Internal Review (edition II)

As most of you know this last couple of weeks has been crazy to say the least. Getting the old barn on the corner ready for Cooper's Holiday Open House and initial release, dinner at Bella Deli with 25 of our closest friends, the actual Open House and even a 39th birthday thrown right in the middle. What a whirlwind, but what great excitement as well. We actually were able to get the cleanup completed on the barn, and present the conceptual idea of Cooper to over 150 guest on Saturday night.

To recap the week, I should start on Wednesday night at Bella, a quaint little Deli in Benton City. The menu was full of Cooper family recipes from the Happy Hour Mushrooms (now updated with Cooper Pinot Gris) for the appetizer to the traditional Hot Italian Sausage Lasagna (been in the family for 25 years). Courses were served with the three Cooper wines that are now being released. The '08 Pinot Gris was light and very complimentary not only to the Happy Hour Mushrooms, but also with the pear, blue cheese and fresh walnut salad. Main course was the spicy lasagna served with the Premiere wine, '07 L'inizio. This 4 varietal, 9 vineyard blend is showing amazingly well. The flag ship of Cooper's wines, this big red wine was fantastic with the spicy sausage as well as the savory red sauce that was cooked down all day. For dessert the '07 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was served with LuAnne Boushey's dark double chocolate Truffles. This was an amazing way to finish off the evening. Thank you to all that came out to be apart of this great event, to Grandpa Cooper for cracking the walnuts from the old family tree, LuAnne Boushey for the incredible dessert, and the great ownership and staff at Bella for a grand event. You can see pictures over on Facebook at "Cooper... A Red Mountain Winery" page, then go to Bella 12.16.09. Or start at cooperwinecompany.com and link to it.

On Saturday we opened the barn on the corner and presented to a great number of guest the beginning (L'inizio) of Cooper... A Red Mnt Winery. A typical Holiday Open House that has been taken part by many over the years at any one of the Cooper households, we decided to bring it to the winery for 2009. Great people turned out to be apart of the beginning. Great friends helped make the event, from pouring wine to assisting customers with their purchases. Thank you, again. Great Food was prepared by the food master in the family, Grandma Cooper also with much help from Marilyn that works up the road at a little winery that is very instrumental in helping Cooper be successful. This seems to always be a great recipe for Great Times! The energy in the barn was amazing. The turnout and response exceeded any expectations. You can see pictures over on Facebook at "Cooper... A Red Mountain Winery" page, then go to Open House 12.19.09. Or start at cooperwinecompany.com and link to it.

We are now getting ready for March 6th, 2010. The Grand Opening Event at the winery. A start to the construction should be complete, our great friends from the Northwest hottest band, IV will be performing, and great food prepared from the new commercial kitchen are all just a few things to be looking forward to. Do not forget the great wines that we have released, and at that time we will be taking orders on the very limited release of our '07 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon from our great friends the Roskelleys at Windrow Vineyards.

Thank You for the amazing support and we look forward to meeting you.

To a great year ahead, to L'inizio!
coop

Internal Review (edition I)

As most of you know the '09 crush has been Cooper's first official crush. Although, we have been working on the procurement procedure for a couple years now, this has been the maiden voyage of buying grapes, barrels, and having a little involvement in making our wine. I can see crazy times in the mirror as well as looking ahead. Taking over the old operation on the corner has been time consuming to say the least. Here is a little summary of where COOPER has come from and hopefully will give you an insight on what is ahead… L’inizio!

Basin Direct has been my farming and seed marketing business for about 10 years now. As of 2008, I decided that with the state of the economy and the strong involvement of corporate America in the seed industry, I would be better off to get out of this industry and pursue as all of the big dogs say... “a niche”. Through Basin Direct, I was able to turn a small seed stock operation of a few acres to a commercial farming operation that at one time harvested over 3,500 acres just a few years ago. Seeing where the industry was heading, I decided to hedge my future and alter the grass seed industry in the Columbia Basin for the future. Basin Direct was a pioneer in the industry as a producer to own bluegrass varieties. This created a better control of the market that Basin Direct was able to sell into. This was a slight form of vertical integration without purchasing a tremendous amount of "bricks and mortar". The purchase of the first blue grass variety now known as Fullmoon yielded larger than normal returns known at that time, furthermore lead to further varietal purchases. Since then many other producers now own or are involved in the ownership of proprietary varieties.

The U.S. economy after October 2008 created a surplus of seed. This would be better stated, the economy "stopped" all demand of bluegrass seed on the east coast. It appeared it was going from a booming farming economy to the most stale grass seed market in history. Producing more in an economy that was completely uncertain and controlled by a handful of large American corporations really did not make financial sense. Now having a couple of year’s worth of inventory in the barn and a stale economy, I started to diversify my operations. I was planning on COOPER being an investment that would work along the side of a substantial farming operating. As the economy continued to remain uncertain, I made an inconceivable decision to shut down farming operations and put all resources into the wine business on Red Mountain to now be known as COOPER. As I stated earlier, there is an abundance of seed in the warehouse. It will take me quite some time to sell off all that inventory that has mounted over the years.

This brings me to today. We have our first vintage in the bottle (500 cases), second in barrel (1,000 cases), and the third just recently crushed (1650). We are not just ankle deep in alligators; we decided to make the plunge. With a great wine maker and strong support from family and friends, this is the direction that I have long sought after. The acquisition for Cooper out on the Red Mountain AVA on Sunset Road is close to completion. We will spend the next few months in remodel and updating the tasting room, adding some color, and rejuvenating the landscape. Many ideas and often not enough time to get it all done, it will surely be a “work in progress” for many years to come.

The next Cooper Report will discuss our vision on where we are going and our wines. The main basis of our business plan is definitely based upon our mission statement we like to call the Cooper Approach; a way for our customers to experience our ideals of hard work, dedication to perfection, and our continuous determination to always create a product or experience that is truly satisfying.



Cheers to L'inizio (the beginning) ~coop

As always see us at Facebook, over at twitter, or just send an email.

Pursue happiness in ALL aspects of your life!

"To be the change you want to see in the world, you don't have to be loud. You don't have to be eloquent. You don't have to be elected. You don't even have to be particularly smart or well educated. You do, however, have to be committed" ~ M. Angier..... I received this on a friend's FB page and thought it was great! It is true in every aspect of life. Sometimes the greatest gifts are when you least expect it! Thank you Kim. Great Day to all friends and twitters and others that happen to just come about.

L'inizio, ~coop