Breaking New Ground - Our Tasting Room

We broke ground today on the tasting room - VERY exciting news for us. We had the permits in hand last week and are getting to work as soon as we can. We always planned to have a tasting room here, but after exhausting our options of using existing buildings on the property with the county (a complete no-go), we had to go to another option - design and build from scratch. Luckily, Bill ran his own construction company for many years and has the capability of both designing and building (with some help due to the upcoming grape harvest).

The first step is something the county mandated us to do - remove all the dirt under the building pad, turn it over, then compact it back into the ground. Something to do with ground settling, although the site is completely flat and has been stable even with a house on it for decades (no longer in existence because the tenants burned it down - long story).

Here are some photos of us breaking ground just this morning. Wish us luck! The last tasting room to be built in Boonville was picketed by locals who didn't want an "outsider" here, although the guy lived right behind the tasting room site. It's never dull here in Anderson Valley.