad wine grapes. I mean there's things that we can kind of head off, you know, using Fungicides and and things like that in the winery, but if it's already rotty it's just gonna. I mean we've had to, we've tried to save things like hey, we'll try that. There's no guarantees. And yeah, it's wine, but it tastes terrible. So, yeah, that's, that's the wine. You'll never see in a glass where it's like we won't put our name on it or letting anybody else put their name on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's. That's interesting. Okay, so where can people go? If they're watching this, listening to this? They're like I, like this guy. Where can they go to find out more about what you're doing?
Speaker 2:Okay, we're on Facebook and Instagram. I'll give you a couple of Facebook's. My personal one it's just Chad Preston, and then we are at birds and barrels vineyards on Facebook and Instagram. And then my, my Instagram is Chad Preston, 16, and then a website is birds and barrels vineyards, calm, and then I think we even have a couple of YouTube's up right now. So if you just YouTube birds and barrels vineyards, you just kind of see our facility and I think we do some drone footage and stuff.
Speaker 1:So look at you pulling out the drone footage.
Speaker 2:Again, it's not me, it's the good people that have around me that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, chad, anything, anything you want to add that that we didn't get to tackle?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd say also, check out Wilcox wine country. We're having wine fest down here third week in October. I'd like to come down. It's about three hours from Metro Phoenix area. There's camping hotels, restaurants and stuff like that Gosh. We're doing a lot of stuff up in the valley with the wine festivals this this fall and winter, which I hope you when I can participate in I think the last one I had to pull off and you.
Speaker 1:I was bombed.
Speaker 2:I was bombed. I'm sorry I was so looking forward to that. Pour and wine at wine festivals and talking to people is like this is not even work. This is just slinging wine and talking to being building relationships. That's what we're all about.
Speaker 1:I yeah, I got to spend a day pour and wine with, with your crew, and you know people you know are there they, they paid to get however many tickets. You know different pourers and you know I'm just pouring wine and loving the experience and loving getting to show them. You know the incredible stuff you guys have produced and you know people will be like how are you doing? I'm like I'm at a wine festival pouring wine all day. Like how could you be having not doing good Like this? Is this?
Speaker 1:is fun Everybody's in a good mood. You know, it's just like enjoying great wine, learning stuff. So, yeah, well, chad, I just want to say number one Thank you for your time. I know that Literally, he's texted me beforehand Figuring out. You know what he's got to do this morning with the the grapes before before joining the podcast, and your time is very valuable. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:It has been a joy to watch you and Monica in your journey and the faith and courage and just boldness you guys have displayed in and living out your faith and living out your dreams, and it's been Super encouraging for me to watch. And a lot of people feel the same way. And you guys are making Incredible, incredible wine, and so it's just, I'm just proud to know you, man. It's, it's awesome to see what you guys are doing and I hope, I hope this Podcast leads to even more people discovering the cool stuff that you guys are doing. So thank you for taking the time to do this today, you bet. Thank you, jeremy. All right, everybody, we'll catch you next time on the next Cabernet in Prey.